The daily Alaskan., 1915-08-18
His Fiiancee
He Had Intended to Be a Father to
 to Her.
By ESTHER VANDERVEER

q may not see you again for years. Will you be true to mel"
 Rather ask yourself whether you will be true to me. You are at an age when a mans fancy Is liable to great changes"
 q shall not change in my feelings to- ward you"
 "We shall see. Now, come and kiss baby; then you must be off,"
 Hugh Edgerton, twenty years old, had become cnamOred of q young wid- ow, Mrs. Clara Pomeroy, two years his senior, with a child, a girl in her third year. He had been offered q position in q banking house In HongkOng, Chl- na, and was about to proceed there. Full of the hope of youth, he was in- tent upon making a fortune and return Ing to spend what remained to him of life with Clara POmeroy for his wife.
 He followed her into an adjoining room where the child lay asleep in her crib. Bending down, he kissed her.
 Dear little thing!' he said. When I return I will be q father to her"
 He took the Child's hand in his, and so soft, so dear was 1t that he could hardly bear to release 1t, but the moth CT admonished him that his time was limited, and drew him away.
 "Goodby," she said; whatever is in store for you and me in the future'-
 And baby"
 "Yes, and baby. will say this. you are fine fellow and deserving of good wife"
 It seemed to Edgerton that the kiss she gave him lacked the fervOr of Q woman deeply in love. But it had always been so between them. The widow, though but few years his se- nlor, had q far wider range of ex- perience than he, and q woman of twenty-two is usually much more ma ture than a man of twenty. When he regretted this lack of fervOr she al- ways said to him, When ten or twCn- ty years have passed 1t will be l who will have cause to reproach you for in- difference"
 While on his voyage to China Edger- ton spent the most of his time writ ing letters to his fiuncee. If an anal ysls of his feelings were possible 1t might show more distaste for leaving home and friends for a foreign land than love, but no one has yet been able to isolate love-as they say of germs-and, after all, our affections are largely matter of association. Never theless Edgerton pined for his widow and the time when he would be united with her, and the dear child he had seen sleeping so peaceful and innocent in her crib was ever present in his mind.
 Edgerton on arriving in uongkong was given a position of some impor- tance, for he had had several years experience as a subordinate in busi- ness and was advanced rapidly. But unfortunately when he reached status iu which he might begin to accumulate the house he was with made some i'm portant losses and wound up their business. Edgerton joined forces with others and formed an independent house. They made money for time' but one of the partners proved dis honest, and after getting him out Of 1t they had a considerable deficiency to make up.
 Meanwhile Edgerton wrote regularly to his fancee and received letters from her. It was due to her encour, agement that he was able to stand by what he had undertaken, for when Il! luck befell him he was sOrely tempted to give up and go home. He had with him q likeness of his fiaucee, and, though the years were passing and each year added to her age, he con tinued to think of her as she had ap- peared when he parted from her. He always referred to her little girl as "the baby" and forgot thnt while her mother had passed the climax of youth and beauty the daughter was ap- preaching 1t.
 Years passed before Hugh Edgerton came to a status wherein be could close out his business in China and return to America with the fortune he had set out to win. Indeed, 1t was due to fortunate rise in an article in which he had made an investment that at last enabled him to do so. It was a happy day that he announced to Mrs. Pomeroy that he was independent of the world and in few weeks would return to claim her as bis bride.
 Sixteen years had passed since Ed gerton had left his native land. He had been so engrossed In business that they did not seem to him more than six. Nevertheless he realized that there must be some change, especially in Hhobv" He Dicturpd her as girl