The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1916-12-01


count Of the absence Of the man had
gone there to zee. I asked the clerk OF
the hotel where stopped u there was
free library IN the place. He direct
ed me to one of the most attractive
little buildings 1 ever saw. in the CEN
ter Of grove went there and nosed
over the fiction shelves for awhile and
i finally took down a novel;
t On turning the leaves a bit Of paper
fitted to the f;oor. picked 1T up and.
seeing some words written on It in
pencil. read them:
Ten years today since Frank left NJ.
! and l am no more reconciled to his alb
sence than the day after his departure
oh. the long. long. weary day.
Now. there was something In this
that fitted me- Ny name is Frank
Tisda.e Twelve years before I had
| accepted a position in a commission
house i'm Hongkong and gone out there
to make my fortune. | returned ON
visit after eight years. sojourn in Chi
ma and never went back. l was TWEEN
ty years old when l left home. and
among the girls To whom l said good
by was one Alice Rmgold. But l was
not aware that l was any more to her
than any other young man.
took the book and the paper to the
librarian. telling her that | had found
the one In the other. She said that re-
turned books were apt to have a varie
ty of articles in them. usually put there
in lieu of a book mark l asked her
wi rnf1Irnad and he?
reply was. sometimes" l requested
that if she returned the paper had
left with her to the person who had
written it she would let me know l
left with her a postage stamp and my
address.
Not very lon. after my return to
my home l received u letter from the
librarian announcing that she had
found the Alice whose name WIS :p-
pended to the wriIin. on the paper !
had discovered. The lady had dropped
it into the book which was lying open
on table some one else had closed
the book, and it had been returned to
the library with the slip ia it. The
librarian gave the name. Alice Rim
gold.
Now. l had passed the age of thirty.
supposing that no woman had shown
any predispostion toward me. W:
on the verge OF middle age. with no
one to care for me. and now accident
ally L had discovered that a girl from
whom l had parted a dozen years be-
fore had been mine fer the asking dur
ing the whole of that period. rcnem-
bered Alice Hin"od. shy little thing.
so young that | would not have be
lieve:. she could love any man. She
could not at the time have been more
than fifteen.
Here was Il chance to break away
from the bacheloraood into which
fate seemed To have thrown me l
would renew my acquaintance with
Alice kingoisi. and if She WAS of the
same mind and from the recent date
Of what She had written it was likely
that she was-I might settle myself ia
Il lone under the same advantages as
pertaiIed to youth. But l must CON
trive to make the meeting appear ac-
ci,iental
She had removed from the town
where she had lived to Acland. and
there l went Having learned where
! ileI Ifoile WIS SET Out Ia Illlf
her. proposing To make up a story as
to how l had come to know of her
being in AZ land. Just before reaching
the house Il young woman came out of
the front door and i'm another moment
met me face to face
~. She was Alice Ringold. Between six
teen and twentv-six there is not so
great difference in ones appearance
as between twenty-six and thirty six.
At any rate. there was enough left Of
the girl | had known for me to recOg-
nize her. l stopped. lifted my hat and
spoke to her. She looked ut me. and
saw at once that she knew me-
Alice Ringold:" | asked
Yes: and YOU are Frank Tisdale."
singular that you should know me
after So many years absence
No more singular than that you
should know me-"
Il have been wondering what haf
become Of you since my return Il
America. I have been hunting you fol
MONTHS
She cast her eyes down lust as sh,
did when she was little more than .
child. She was going to the village
and l walked beside her. told her o
the many times l had thought Of he
during my absence In the east and how
had lOnged that fate should hav,
brought us together again.
With that slip OF paper in my poe
session I had all the holiness OF
grenadfer. I made rapid progress
speaking more and more plainly in m
iovemaking as I advanced When
parted with her told her I would sc
her In the evening. and when tn
evening came. having gone through th
preliminaries. I proposed to her.
She said 1t was very sudden and
great surprise to her I smiled inwar