Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1915-09-09
By EUNICE BLAKE

with extremely light covering thrown
around his neck. an upliftcd face was
thrust against his. and he was kissed
by a very pretty girl he had never
seen before. Discovering that she had
made a mistake. she shrank from the
nan she had kissed. covering her face
with her hands.
The first impression made upon AyreS
by this sudden clasping was that it
was done for the purpose of robbing
him. Involuntarily he put his hand on
the inside pocket Of his coat. where he
kept his pocketbook, and it was not
there.
Give me my pocketbook.' he said
in a no very deferential tone.
The girl uncovered her face and look
ed at him, the hot blood mounting to
her cheeks.
what do you mean?" she asked in
dignantly.
There was Il refinement about her
that seemed to preclude the possibility
of her being a thief. Besides, her in,
dignation bore the stamp Of being gen
uine. Ayres felt again in his pocket
and OF looking down on the sleeve Of
his coat remembered that he had
Then it occurred to him that he had
not changed his p~ocketbook as we'll.
II beg your pardon" he said quite
meekly. II have made a mistake as
well a you. l left my pocketbook at
home"
Now, why in the name Of justice was
not this Il fair standoff between the
two? Each had been mistaken; there
fore there was nothing further to do
but for the girl to say, You are quite
eXcusable," and for the man. to say,
Good morning. and, lifting his hat,
deferentially pass IN. But what must
the girl do but shoot fire from her eyes
and say:
Give me your name and address.
My brother will call upon you to
avenge this INSULT"
But l have explained. beg a thou
sand pardons!"
You may beg a million if you like"
But
Never mind. Since you refuse me
your name and address. 1 shall have
to locate you. l can point you out"
And, turning on her heel, she swept
out OF the station.
The next day about 10 in the morn
ing a military band gathered on the
college campus. Positions for the va
| rious classes and alumni were marked.
Young men in caps and gowns began to
pour out Of the dormitories, the com
mencement procession was formed and
marched to the chapel for the gradual
ing exercises. The salutatory grafton
was delivered by Ayres. His place
was second in rank. but the valedic-
torian was Il grind, while Ayres was
considered a genius. Of whom great
things We're expected when he got into
the battle Of life.
Ayres, being the first man to speak.
bow to the audience, most Of whom,
knowing his caliber, awaited expect
antly the power of his %eloquence.
Mr.. Ayres. looking down on the
benches before him, saw sitting in the
front row the girl whom he had the
day before accused Of robbing him and
whose brother was to settle with him
for the insult. No such revenge was
necessary. The young lady looked III
at the salutatorian at the critical mo
ment Of his life and slew him.
The first sentence OF Ayres' GRAFTON
had been written to arrest the atten,
ton of the audience. 1t was Il vigorous
sentence Of two words. as Ayres
spoke it it was like bringing down 4
feather instead Of a sledgehammer
And this would apply to his whole ora,
ton. The girl in the audience sat look.
ing up at him with a pair OF beautiful,
liquid eyes filled with contempt The
most telling utterances she received
with a curl of the lip; at those parts
which were intended to express great
feeling she gave him Il look of levity.
The Grafton vas a failure. When
Ayres stepped down from the rostrum
he knew that his audience had been
greatly disappointed in him. His moth.
er and sister Joined him and asked him
what in the world had been the matter
with him. He put them off. IL he had
told them the truth he would have said
that q career had been ruined.
Ayres never recovered from that fail.
ure. He had intended to study law
and his classmates had averred that
he would turn out a statesman, He
went back to the farm from which he
had gone to college and never left 1t
He is now an old man. who has never
done any more important work than
raising corn and potatoes.
And the Girl who slew him? She "a