Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-05-01

- - 1AAk1(Al@+AAN atA (I1A0 ~ 49,
! tried not to think of 1t, but the more
I tried to Danish it the more it persist
ed in coming back to me. At last 1
could stand it no longer and spoke to
Abner about it, telling him what Bet
tie Underwood had said.
"He seemed Ill at ease and tried to
turn the matter aside! This made me
the more suspicious, and l told him
that If he had treated Agnes badly /
should know it, for If a man will deal
wrongfully with one woman he will
do so with another. To this he replied
that a girl about to be married had
best leave alone her lovers previous
affairs with Her only concern
was his treatment of her.
Il insisted that he should make a
clean breast of 1t, and he refused.
Then l took Off the engagement ring
he had given me and handed it to him.
He looked at me for a few moments
with a sorrowful expression, then told
me that l was making the mistake of
my life, and would prove the truth of
what he said. He wouldn't treat n
woman badly unless she treated him
or some n whom he loved badly, and
then not for revenge, but for infic-
ton of a just punishment. He left
SINCE"
My hostess paused In her story, and
l saw that what her lover had said to
her was true. She, not he, had made
the mistake of a life. Doubtless there
was something between him and the
girl he had broken with that he could
not speak of without casting blame
upon her. If both were at fault there
was all the more reason that whatever
it was it should be kept secret. There
are many affairs of little or much i'm
portance that cannot be ~unraveled
without a regular trial, and even then
it is often impossible to extract the
truth.
But l said nothing of this to the sto-
ry teller-at least, not then. l was
curious to know what her lover meant
by saying that he would prove that she
was making a mistake in ~endeavoring
to force him to make a clean breast of
his relations with his first fiancee. So
| asked her IL there was no more to
tell.
YES" she continued, 'there is n
very important matter to tell. Soon
after Abner's parting with me I heard
that he had become attentive to Bette
Underwood. l inquired If Bette ac-
cepted his attentions and was inform
ed that she was very much pleased
with them. Can it be, l thought, that
she will engage herself to the man
against whom she had coyertly warned
me? l had not long to wait for an
answer to my question. 1t was soon
generally understood that Abner and
Bette were engaged. One day l met
Bet in the street and asked her If the
report was true. She said it was and
lounced away from me, evidently de-
string to avoid a discussion of what
she knew had on my mind"
Again the narrator paused, and /
asked her If she had finished her story.
'sThere is little more to tell" she
said. "The engagement between Alb
ner and Bette lasted just one month
when 1t was broken off. Since Abner
never came to see me after | returned
my engagement ring | could not ask
him what 1t all meant. l suppose he
engaged himself to Bette to show me
how silly l had been to permit her to
make a breach between him and me,
and that she did it because she wanted
him herself. | doubt if she was a girl
of much feeling, for she married some
one else within a year after she broke
with Abner."
l asked Miss Wyman If Abner War
rem had married, and she said he had
not. He had since inherited the farm
on which he lived and kept house
alone. Before leaving l asked to be
informed of It's location, thinking that
| would like to meet him. 1t happened
that my route passed his house, and l
made up my mind I would find an ex-
cuse to have q word with him.
1 bid my hostess a sympathetic good
by, promising to make her a visit on
another occasion, then started again on
my travels. When | reached the house
of Abner Warren ! left my car at the
gate, and, seeing a man at WORK, asked
him some questions as to the a
was to traverse. In the course of the
conversation l gave him an opportunity
to tell me his name and learned that
he was the man l sought. Then 1
asked him for a glass of buttermilk
and sat on the porch of his house while
he got it for me.
While drinking the buttermilk l told
him that l had been entertained by a
Miss Elizabeth Wyman, who lived a
few miles down the road, and l spoke
of her in very high terms. told him
that l wondered that so lovely and at
tractive a woman had not been appro-
priated and limited that l surmised she
had experienced a disappointment
1 could not help being amused at the
;n+aroc+ ho fook in fhQ subject. and