The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-30

was lncaSeI in very attractive body
made it all the mo G acceptable To me
Now. this girl was really a devil
and | am going to tell you how she
proved herself one.
When we came to that period i'm
courtship where couple can sit side
by side from O'Clock in the evening
till in the morning | told Alice all
about my woman hating uncle. BY
this time he had given me a full az
! count of how lie had been runel in
! his brothers affection by designing
woman. and ! gave Alice the story
She seemed much Interested much in
censed. against the ''horrid thing WIN
had so foully misrepresented her sex
Meanwhile ] had given my encAun-
tress to understand that | was 10 IN
herit my uncle's estate in trust for the
next man to inherit il after me. and
that | could only do so by giving
pledge that | would never marry.
Alice could not very well object to
| this till after | had come so far under
her influence or the devil within her.
as to resign a fortune for her. She
was willing to take me with the for
tune and. being still quite young. de-
clared that she would take me with
out 1t. But she admitted that II woul
be "A great deal nicer IL we could in
| herit my uncle's wealth. The mink
had conceived a scheme for getting
| that fortune. but she said nothing about
ii to me.
! My affair drifted on till was ~
| proper age TO he married and Alice
was grown woman. Since ] had de-
/ termined 10 put my head in the liun.
| ess' jaw | was in desperate hurry
( TO do so. But Alice was in no hurr.
Mt all. She kept putting me Off til at
! last told her that believed she was
/ fooling me and would not marry me
/ at ALL gave as reason that she
wanted my uncles fortune as well as
myself and she would not take me
without it.
can never forget that beautiful. re-
proac hfnl look she gave me. 1t seemed
that | had touched a sensitive plant
and had blighted it. | caught her In
my arms and implored her forgiveness
She forgave me.
nearer than before.
1t was about this time that ! began
to notice change In my uncle His
TRADES against women were less fire.
quent He surprised me one day by
saying that II man could capture one
of these creatures young and train her
to a sense Of honor such as Is inherent
in a man she might be changed, as a
wild cub is changed. to domestic uses.
How young. Uncle Ted" l asked.
do you think 1t necessary to begin
with q girl?"
THAT | don't know Perhaps eight.
cen would not be too late" was his re-
ply.
1t seemed to me as IL my uncle had
been tanned ut the age of forty six, fol
every day | noted some new evidence
that he was becoming a domesticated
animal Then there came period
when he seemed very i'll at ease with
me. Up to this time he had been very
chummy with me. Now he would sill
at table reading his newspaper. and II
the evening when we had smoked al
home or gone out to n play together he
Z would either 20 to his room to read ol
J would so out alone. One morning
saw him going into flower shop
] What business he had there l did moi
know. and | was not of sufficiently
. small caliber to try TO find out. NJ
! flowers came to the house. No woman
;, hater could be sending them except t,
b funeral. and | was not aware tina
. any of my uncles relatives or friend
y had died
j One morning after breakfast my I'm
:. Gle took me into his study and SAT-
I that he had n very important commu
e nication to make After great hem
:. ming and having and getting very re,
, i'm the face he began:
{ Il have adopted you and led you t
expect that on certain conditions yo
4 will inherit my fortune. Circumstance
II have somewhat changed this intention
d You will remember that | have sal
Il to You that Il a woman could be caugh
J. young she might be tanned and turne
e from a devil to something that coul
II be lived with. | have decided to tr
II this plan am about to marry
o young woman. "A woman twenty-hy
l. years younger than myself. But wi
e not disappoint you. | will on the da
y of my wedding settle on you thir
ID of my estate without conditions. IL
ID have no children you will eventual
"a get the whole"
ID was relieved and delighted.
is third of an estate was far better tina
N none. aud IL my uncle had adhered
pr his original intention l would get not
ing unless ! resigned Alice. col
a. graduated. my uncle. aud from thi
Sc moment we were again in perfect ra
er port. | asked him when l should