Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-09-13
JUST BEFORE HIS WEDDING
a oAcrt Nory.
ny LILY WANDEL.
ccryrisht. 1871, by AcCsurs Nswvpaps

n hAd been very fortunate that he
had fallen In love with Lse~A sim-
mons. In the nrst place. Il pleased
his mother tremendously, for LeonA
VAS special friend of tho family.
sr.stly beloved and made much OF b.
hts mother and eisters. For fufly elk
months hcecs~ ne rrcroeeA. Leona had
scsrc~ly missed spending q week end
with thcm. 70 cay nothing At the many
dnncrs ana pareiea.
In the second place. II was very FOR
,unatc for the husiness. because this
wac sadly crippled for the lack OF new
capital. And in the third place, II was
scins TO make thinss easy for HE sis-
ters because Leona. ~ an attractive
widow. wealthy. with an assured
social position. would be SURF to
rrotcKr them successfully into the
rsht circles. Truly. II had been for
tuns,e that ne. Edgar wallace, had
fallen In love with Leona. lie would
he on cesy street tho res, Of his life
and no~ldes that ne would have the de-.
lieh,ful companionship Of L.eona. She
wac little older than he, but that
WAS trinlnE.
To DO, Edkar Justice. II must be
ssid that II he had not lovcd I.eona
sincerely he never would have asked
her 10 marry him, no matter how al
lWins all the other detAiia might be.
II was indeed fortunate that he had
fallen IN love with her. ne though,
very often. and not without a con-
tented. happy smile.
4, was ples~nt 60 sec his mother
fairly hrimminG over with happlnees
the sirls axlow with plans for the
future and 10 ne able 20 zee Leona
every day. Life seemed Hike a long
ewcet dream.
A few weeks before his wedding his
mother came TO him with . plan.
Il can't manage II alone, Edgar, Its
too much. Look at tho heap OF un-
answered Invitations and things on my
deck What do you think? Can we
stretch point and engage a social
sccre,ary for a few weeks until after
the wcddlng?"
Edgar agreed Immediately, il w0s a
sensible thing TO do.
He had forgotten about the ar
rangement when few dayu later, nc
met "A young person in the lforary--
very young thing. not more than
twenty. slim and not very tall. dark
hair that curled naturally--Ieona't
was struight-the perfect little red
mouth and two dark. inquirinH eyes
Edgar e'arcd. bowed and hurriealy lef,
the room. Later. OF course. he wrs
introduced to the new secretary.
i, was peculiar that during the nAx,
few days Edgar had quite a few tn.nss
20 attend to in the library. where ths
secretary wac installed. And Il WA
.. odd. too, the interest he suddenly tool
IN his mothers social affairs. The in.
terest grew tremendously: ne had e
dictate few private letters nmeel,
and thereby was forced to cance, Or
engagement with Lecna.
His personal correspondence in.
creased. lie wanted to set rN OF 3
lot OF stun before HIS wedding. ne to<
his mother,
/, Then Il happened that one day wtsr
Mies Bowers wac goinS for q bit O,
fresh air Edgar was instantly remind.
ed OF a letter ne had to Dsnd epecia]
delivery ana naturally they left IA,
house together. Edgar thought I
tramp through the park would Do hin
good. IL wac cold and there was q
thick layer az snow on the ground. 4
stray little boy threw a SNOWFALL an<
. IN two minutes they were having tn,
morrleet time ina gincahle
When, rosy. laughing and penting
they continued their walk. he foun<
out her name was Josephine bu
that everybody called her Jo. H,
rather liked that, 10. and kept re
reating u to himself 90 that whe,
he left her and took her hand. h,
said without thinking, Good by
= little Jo,"
a day or two later he confesse,
Go himsclf that he loved her dee
rerately. Was ever q man IN sucl
. predicameni? To be married I,
less than two weeks. the weddin
Invitations sent out. the very honey
moon trip planned. and then 10 I'm
ne loved this little 10. Loved he
30 Overwhelmingly that he could nc
marry Leona. no matter IL 1t kille
the whole family.
lie lay in bed at nights plannin
desperately how 20 tell nj. mo,he
and how TO tell Ieona, A doze
but by the time dawn came he ha
rejected each one, and was as "a
with his problem as when he ha
retired.
The worst of IL was he began ,
realize that his love was returne
BY little 10. In her soft brow
eyes Was an unmistakable light.
wistful. coaxing. dreamy, telltal
look' AZ FIRST his heart bounde
with Joy and then Immediately san
IN deep despair.
Sleeplcss nights were telling O
y him. he locked haggard Luckil
everybody was too busy TO notice.
a hundred times he was a. n
verge Of throwing convention TO n
winds and simply gathering 10
his heart and telling her of his Low
but each time with an almost super
human effort he controlled himsel
That would not be fair to Leona-
he must frst break with her. n
would begin letter-the wor<
would not write themselves-he'
begin another. still another and the
go out in despair.
Then one evening he hurried hon