The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-06-19

would give them to her and she could
change them for ladies' gloves. In
stead Of being pleased at this, she ap-
peared to be very much hurt. Champ
lin begged her to tell him why, and
she replied that she had not consented
to be turncoat for bride. This left
him to understand that she had done
it all for him. There was very ten
der scene between them, at the end Of
which the misunderstanding was made
up, and for the rest Of the Journey
Miss Cook held the steering wheel,
while Mr.. Champlin's arm was about
her waist.
There were no more delays On ap-
preaching the city, having still an
hours leeway, they concluded to stop
at convenient place and get the dust
out of their throats with an ice.
Champlin left the lady for a brief sea-
son while he poured out something
more effective than an ice in doing
away with dust On rejoining her they
partook Of the ices and resumed their
Journey.
"What are you smiling atT' asked
Miss Hood Of her companion.
'Oh, was thinking how surprised
that cousin of yours will be when we
roll up on time. That was a rascally
proceeding Of his, and it deserved to
fail If you hadn't been the dearest
girl in the world it would have sue
ceeded. But just think of his surprise
when be hears Of the other part of it"
He managed to get hold Of her hand
with his left, holding on to the wheel
with one hand, and they bowled along
In this way until they met another
conveyance.
And now the dome of the capitol
with the figure perched upon it doomed
up faint in the distance. 1t was not
long before the outskirts of the city
were reached, and half an hour before
the time limit had expired they stopped
at the ladies' entrance of the - ho-
tel. A Iiveried servant advanced and
said:
"Mr. Cook and a party Of ladies and
gentlemen are In private dining room
waiting for you, sir"
Entering the room, ChampIin expect
ed to find Cook eager to know why his
scheme had failed. Instead Cook hand
ed his cousin dozen pairs Of ladies'
gloves. After this he put out his hand
to Champli1.
Il congratulate you, old boy, with all
my heart on your engagement"
Champlin stood mute with astonish-
ment.
Champ, old boy" added Cook, "you
need an explanation. To make you
lose I sent my cousin Jack out to eff
feet en- entrance into your auto and de-
lay you on the way If she succeeded
she was to have dozen pairs of gloves
for reward She has lost the gloves"
"Thats plain" said Champlin.
"Well, there was bet between Jack
and me Of another dozen pairs Of
gloves against q hundred cigars that
she would make you propose to her on
the way"
Champlin looked so many emotions,
of which establishment and shame
facedness were the most prominent,
that all burst into a laugh, In which
he finally Joined. Then, turning to
Miss Hood. he advanced, with a puz-
zled, inquiring look on his face.
''Was 1t all a sham?" he asked
She made no reply In words, but a
slight color rising to her cheeks indi-
Gated that the brief period she had
passed, even of a sham engagement,
had not been unpleasant to her. Be-
sides, Champhn was regarded as one
of the best catches in Washington.
Since he could get no word of con-
| firmation he concluded to apply a test
Putting an arm around the girls waist,
he drew her toward him and kissed
her. She submitted without protest.
"It's goi' shouted Cook. and there
was burst of merriment, all crowd
| ing around Miss Hood to congratulate
her, the men with handshakes, the
women with kisses.
"Good for you, Champl' cried Hum
phrey Cook. you've won out all
| around. But the stake on the race is
nothing compared with winning a
wife. And you've got dandy one,
that can run anything, from car to a
man, and you'll find that she can take
both the auto and the man apart and
put them together again without the
least trouble"
The wedding journey was an auto
trip to California.