The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-02-06

"And so is the man, presume.
That Is II, isn't it? You have been
obliged through force OF circumstances
and no fault of your own to refuse an
other man? Who is he?"
"Charlie Van zandt He Just
wouldn't take the hint / tried long
ago TO make him see that | never
could care. And he followed me down
to the beach and made an awful
scene-why, he almost threatened me-
Men are such brutes. You either can't
love them-or you can"
And we all know that you can't,
Felicia. You1l get over the scene,
whatever 1t was. I'm not worrying
about you. But Charlie Van Zandt is
very young and you are his first ven
ture, I think. And now, for a longer
or shorter space of time, depending
on Just how much of fool he is, he'll
make his mother wretched and a per
feet donkey of himself because he
thinks he has discovered that all wom-
en- are heartless. If you had such a
thing as a conscience, Felicia Brough-
ton, I'd wish with all my heart that
you'd have to wait to see one of your
victims cured before you could find
another. And I'd hope you would
grow old in the process" / turned to
stalk from the room, for meant to
sleep on the couch in the sitting-room,
leaving Felicia my bed
At the very door l was stopped by
a queer little sound that did not seem
to be Felicia at all. looked at the
girl and came back. THAT wasn't
what L came to tell you" she whis-
pered. Can l put out the light?"
l reached up and turned 1t off and
then, taking Felicia's hand, led her
to the bed, where we sank down. Fe-
licia promptly put her head on my
shoulder and | can't resist Felicia
when she cuddles, any more than |
can resist a pink dimpled baby.
Don't you worry about him, Fe-
licia," said Charlie Van Zandt is
a presumptuous little weed, and de-
served pulling up from the roots"
1T isn't Charlie at ALL" she sobbed
It's Rolfe Carson"
In my excitement l pushed her from
me. Rolfe Carson! ! had forgotten
about him. This was too good. Could
1t be that Felicia had met and reduced
to bis lowest terms the fiirt par excel
lence of all fiirts of whom l had ever
heard? And with my amazement a
great Joy came to me. For, years be-
fore, Rolfe Carson had played with
my little sister, and she-well, she
wasn't a flirt. had vowed to get
even and here was my chance.
Felicia" I said, 81 am your friend
for life, and l tell you on my honor
that you need not weep over this
piece of work. The biter's bitten,'"
quoted.
Felicia began to sob. you don't
understand" she said. 81 am in love
with him" 1t was a positive wall, a
little cry of helplessness, and it was
genuine and turned me sick. For,
often as l had wished for Felicia's
punishment, l hated to see her suffer
in this way. But 1t was fine to know
that Felicia really had had heart hid
den away all this time.
HE said he knew you" she went
on, sobbingly, that he used to know
you, and that was why I came. have
just come from the beach-he was
there-and l feel terribly-as If l had
been wicked all my life. Suppose
he finds out what a firt have been.
Suppose that nasty little Van Zandt
beast tells him!"
Felicia was astounded at the reali-
zation of her own sins l thought a
moment.
"Eow long have you known him?"
l asked.
1.-TWO months-he's been in South
America, you know"
drew long breath of relief. And
then l saw a sudden light. There is
no firt who marries, willingly and to
his or her knowledge, another fiirt. l
might still save Felicia.
Dear" I said, and there must have
been something queer in my voice, for
l could feel her jewel eyes fix them
selves on my face, you never did
wiser thing in your life than to come
to me. But if Rolfe Carson had ever
thought you would come to me, he
never would have told you he knew
know him, too"
do you mean he was ever in love
with you?"
"My dear, I'm ten years older than
always was. Also, have
always been an old maid. But there
have been other girls"
And then for hours and hours told
her about all the other girls. spared
no details which would make my story
more convincing, and found that she
knew some Of the girls / mentioned,
though she had not known that the
man involved was Rolfe Carson. And
she could not do otherwise than be-
lieve me.
But she took 1t all so queerly I
had expected tears, stormy denials-
anything but this calm, dry accept
ance. And / suddenly realized that
she did care for the man, terribly, and
I wished that I had not told her. Real |
love comes to no one twice. 1t wasn't !
any of my real business, anyway.
At daybreak I went to my couch in
the sitting-room, where l slept the |
sleep of the exhausted And when,
late in the forenoon, tiptoed into
the bedroom, l found that Felicia had |
departed, leaving this note on the
"Of course l believe you
but can never forgive you. Some
day you.will understand why"