Middletown transcript., 1922-12-02


talk Of Beasley there. l suppose 1t
may have been little embarrassing
for everybody-especially If Ann APP
perthwaite heard you."
."Ann? That's Miss Apperthwaite?
Yes; was speaking directly to her.
Why shouldn't she have heard me?
She talked of him herself little later
and at some length. too."
"She didw My cousin stopped rock
ing, and fixed me with her glitterinR
eye. swell, Of ALI"
rs 1t so surprisingr
The lady gave her boat to the waves
again. "Ann Apperthwaite thinks
about him still" she said, with some
thing like vindictiveness. "Tve always
suspected 1t. She thought you were
new to the place and didn't know any.
thing about 1t all, or anybody to men,
ton 1t to. That's it!"
"Tm still new to the place." urged,
"and still don't know anything about
1t ALL"
"They used to be engaged" was her
succinct and emphatic answer.
found 1t but too Illuminating. "Oh,
OH" l cried. II was an innocent,
| wasn't II"
"Tm glad she does think of him."
said my cousin. ut serves her right.
I only hope he won't find it out, be-
cause he's a poor. faithful creature !;
he'd jump at the chance to take her
back-and- she doesn't deserve him."
"How long has it BEEN" I asked
"since they used to be engagedW
"Oh, a good while-five or six years
ago. I think-maybe more time skips
along. Ann Apperthwaite's no chick
en-, you know" (Such was the lady's
expression.) "They got engaged just
after she came home from college, and
of all the idiotically romantic girls"
"But she's teacher" interrupted,
"of mathematics"
"Yes." She nodded wisely. II al
ways thought that explained it: the
romance is reaction from the al
zebra. l never knew person con-
nected with mathematics or astronomy
or statistics, or any of those exact
things, who didn't have CRAZY streak
in 'em somewhere. They've got to blow
off steam and he foolish to make up
for putting in so much of their time
at hard sense. But don't you think
that dislike Ann Apperthwaite. She's
always been one of my best friends
that's why feel at liberty to abuse
her-and I always will abuse her
when I think how she treated poor
David Beasley"
"How did she treat him?"
"Threw him over out OF a clear sky
one night, that's all. Just sent him
home and broke his heart; that is, II
would have been broken if he'd had
any kind of disposition except the one
the Lord blessed him with-just all
optimism and cheerfnlness and make
the-best- t-of-it-ness! He's never cared
for anybody else, and guess he never
will"
"What did she do ii for?"
"Nothingv My cousin shot the in
dignant word from her lips. Nothing
in the wide world"
"But there must have been"
Listen to me-" she interrupted
"and tell me if you ever heard any
thing queerer in your life. They't
been engaged = Heaven knows how
long-over two years; probably neare
three-and always she kept putting l
off; wouldn't begin to get ready
wouldn't set Il day for the wedding
Then Mr.. Apperthwaite died. and lef
her and her mother stranded high ant
dry with nothing to live on. Davi'
had everything in the world to Civ
her-and still she wouldn't. And then
one day, she came up here and toll
me she'd broken it Off. Said sh
couldn't stand it to be engaged t
David Beasley another minute"
But why?"
"Because"-my cousins tone wa
shril with her despair of eXpressin
the satire she would have put into it
| "because, she said he was man o
n no imagination
\ "She still says So" I remarked
Y thoughtfully.
"Then it's time she got a little imas
nation herself!" snapped my compar
4 ion. "David Beasley's the quietes
man God has made, but everybod
IN knows what he Isl There are som
NJ rare people in this world that aren
II all talk; there are some still rare
4 ones that scarcely ever talk at all
and David Beasley's one of them.
i don't know whether it's because
can't talk, or If he can and hates tC
I only thank the Lord he's put a fe
like that into this talky world! Davi
Beasley's smile is better than acre
of other peoples talk. My Providence
O. Wouldn't anybody, just to look at hir
to know that he does better than tall
I'd He thinks! The trouble with Ann Al
IS perthwaite was that she was tt
Of Young to see it. She was so full
novels and poetry and dreaminess ar
highfalutin nonsense she couldn't 81
is anything as 1t really was. She'd stut
! her mirror, and see such heroine
D. romance there that she just couldn
p' bear to have a fiance who hadn't ar
chance of turning out to be the crow
r. prince of Kenosha In disguise. At Il
very least, to suit her he'd have hi
= to wear 'well-trimmed Vandyke' ar
coo sonnets in the cleaning, or res
en- 'On a Balcony to her by red lamp.