Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1915-05-27
Observation-Disclosures
! Some Luck !
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neur went with a friend to play
and after the play he returned witt
his friend to the club. But he was
not nearly such good company after
as he had been before. For the play
had set him to thinking afresh OF
q matter over which he had been more
or less disturbed at intervals Tor 'he
last fifteen weeks. And whenever ne
thought of it he grew ill-tempered.
The theme of the play was inter-
national marriage. 1t pointed out
nrettv clearly what humiliation and
misery the average American girl who
weds for the gewgaw title OF 1or-
eiqn aristocrat gets in exchange 1or
her sweetness, her innocence, ana her
fathers millions. There was nothing
new in all this to young Gouverneur
indeed. having been connected with
the embassy in London for three years
he might have given the play wright
q valuable hint or two-but it served
to emphasize catastrophe when was
becoming well-nigh unbearable IN It's
imminency, and which he felt himself
miserably powerless to avert.
Day after tomorrow, at high noon'
unless a mericle should intervene to
frustrate carefully and elaborateiy
arranged program, Sheila Drood'
through the reading and repetition
of a few sentences from book, ana
, murmured will" before the altar
of Saint Mammon's, would be trans
formed from a happy, independent
pampered daughter of one OF the rlch-
est men in America into an asset,
niece of personally, chattel, OF one
of the most worthless, dissipated, rak-
ish members of the British peerage.
1t was after one o'clock when Gou-
yeneur came out of his club into the
misty chill of mid-April night ana
started up the Avenue towards ms no
tel. But when he got to his hotel'
he was not thinking of going to bed.
He was still thinking of Sheila ana
her imminent marriage, and so he pas
cd il without in the least knowing 1t,
and walked on and on up the Ave
nue., until the houses on one side gave
way to lone stone wall with trees
behind it, which meant that he had
come to the Park. And still he walk
ed on, and still he thought.
1t wasn't of course, really, any OF
his business. He had said this to
himself something less than a thous-
and times, and tried the best way ne
knew how to argue himself into the
believe that what he said was true. lie
brought up the fact that the Droods
weren't even friends of his. They mad
been-oh, so many years ago!-wneh
he was a lad and Sheila was a shy,
dainty little thing in short frocks, with
ite-stoc!linged spindle-shanks and
shiny yellow pigtails tied with blue
ribbons. They lived next door to each
other then, and in his childish imag-
ination he had pictured the Tiny maid
as being his wife when they should
grow up; and he made her presents
of his toys and his picture books.
And once he had picked for her a
whole handful of daisies and dande-
lions in the Park, and she had kissed
him to prove her pleasure and graf
itude.
But in those years while her faith
er was growing richer, his was grow
;np poorer. 1t came to such pass at
length that his people were too poor
to live in New York; so they went to
France, where living is very much
cheaper, and lived there until his faith
err died, leaving an estate that barely
reached a hundred thousand dollars.
He was sixteen years old by that time,
and his mother, who was Colonial
Dame, and always hated France, Just
as he had, brought him back to Amer
ica. to make their home with her
folks in Boston. The next year ne
entered Harvard; and before he was
graduated his mother went to JON ms
father Then his uncle took his cous-
in and himself for a trip around the
world. After that, there was more
study in his uncle's law office, which
faced the Common. Eventually there
was a plunge into what has been call
ed "kid-glove politics." and the diplo-
matte post at the Court OF Saint
James was his ultimate reward.
He had reached Eighty-first Street
and clock somewhere was striking
two. So he turned about and began
his return journey. When he came to
Fifty-ninth Street once more, he rea-
lized that he was tired and hungry,
and so he hailed a lone taXicab that
was passing, and had himself taken
to an allnight restaurant, over on
ynnf O.