Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1914-01-23
NOT At ALL DIFFICULT
Hy GRACE SCHEVE1S.

All the girls, when speaking OF Aller
Dukes, invariably said: We'll, isn't
he the limit" They did not employ
| the term in its usual sense, for their
admiration of young Dukes was
| boundless. What they had IN mind
was his infinite capacity for keeping
still.
lie never talked unless he had
something to say, and when he had
said it ceased talking. There was
sound philosophy in his method, but
the average man has not the strength
of mind to follow it out-he keeps up
a conversational twitter because he
has a horror of silence. 1t gets on
his nerves. Aller Dukes did not seem
to possess any nerves. At any rate,
he did not futter an eyelash at whole
streaks Of stiffness. The odd part
of it was that this habit did not seem
to shut him off behind any remote
barrier-he had the faculty Of making
himself more intimately one Of the
party by just listening than did the
others by reams of gable.
He never by any chance gossiped
about himself.
Most people are so egotistical that
they think the public is feverishly in
terested in their trips to Europe, pro-
jected or past, their new clothes at
the tailor's or dressmaker's, their
servants shortcomings and the money
they are making.
Aller Dukes seemed wrapped in I'M
penetrable modesty. Any information
you got out of him relating to him.
self had to be pried and blasted loose
and he clearly regarded the operation
with disfavor.
Naturally he was fascinating to
girls, because he gave them 80 much
to talk and wonder about. When he
took one of them to party she had
all the sensations Of starting on
, trip into remotest Africa, because
there always was the possibility OF
making Aller Dukes talk.
) Nobody has done it yet, but while
there is life there is hope. The effect
of Alters silence was to make other
people talk, and resolve as they would
not to chatter and unfold their best
secrets to him, they always did.
When he began taking Ethel Avn
ing around more than all the other
girls excitement ran high.
Suppose" said Ethel's best friend
Suppose he should want to propose
to you-he'd never be able TO waste
words enough to lead up to It!
what's he going to do? A girl simply
has to be sort Of courted!"
I'm not worrying" said Ethel, and
tossed her head. Hes just good
friend and doesn't care bit about
mel"
But it was observed that she
blushed when she said It.
Perhaps Ethel herself wondered as
had her best iliend. She and Aller
S got along famously together because
s she could talk six miles an hour~and
c she always took such vivid interest
in life that she had plenty to say. Not
that Aller maintained sphinxlike ST.
6 lence-when she considered the mat
ter it seemed that he always said
\ things to the point. Still,as her best
friend had pointed out, girl simply
has to be courted.
And the young man had wasted no
time in pretty speeches.
Before she realized it, Ethel Awling
, was consumed with curiosity as to
, whether Aller Dukes really liked her
=, a good deal and how he possibly could
convey the idea to her if he did like
her
Deep down in her heart she was
, hoping that he did.
, Several others had told Ethel that
they cared for her, and as she re-
viewed the manner in which they had
done so none Of the methods en-
ployed appealed to her as at all at
tractive. To be sure, they had been
graceful enough, clever enough, arts
tic enough, and yet she had sent the
young men all away. How, she pain
fully wondered, could silent Aller
Dukes tell her Of his admiration, sup
posing he should want to, SO that it
would impress her? She disliked
very much the idea of not being I'M
pressed sufficiently to say yes. By
which one may judge that Ethel was
considerably In love with the silent
chap.
To her self she insisted that she
did not care bit
Most Unexpectedly one evening, just
as they we're going down the steps
on their way to a party, not when
they were returning, with moonlight
and the rest Of the conventional set
ting, Aller Dukes turned his head
toward Ethel moment and then
said: "Will you marry me, Ethels"
1t took him exactly from the third
to the fifth step to say it. And Ethel
after an instant, heard herself saying
calmly from the sixth step to the
seventh: eyes, Aller." And then
| thew were walking on the level side