The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1917-03-02

| proved herself one.
When we came to that period In a
courtship where a couple can sit side
by side from z o lock in the evening
| till 3 in the morning l told Alice all
about my woman hating uncle. By
| this time he had given me a full ac-
count of how he had been ruined in
his brothers affection by a designing
woman, and l gave Alice the story.
She seemed much interested, much in
| cenaed, against the "horrid thing" who
had so foully misrepresented her sex.
Meanwhile l had given my enchan-
| tress to understand that / was to in
herit my uncle's estate in trust for the
| next man to inherit it after me, and
| that l could only do so by giving u
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 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 1t would
be a great deal nicer If we could in
herit my uncle's' wealth. The mink
had conceived q scheme for getting
| that fortune, but she said nothing about
| it to me.
Ny affair drifted on till l was of n
proper age to be married and Alice
was q grown woman. Since l had de-
termined to put my head in the lion
ess' jaw I was in desperate hurry
to do so. But Alice was in no hurry
at all. She kept putting me off till at
last l told her that believed she was
fooling me and would not marry me
at all. ! gave as a reason that she
wanted my uncle's fortune as well as
myself and she would not take me
without it.
can never forget that beautiful, re-
proachful look she gave me. 1t seemed
that l had touched a sensitive plant
and had blighted it. l caught her in
my arms and implOred her forgiveness
She forgave me.
But our wedding was not whit
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 if man could capture one
Of these creatures young and train her
to sense Of honor such as is inherent
in man she might be changed, as n
wild cub is changed, to domestic uses.
"How young. Uncle Ted" l asked,
do you think it necessary to begin
with girl?"
THAT 1 don't know Perhaps eight
cen would not be too late" was his re-
ply.
1t seemed to me as If my uncle had
been tanned at the age of forty-six, for
every day noted some new evidence
that he was becoming domesticated
animal Then there came a 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 sit
at table reading his newspaper, and in
the evening when we had smoked at
home or gone out to play together he
would either 60 to his room to read or
would go cut alone. One morning
saw him going into a flower shop.
What business he had there l did not
know. and | was not Of sufficiently
small caliber to try to find out No
flowers came to The house. No woman
hater could be sending them except to
funeral, and | was not aware that
any Of my uncle's relatives OF friends
had died.
One morning after breakfast my I'M
Gle took me into his study and said
that he had q very important commu-
nication to make. After great hem
ming and having and getting very red
in the face he began:
II have adopted you and led you to
expect that on certain conditions you
will inherit my fortune. Circumstances
have somewhat changed this intention.
| You will remember that / have said
| to you that If q woman could be caught
| young she might be tanned and turned
| from devil to something that could
| be lived with. / have decided to try
| this plan. ! am about to marA' q
| yOuuS WOLuuu, WOuluu LWeuty
years younger than myself. But / will
not disappoint you. I will on the day
Of my wedding settle on you third
of my estate without conditions. IF
have no children you will G, entually
get the whole"
| l was relieved and delighted. A
third of an estate was far better than
none. and If my uncle had adhered to
his original intention / would get moth
ing unless | resigned Alice. / con-
graduated my uncle, and from that
moment we were again in perfect rap
port. / asked him when l should be
introduced to his fiancee, AMI he told
me that she would dine with us the
next evening.
At O'Clock on the appointed even
ing my uncle and were In the draw
ing room waiting A carriage stopped
at the door. the maid answered the
summons and a lady stood before us.
She was Alice!
While my uncle aud / were much en-
barrassed, l especially so, she was ms
cool as If she had not been confronted
by two men to both of whom she was
betrothed. Ignoring me. she took her
older lover by the hand, led him TO a