The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-01-12
Cupid Versus
Connie Art
Studio Plans Were Abandon
ed After an Explanation.
By HELEN ]. WOOD.

"See here, Connie, l can't 20 a
step farther. If you want to carry
out the rest of your program for to-
day you will have to do it by your
self. l am tired out. And here are
these home papers l have been
carrying around all morning with
out even a chance to glance in
them"
Mrs. Curwin emphasized her re-
marks by sinking down on one of
the benches in front of the Pavilion
des Arts 1ndustrieux. Soon she was
buried in her papers, quite forgetful
OF foreign surroundings.
One glance at the daughter show
ed that she was the general of the
little exploring party. Filled with
a determination to see everything
at the exposition, she had been
personally inducting' her meek
minded mother for a week. Mrs.
Curwin was hankering for the al
lurements of the French shops, but
Connie had been resolute. The ex-
position first and Paris afterward
was her motto.
But today she was wise enough to
overlook this sudden insubordina-
ton. Besides, she was tired her
self. SO there she sat, idly watch
ing the stream of passing people.
What contrasts in figure and cos
tune met her eyes-English, Turks,
Hindus, japanese and, more nu-
merous than all, Americans. Con-
ME saw her compatriots with a
thrill Of pride-the girls SO much
more beautiful than their foreign
sisters, the men SO tall and broad
shouldered. Oh, the American men.
She would choose them every time.
A tender smile parted her lips. Her
mothers voice broke her ~reverie:
"Why, l can't believe my eyes,
Well, well!" And she paused as il
overcome.
Connie leaned over and read the
exciting paragraph:
"Mr. and Mrs. Van Ingen an
nounce the engagement Of their
daughter Maud to James Workman
Pennington of this city"
Connie started in spite of herself.
"Jim! And he never told mel"
"That's just what I'd like to
know. How did he ever work it up
in such a hurry? Why, we have
been gone only two months, and be-
fore that he was always hanging
round after you"
She fairly sputtered in her excite
mtnt, but a glance at her daugh-
ter's face Gained her. It wore a look
Of n stunned by the shock Of a
sudden blow.
"Of course" she went on more
quietly, 1t may have been going on
for q long time. Maud is not pref
ty," with an admiring gaze at her
own daughter, "but she is kind and
pleasant. He might have done
worse"
eyes, he might have done worse"
Maud echoed. "But / shall write
him a note tonight and scold him
for not having told me before-me,
whom he called his best friend.
Now, mother, if you are determined
not to see anything more today you
can easily find your way home. I
will follow out the program alone"
And, picking up her guidebooks,
she hurried off.
Mrs. Curwin gazed after her with
a growing anxiety. Did Connie real
" care?
Meanwhile the trim little figure
was hurrying down a long aisle. Her
eyes passed over q kaleidoscope sue
cession Of objects that somehow
failed to make any impression on
her brain. The exposition roared
and flashed around her, and in her
mind one train of thought kept re-
peating with a horrible persistency.
Jim engaged-her Jim! Yes, he
had been her Jim, she said almost
savagely; had. been her best friend
for eyer SO long. She had been CO.
quettish and firted with the other
boys, but he had known all along,
she felt sure. Had he only been
flirting with her? No, no! But
here he was, engaged to another
girl! And then the whole miser-
able circuit began once more.
She came home to the pension so
white and weary that her mother
was alarmed, but she pleaded ia
tigue and went off to bed like a
tired child.
Poor Mrs. Curvin was much per-
picked in the days that followed.
Connie seemed the usual Connie,