Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-05-10
MI n p "a - emg
= CALLED HIS BLUFF
~ "a
n "a
IA BY SADIE oLcoTT. ~
I'M NM
V5
-
IA
~
n
IA
t5
BY SADIE oLcoTT.
~ "a "a aW
Copyright. 1917. Western Newspaper Union-)


ton of being the most pronounced CO.
quette in the city in which she lived.
A man would be seen to be attentive
to her, would become more and more
attentive, would send gifts-of course
without intrinsic INDEPENDENTLY
flowers, and everybody would suppose
that an engagement was to be an
nounced, when, prestoi the gentleman
would suddenly be called away. At
any rate his attentions to Miss Cher
borough would cease. Then in the
course of a few months or a few
weeks, he would be replaced by an
other sutton who would proceed along
the same lines. Not infrequently there
would be several of these gentlemen
trying to climb the ladder at the same
time.
One morning when the postman call
ed, as usual at breakfast time, he
left a letter for Miss Cherborough,
on the left-hand corner of which was
the official stamp: "Willetts and Les
lie, Attorneys at Law" The young
lady looked at the stamp ~curiously,
then opened and read the letter:
1--WE are instructed by our client, Mr..
John Fleetwood, to bring suit against
you for breach-of-promise of mar
rage. He claims damages to the
amount of $4,000. We write you,
trusting that the matter may be set
tied out of court, with a view to avoid
ing litigation, and the consequent ex-
pense."
Members of the family were at the
table, but Miss C~herborough was
iH the habit of keeping her own
sci about her love affairs, she tucked
the letter In her blouse without COM
menting on it. When she had finished
the meal she went to her room and her
composure gave way to a rapidly beat
ing heart.
1t was not that she judged the note
to be serious in a legal point of view,
but in a game of hearts she had been
playing she knew it to be a bold stroke
on the part of her opponent. She knew
that Mr.. Fleetwood would not take
money from her even If she had money
to pay. Nor would he stoop to pun
ish her for having led him on to a pro-
posal, and, then rejected him. He was
too good a sportsman at,the game for
that. But what did it mean? That
was the question. After due consid-
Grafton she decided 1t was a bluff, and
wrote the attorneys that she had never
promised to marry Mr.. Fleetwood,
therefore she owed him nothing.
Back came a letter from them stat
ing that Mr.. Fleetwood had in his pos
session letters from Miss Cherborough
which would prove his case. At this
Miss Cherborough WINGED. She was
not conscious of having written a line
TO Mr.. Fleetwood, but she was not sure.
On the return of different patches of
letters she had written various suit
ors, she had been surprised at her
lack of caution in expressing herself.
Miss Cherborough did not know
whether Mr.. Fleetwood loved her or
not; and she was quite sure that as
for any real love for him she had kept
him in the dark. This threatened suit
was likely, in some way unknown to
her, intended to draw out an answer
to this question. She wrote the law
yers saying that if she had ever writ
ten love letters to their client she did
not remember having done so. The re-
ply was that unless some proposition
for q settlement was forthcoming with
in q week suit would be commenced.
This would involve the publication of
her letters which Mr.. Fleetwood would
very much regret.
Miss C~herborough's weak point was
that she did not know if these letters
existed or whether they were a gi-
gantic bluff. There was something in
MI. Fleetwood's audacious method that
won her, and for the first time in her
life she was ready to tumble to this
singular wooing. But-suppose she
gave in and offered to settle the case
by agreeing to fulfill her promise to
marry the plaintiff, might he not sting
her by saying that he had changed his
mind2 After vainly trying to find
some way out of the dilemma she
wrote the attorneys that if Mr.. Fleet
wood would show her any written evil
dence that she haQ SAID Sne loVed MIN
and had promised to be his wife she
would not break the pledge, but would
fulfill it by marrying him.
A considerable time elapsed between
the sending of this letter and the re-
ply. The delay meant to Miss Cher
borough that either Mr.. Fleetwood had
no such letters, or that he did not
want to marry her. But If the game
was worth the playing it meant that
the plaintiff was trying to win the
defendant.
Finally the attorneys wrote that If
Miss Cherborough would call at their
offices at an appointed time Mr.. Fleet
wood would convince her of the JUS
tice of his cause. Miss C%herborough