The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-07-11
The Heroine
OF My Story
BY ESTHER vANDEvEER

ttIS lTplu steHpslhpnit hotts. pho Nos
dressed In mourning.
A sign of widowhood furnished food
for story that l was weaving, with
her for the heroine. She was refined
looking and comely. Quite likely her
husband had left her in poverty, and
she was eking out miserable exist
ence by hammering typewriter from
morning till night. / wondered II the
sleek looking man | saw in an ad-
joining room. who seemed to be the
manager. had wife and If he would
not fall In love with the widow and
arose from his desk and stood with
his hands in his pockets looking out
through the window | changed the
direction of my romance and hoped
II he did fall in love with the widow
she would refuse him, because | did
not like the expression on his face.
There was something malignant in it.
Ny story seems TO be coming out as
] first planned it. While l was dream
ing this afternoon, instead of attending
TO business, as | should have done. the
man In the next room to the widow
tapped bell. The young widow arose
and, taking up her stenographic i'm
plements, disappeared to reappear in
his room. Taking a seat beside him,
she took down several different dicta-
tons. Then when she was about to
leave he said something to her that
caused her to resume her seat
From his averted gaze and the. ex.
preston on the mans face knew that
he was making love to her. And / also
knew from something, | knew 4
what-but any woman will under
stand what | mean--that there was no
response to what he was saying. When
he ceased to speak she arose and he
took her hand, but she gently drew 1t
away and, without a word, left tho
room. At her own window she faced |
me just long enough for me to see that
she was not pleased.
have now been watching the widow |
for week, and it is evident that she !
can marry any Of the men connected |
with the office she chooses, for they |
all seem to be in love with her. | don't |
blame them, for if l were a man, and |
not miserably poor. as | am, l would |
march straight over to the Office where
she works and propose to her myself.
What troubles me is that she won't
do what l want her to do. l have
heard from authors that their charac-
tiers are at times very obstinate, and
now / find case in point. There is
q man who think would make her
good husband. He comes in to the Of
ice evidently on business and never
fails to get few words with her She
reats him with great considera ton,
)ut / can see from the expression of
lis face--he always faces the window
when he talks to her-that her replies
o what he says are disappointing.
This morning there was a scene be-
ween the manager and the widow. He
laid something to her that sent her out
# his room. He followed her to her
lesk, where she was putting on her
wraps, and he doubtless apologized, for
he took off her hat, which she had put
N, and was evidently pacifled.
1t is my opinion that the reason the
widow won't marry any Of her suitors
5 that her heart is buried In a grave.
wish she would marry my favorite,
b. 4,-s1 y
engagement. He stood in one of the
windows facing me this morning, and
so longed to give him encouragement
0 persevere that / looked it, and I'm .
fraid / smiled.
/ am very much displeased with my ,
elf The widows suitor at whom | ,
miled encoura cement came into the ,
flee this morning, and I'm sure he
lade pretense Of business in order
, see me. The manager brought him :
p to me and introduced him, saying Z
me that he had recommended me to =
lie man as one who would do some q
ork for him. The stranger was very
bite and has a winning way. +
= - t
/ shall never make novelist, that's Y
.rtain. My story of the widow turned o
1t entirely different from what | in C
nded 1t was all her fault. The
an l wanted her to marry she would o
1t have, and what do you think? I o
I'd to console him by marrying him c
yself. 1t seems that l was entirely g
istaken in my assumptions with re- 3
lrd TO him. He was a cousin of hers, II
ough more like a brother He says u
at he one day caught sight of me at
y window and after that used to d
me to see his cousin In order to see II
G. / tell him | can't swallow that. a.
But the widow. Fate was doing al
ings without my knowledge. One nj
orning a man in the uniform of an NJ
icer of merchant marine burst into i'll
r room and caught her in his arms al
e seemed to be in a swoon for a b'
ne: then she cried over him and d.
ressed him. and I was sure he was sc
r husband come to life s.
And so he was. His vessel had been
'ecked somewhere on the African
asst. and all on board had neen either
L or made slaves. 1t was a long be
lille before he attained his liberty. TO al
IN that be had been reported dead 70
That was the last I saw of his wife sh