The Press., 1918-01-31
|MyDeciis'iiOn k A Story of Romance Yer sus the Practical.
Ny ALAN HINSDALE

Of all the girls of our bunch I pre- ferred Gwen Meriweather. Gwen had character stamped in her face as plain ly as the word may be. printed. But she was, or seemed to metto be, devoid of sentiment. was full of 1t. l fell in love with her, and since she was de- void of what was born in me 1 endOw- ed her with it. For this purpose I had plenty of imagination and succeeded in covering her with an ideality which she did not possess.
 It is said, and 1 believe it, that Op- pOsites are readily attracted to each other. At any rate, Gwen and | pair ed off. It was not long before was making love at high pressure. Gwen did not seem averse to listening to my rhapsodies, but she made no return in kind. Besides, she showed her matter | of-factness in other ways. For in stance, l gave her a book rack, hand somely inlaid, one of. those con- trivances to put on a stand to hold a dozen or so choice books. Not long afterward her little brother knocked 1t off the stand and broke 1t. told l Gwen that I would have 1t mended for her. She said that it would cost more to mend 1t than 1t would be worth. 8
 This reply was a great shock to me. had supposed that the gift, coming from. me, would be of inexpressible value to her. Gwen looking at it in a pecuniary way rather than prlzing 1t as m expression of my tender feelings 1 for her seemed to me to be barbarous I made no complaint. I simply went off and nursed my wound.
 When entered seriously with Gwen into discussion of q future together she again threw damper on me. She poo-poohed my talk about love in a cottagepoverty she called it-and 1 brought up many objections to match between us. I was so inflated l hy my romance that nothing seemed to stand in the way of our union. I told Ter that with love In our hearts Ob- cclions were of no moment whatever. Her reply was, When poverty comes iii at the door love flies out of the win IoW.' A
 i This was all the more, chilling to me because there were no important world " reasons why Gwen aad I should not be married. I was in receipt of an in- come on property to enable us to live comfortably. had, besides, a good salary and was advancing as rapidly as was to be expected. I have noticed that women have a way of saying one thing and meaning another. Owens real objection to marrying me came out in good time. She saw plainly that l had set her upon a pedestal as an Ob- ject of worship, and she feared that when the time came-as it inevitably must come-for taking down the gilded image and putting up one of flesh and blood my love would not prove to be of the kind to endure the change.
 This was the way Gwen expressed it to me: "You have mistaken me-" she said. You consider me generous dnselfish. On the contrary, am mean and never give anything away that want myself. Besidess I have traits, inherited from my ancestors, that would turn any man.Afrom me whose love was of the most substantial kind."
 I was bit staggered by this confes- sion, but not for long,: My optimistic disposition rose above fear that would not love Gwen even if she were all she painted herself, and I told her so in most impassiOned words, at the same time lavishing upon her an abundance of caresses. But she disengaged her self from me, avowing that at the first sign of a real fault in her my caresses would turn to expressions of contempt.
 One day when Gwen and were walking together we came to a fruit stand kept by a poor woman who was evidently obliged to keep her little child with her while selling her goods. Gwen took fancy to some apples and asked the woman their price. Instead of paying it Gwen endeavored to beat the vendor down and, failing to do so, walked on without buying. was so filled with commiseratiOn for a woman whose sphere in life condemned her to make her living in such an humble way, especially as she was obliged to keep a hungry looking child with her while doing so, that I would have been glad to pay double the price she asked for her apples.
 said nothing to Gwen about the matter then, but I thought a great deal. After all, was she not right in asserting that after we were married her faults would come up to make trou- ble between us? She had said that she was very mean and when a time came had not scrupled to show that mean. ness. While I was repelled at her fault, could not but admire her frank ness and her wisdom at hesitating to marry a man who was ignorant of it.
 Gwen and I were invited to spend n couple of weeks in midsummer at the country residence of friend of hers Gwen and Miss Emily Tucker had been schoolmatos, and l did not doubt that Miss Tucker possessed my flancee's con !idence to far greater degree than did, for if there are two lleEs1ns in the world who are bent ou withholding confidence from each other thcyTarc an engaged couple. l know perfectly we'll that Gwen gave her friend a list of my good and bad qualities and certain other information about mo that she would not mention t3 me.
 One evening 1 was sitting in the glOaming iii tlv ,iraN ts' room while the girls were upstairs ill their rooms dressing for dinner. I heard q light step on the Stai <. ;nd a moment later Gwen entered tEc rom where l was. was sitting in G2iS% corner, and she apparently di,l not sec inc. There was a case of Curios il the r0onl,. some of which were ye:y rare anI some very beautiful. Gwen v1nt to this case and took from it tiny statuette, for which ! she had expressed admiration. She concealed it in her drapery and few ! minutes later passed out of the room.
 Heaven preserve me! My fiaDcee was a thief-a thief who would steal from her bosom friend, who, at the time of l the theft, was entertaining her. Never l before or since have experienced such