Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-01-26
A LOVELORN
MAID
By ETHEL HOLMES


Jack Merriman made this exclama-
ton one morning after the postman
had handed him a letter which stated
that the writer was a girl of seven
teen. She had met Jack and fallen in
love with him. There were reasons
why, ever if he loved her, they could
not be united, but she could not help
giving him the knowledge that he was
beloved by her. Not on any account
would she write such a letter If there
was the slightest chance of his finding
out who she was. When his letter had
peer sent she believed she would De
happier. AT least she could the better
bear her separation from him.
"IH bet my old boots he added
after a little meditation, that some
girl with a passion for flirting has
written that letter, and I'll bet my old
shoes she cares no more for me than
for d pumpkin. If his diagnosis of
her case is correct she has given a
clew to her identity, and I'm the fell
low to find her out. When 1 do l shall
endeayor to pay her off in her OWE
COIN"
Jack s%crutinized the letter, heating
1t and subjecting 1t to various chemi-
Gals, but If there was any clew in the
paper he did not find 1t. Then he took
up the writing. He was a good deal
of a lady killer and had numerous
notes laid away from young women
written in different hands, all the way
from slanting acute angles to letters
no bigger than pin pricks. He COM
pared the note be had received with
these letters. but there was not one Of
them that furnished a clew to his mod
est lovelorn maiden.
After spending much time over the
epistle that might have peer better
employed he ave up the hunt.
Months passed. He forgot all about
the poor girl who was nursing her
grief In secret. Naturally enough, the
time came when he chose a wife from
among the innumerable throng of girls
he knew. Miss Agnes Hartwell was
her name, and Merriman looked Upon
her as one of the most sedate of the
lot. He complained after they were
engaged that he was obliged to do all
the love making, to which she respond
ed that this was as it should be. She
had a poor opinion of a girl who an
gled for a man, and for one who would
let a man know before he proposed
that he would be accepted she had a
supreme contempt.
But when Jack one evening told her
about the maiden who was grieving
for him and showed her the letter Ag-
nes' kind heart seemed to be touched
with pity. She declares that Jack
should have persevered till he had
found out who she was and given her
j at least the satisfaction Of hearing
from him that she w. 15 6z1[4
telling him of a Owe that could not be
gratified. So sympathetic was she
with the modest maiden that Jack be-
gan to fear she would be impelled by
her sympathy, aided by her conscience,
to send him off with the injunction to
find the secret maiden and insist upon
marrying her, no matter what the OBJ
j~ections might be.
Indeed, when Jack found that Agnes
did not get over the matter he began
to worry and regretted that he had
said anything about the letter. espe-
cially since his fiancee blamed him for
a want of perseverance in not follow
ing the matter further. Agnes said
that If a girl loved a man well enough
to write such a letter it would be i'm
possible for her to refrain from giving
him a clew. For her part, she would
not think very much of a man who
gave up a hunt so easily.
A lover is very sensitive to the opin-
ion of his ~iancee, and Jack began to
think that If Agnes dwelt Upon the
matter long enough she would despise
him. He made all the excuses he could
think of. finally declaring that the rea-
son he had not p~ersevered was be-
cause he had even then been in love
with Agnes. Whereupon she remind
ed him that at the time he received the
letter he had no acquaintance with her.
1t sometimes happens that the more
a girl loves a man the more she is dis
posed to torment him. At any rate, 1t
was SO with Agnes in respect to Jack.
They had the full complement of tiffs
usual to lovers, and whenever Agnes
was disposed to be especially annoy
ing she would declare that she would
give him up to the poor girl ''he had
treated so badly" Jack couldn't see
how he was to blame because a girl
had confessed her love for him and
given him no clew to her identity, but
he was very much in love with Agnes
and by this time had learned that if he
wished to continue her fiance he must
not look for her promises and her con-
illusions to have any relation to each
other.
Agnes kept Jack on tenterhooks till
after their marriage. When they came
home from the honeymoon he hoped