The Elk Mountain pilot., 1924-09-11
NEVER
TOOLATE
FORLOvE
By H. IRVING KING
70. 1874. Mcclure Newspaper syhdicat,

Margaret Howard's case should be
a warning to all girls of marriageable
age. After, as everybody said. fling
ing herself at the head" of Howard
Harrop, Howard had Tilted her. Had
Margaret been in love with the faith
less wooer? Well, no-as a matter
of fact she had not She had, how
ever, been rather in love with his
Rolls-Royce, his yacht and his coun-
try house; and she felt the blow
keenly.
There had never been any formal
engagement between Margaret and
Howard, but he had paid her marked
attention-and then gone off and mar
ried somebody else, leaving her to
wear the willow. Well, after all, Mar
garet was not wholly to blame for her
part In the incident-she had been
brought up that way-first to consider
the fortune and then the man who
possessed 1t. Some fortunes will bear
a very heavy incumbrance in the shape
Of husband-others won't. The i'm
portance of the husband increases in
regular scale as the size of the for
tune diminiShes.
Harrop's fortune could have bal
anced him very well indeed. Her fail
ure was due entirely to that human
equation which no system ever yet In
vented has been able wholly to elm
mate from the affairs of men-or wom-
en-. At first naturally, Margaret was
much chagrined. But she was a girl
endowed by nature with an unusual
share of grit and common sense; and,
though the latter quality had been
Systematically stified by her bringing
up, It was still there and in this crisis
asserted itself.
Served me right" was Margaret's
final verdict on the affair. People
talked and Margaret rose to the oc-
casion, setting float a rumor that she
had Tilted Howard and not Howard
her-a rumor which she fostered and
circulated with such tact and persist
ency that when it came to the ears
of Harrop he half believed 1t himself
But after all she felt rather "out of
It." She saw young people making
love, getting engaged and marrying
around her and wondered If there was
not somewhere in the world. another
life without which life her life was
incomplete" Her parents stormed and
ragged and demanded that she go out
again into the merry greenwood of
society and stalk another buck. The
woods were full of them-but Mar
garet would not; her hunting days
were over, she declared. And then
her parents died and left her little
or nothing; and then her greataunt
died and left her a great fortune,
which. If she had had in the first
place she would never have had to
turn huntress. And Margaret was
now thirty years old.
Together with her aunt's estate
Margaret took over as manager of it
the man who had so long conducted
the financial affairs of her estimable
and deceased relative. There is no
use in Disgusting it-strike up the
band! here comes the hero. Phillip
Cummings, the financial director afore
said, was of about Margaret's own
age-perhaps year or two younger,
though he looked older. He was a
staid, quiet person who spoke but lit
tie but who, when he did speak, spoke
very much to the point.
Naturally he and Margaret were
thrown very much together in the way
Of business and, to her surprise. the
young lady found that she was linger-
ing over business matters with her
secretary longer than was absolutely
required by the circumstances. What
did this mean? Could 1t be? But
pshawl she was thirty years old But
then thirty is, after all, not such a
very venerable age. People had been
known to live to forty and retain pos
session of all their faculties. And If
1t was-if love had really come at
last, what then? she saw no signs that
she had awakened In Phillip Cummings
sentiments which she now realized
had taken possession of her own heart.
Was she destined never to be loved?
What was there about her that de-
barred her from experiencing, once
In her life. the joyous knowledge that
some one loved her? She found her.
self repeating those lines of Tenny-
son:
Oh. let the solid earth not fall beneath
my feet
Until my life has found what some
have found SO sweet.
But there she was, debarred by the
very nature of things. from any be-
trayal of her real feelings in the mat
ter Suppose she should, inadvertent-
ly. betray herself; and should meet
with no response The thought was
too horrible. She would see as little
as possible of Philip; would hold him
at distance lest she should hold him
too near. The result was that an Icy
barrier seemed to arise between the
two who had before been on a rela
tion as nearly "chummy" as the posi-
tions of employer and employed per
mltted. Philip felt the change; the
two became nervous and i'll at ease