The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-07-05
hlyDeciision
A Story of Romance Yer.
sus the Practical.
y ALAN HINsDALE

NJ, as the word may be printed. But
jle was or seemed to me to be, devoid
Y sentiment. / was full of it. l fell
j love with her, and since she was de-
,loid Of what was born in me l endow
d her with 1t. For this purpose had
1enty Of Imagination and succeeded In
lowering her with an ideality which
Che did not possess.
n 1t Ii said. and l believe it, that op
Sosites are readily attracted to each
Slther. At any rate, Gwen and l pair
I'd OF. It was NOE long before I was
Baking love at high pressure. Gwen
lid not seem averse to listening to my
y6hapsOdies, but she made no return in
Mfind. Besides, she showed her matter
HSf-factness in other ways. For III
k1tance, l gave her book rack, hand
N0mely inlaid, one of those con
i|rivances to put on stand to hold
3 ozen or so choice books. Not long
n fterward her little brother knocked
OF the stand and broke it. l told
swen that l would have it mended
or her. She said that it would cost
more to mend it than 1t would be
worth.
This reply was great shock to me.
had supposed that the gift, coming
rom me, would be of inexpressible
,alue to her. Gwen looking at 1t III a
NJ pecuniAry way rather than pricing 1t
LAs an expression Of my tender feelings
N or her seemed to me to be barbarons.
- 49, Nnf cir mi
Il9R and nursed my wound.
MI When ] entered seriously with Gwen
VllntO Z discussion Of future together
she again threw dampef on me- She
" )oo-poohed my talk about love In
.ottage-po she called it-and
brought up many objections to a
match between us. l was so inflated
\ ~ my romance that nothing seemed to
JStand In the way Of our union. | told
Ter that with love in our hearts OBJ
.ections were of no moment whatever
Her reply was. when poverty comes
IN at the door love flies out of the win
Slow"
because there were no important world
~ reasons why Gwen and l should not
clbe married. l was in receipt Of an in
come on property to enable us to live
IL comfortably. l had, besides, a good
- salary and was advancing as rapidly
~ as was to be expected. l have noticed
that women have a way of saying one
thing and meaning another. Ovens
real objection to marrying me came out
in good time She saw plainly that l
had Get her upon a pedestal as an OBJ
yject OF worship, and she feared that
p when the time came-as it inevitably
must come-for taking down the gilded
image and putting up one Of flesh and
blood my love would not prove to be
of the kind to endure the change.
| This was the way Gwen expressed
= It to me: "You have mistaken me-"
she aaid. you consider me generous,
unselfish. On the contrary, l am mean
and never give anything away that l
' want myself. Besides, l have traits.
would turn any man from me whose
love was of the most substantial kind
IA I was bit staggered by this confess
" sion, but not for long. My optimistic
disposition rose above fear that would
not love Gwen even if she were all she
painted herself, and told her so in
i,ost impassioned words, at the same
ot.,ne lavishing upon her an abundance
y OF caresses. But she disengaged her
self from me. avowing that at the first
= sign Of a real fault in her my caresses
would turn to expressions Of contempt.
One day when Gwen and | were
walking together we came to fruit
4 stand kept by poor woman who was
J evidently obliged to keep her little
child with her while selling her goods.
Gwen took fancy to some apples and
asked the woman their price. Instead
OF paying 1t Gwen endeavored to beat
: the vendor down and, failing to do so,
walked on without buying. l was so
filed with commiseration for woman
whose sphere in life condemned her to
make her living in such an humble
: way, especially as she was obliged to
: keep q hungry looking child with her
: while doing so, that i would have been
nd to pay double the price she asked
foe her apples.
I said nothing to Gwen about the
natter then, but l thought a great
deal. After all, was she not right in
asserting that after we were married
h9 fAults would come up to make trou.
He Detween us? She had said that she
was very mean and when time came
had not scrupled to show that mean
ne1R While / was repealed at her
nult, could not but admire her frank
ness and her wisdom at hesitating to
marry man who was ignorant OF 1t.
Gwen and were invited to spend a
couple Of weeks in midsummer at the
country residence of friend Of hers
Gwen and Miss Emily Tucker had been
schoolmates, and / did not doubt that
Miss Tucker possessed my fancee's con
ndence to a far greater degree than
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