Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-12-18

It'll next Christmas"
No force used?'
None whatever"
Very well. I'll give you till next
Christmas. But you'll lose
IF | do you'll win
"Ill choose the gloves. l wear
SKIES
"If l lose It won't make any differ
ence. | expect TO give you a Christ
mas present anyway
"Oh. pshaw. didn't think of that.
You're very cute. aren't your
81 fatter myself I'm a match for a
girl.
Her response to this was a face"
and the subject was dropped.
This bargain was made in June. and
| had six months in which to get into
that drawer. which was kept locked,
the key on Mabel's person and the
desk In Mabel's ROOM. where / was not
supposed to enter. | had no idea of
making a success of 1t. l had proposed
it only for a lark.
Having learned by the stepping in
between me and Mabel of another per-
son that | wanted her for myself, l
was In constant dread that he or some
other fellow would take her away
from me. At the same time | shrank
from speaking to her of love. | feared
to break up the brotherly and sisterly
relationship to which | had been ac-
eustomed from my earliest recollection.
True. too, Mabel didn't give me the
slightest encouragement to make the
change. When any man was attentive
to her and | showed that I was dis
| gruntled she seemed surprised, looking
at me with the expression of one who
did not understand my dissatisfaction.
Ii | would say, mabel, why do you
permit that cad to be dancing attend
ance upon your" she would reply:
"Why. | think he's very nice. Do you
know any reason why l shouldn't
Marry him? Certainly | do. He is
not the man for you at ALL"
Then she would walk away apparent
ly miffed, and there would be no trou-
BILE between us till the next fellow
came buzzlng about her.
Occasionally Mabel would say to me.
Have you purchased my gloves yetY'
and l would reply, NO; there Is plen-
ty of time for that w%hereupon she
would tell me what color she preferred.
impressing upon me the exact shades
and showing me certain articles of
dress she wished 70 be matched. /
was rather amused than interested, for
| could see that, despite her apparent
confidence, she suffered some trepida-
ion for fear | might in some unforeseen
way succeed.
A piece of good or bad luck, as the
case may be. gave me an advantage.
Mabel and | rode horseback together,
and one day when we were passing
through a wood | jumped my horse
over a log that was rather higher than
those we had been accustomed to take.
| cleared it, and Mabel tried to do so
too. She raised her animal too soon,
and he came down with his belly OH
the log. Mabel fell on the other side.
and | picked her up.
/ noticed that the chain to which
her desk key was attached had parted
and lay on the ground beside her. but
| was too much concerned about her
to do more than pick it up, unseen by
her, and put it in my pocket,
She insisted that she was not hurt
and mounted her horse. Fortunately
we were not far from home and had
no difficulty in reaching it. She did
not miss her chain and key, and l said
nothing about them. The chain / re-
turned the next day, but insisted on
keeping the key till after Christmas.
Mabel declared that it was unfair to
take advantage of an accident. but this
did not move me.
l determined. now that | had the
key, to effect an entrance to Mabel's
room when no one was there and pos
sess myself of her secret. But | must
use strategy. | vas invited to spend
Christmas. as the year before, at my
aunt's and on Christmas eve went to
the house provided with the glove for
felt and admitted to Mabel that having
no hope of winning l had provided
them. This threw her completely off
her guard.
The next morning l remained in my
till | heard her go downstairs,
then slipped into her room, opened the,
desk and applied the key to the little
drawer.
And what did / find there? The sur
prise of my life. There was a small
card photograph of myself taken when
| was twelve years old. a tiny china
doll l had given her one Christmas
when she was but six, a m~isspelled
letter l had written her and several ar
ticles of no more intrinsic value than
these. but evidences of how dear they
were to her. Replacing them. l locked
the drawer, closed the desk and went
downstairs.
When it came my turn to give my
Christmas presents | handed the gloves
to Mabel and d ten pound box of candy
besides. On opening the box she saw
tho how IN hop dock 1ro xuar