Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-15
WHAT CAME
OF LARK
BY OSCAR cox.


IF | were to lose my fortune" said
Frank Atwood to bis friend. Ned Col
by. at the Athenaeum club. do you
know what I'd doY
"What?"
'I'd hire u for a %coachman."
You'd have to make it a chauffeur.
There are no coachmen any more"
"There are a few. have no fancy
for a machine. put | love a horse"
"If there were any young women in
the family there'd be one of these Sc
cret marriages that we see so often
mentioned in the newspapers. follow
ed by the customary annulment or d.
vorce."
"Oh. no. there wouldn't"
"Il bet you there would"
How could we settle such a betYr
by putting the matter to practice.
Advertise for a position and when you
find one with a pretty girl in the fam
lily take It. I'll bet you a hundred that
within three months you marry the
giI."
f LII u "OoA0 =
ft?' said Atwood thoughtfully.
The upshot of this bit of dialogue
was that Atwood advertised as sug-
gested and. after answering several In
v~itations to call and present creden-
tails. at last found a place where there
was the required pretty girl. His ere
dentials were wanting, but fortunately
he was able to initiate the Irish brogue
and claimed to have just come over
from the green isle, where he had been
chief hostler for Sir Charles O'Malley.
Since his employer was not versed In
literature he did not appreciate the abb
surdity.
The bet stood $500 ever that within
three months Atwood would be at
least engaged to Miss Bertha Fosdick.
daughter of his employer; $500 more
that he would marry her, and $500
more that be would run away with
her.
1t would seem that Colby should have
received odds on such a wager, and If
he had been a real coachman twenty
to one would not have been enough.
But Frank Atwood was a. very at
tractive young fellow and had a smile
that no girl could resist. Miss Fos-
dick was but seventeen. and 1t was
predicted that when the next year her
Introduction to society should take
place she would prove a heart smasher.
Why parents will allow their daugh-
tiers to pass under the influence of their
drivers is a mystery. From fifteen to
twenty is an irresponsible 6 for a
girl. and tn nine cases out of ten where
the sexes are thrown together without
restraint. especially where they are
young, q match will be the result At
any rate, Miss Fosdick. being permit
ted to go out alone driven by the hand
some coachman. at once fell under her
influence. Atwood, being full of the
Old Nick, told her that he was a young
er son of an Irish baronet; that the
family had been impoverished by the
loss of a suit In c~ourtNand he had been
obliged to shift for himself. He had
ONE to America. got stranded and.
having always been used to horses, had
taken up their handling as a vocation
Quite likely some of the low born
ullFCf0 VIII olCul luC u0u6AJCA0 =
their employers tell some such yarn as
this. Atwood's conscience did not trou-
BILE him because he was al American
gentleman with a future. and in his
own propria persona an excellent match
for the young lady. But 1t served to
enlist her sympathies for him, and
sympathy is akin to love. She wish
ed to inform her father of what the
cabman had told her, but Colby, know
ing that such a story going to his
employer would result in his being i'm
mediately fred, refused permission.
And SO the game went on. the hand.
some coachman driving the pretty Miss
Fosdick every pleasant afternoon. and
since it was not as pleasant for her to
have him perched on the box so far
above her she soon came to select a
cart to ride in. so that he might sit
beside her. Occasionally they would
meet some of Atwood's friends. who
would stare at him, wondering how
any two men could so closely resemble
each other as the handsome clubman
and this liveried coachman But Frank
would keep his eyes on his horses and
brazen it out. On one occasion they
met Colby driving with a party Of
friends, and although Ned. according
to agreement. did not give the coach
man away, the ordeal was trying.
The outcome of the wager was a
compromise. One day Frank Atwood
appeared at the club mot In livery
and sat down to lunch with his friend
Colby.
Ned" he said. what was intended
for a lark has turned out seriously. l
am going to propose for the hand Of
Miss Bertha Fosdick and | don't wish
the girl | love to be the subject of a
bet. propose that we cali the wager
off,"
Atwood never went back to the Eos
dicks In livery. He wrote a long let
i 49, A. NJ Eocl4oH IN mhfob ba told