Evening star., 1931-12-27
Sir Thomas Lipton's Love Story

liked Marie Corelli, admired the beautiful Max
Inc Elliot and others)- his real friends have
been men. Lord Dewar, Harry Lauder and SIR
Thomas used to call each other The Three
Musketeers-one for all all for one"
THAT he was poor boy and served in shop,
every one knows, because he boasted of his
carly poverty and of being a self-made man.
At that time there was a. girl just as poor as he,
but the most beautiful thing he ever saw, bar
ring none," and he thought then that she was
the sweetest When he happened to have few
minutes free in the shop he used to watch for
her passing; and though he was far from being
conceited boy after while it occurred to
him that possibly she might be passing oftener
than she needed to do for her errands
He stared at her longngly through the shop
window and she would throw him come
hither" glance over her shoulder as she went
by. And with what eyes she threw that glance !!
They were immense and Of the true Irish blue,
under perfectly arched hows, which in these
days of plucked eyebrows might be considered
too heavy But they gave character to her
face, and the long thick lashes (the lower ones
being as marked the upper which curlrd
nearly to the brows) were a rare beauty She
had dainty little nose, which tilted a bit de-
nantly at the tip. and mouth not small, bat
naturally rose-red shaped like the proverb.al
cupids bow. AS for her chin it was cleft as
though her fairy godmother had given it nip
and blessing in her cradle: and in each
cheek there small round dimple when she
smiled.
Because she did smile at Tommy" Lipton
who never dreamed in those days of being Sir"
Thomas though he had ambition), the boy de-
termined to make her acquaintance. She had
masses of black hair, which she wore in TWO
long plaltS that curled at the ends, and she'd 4
way OF tossing these braids in Tommys direc-
tion if they passed in the street; a way which
meant just one thing-actually asked for it. No
doubt Miss loneliness would have been deeply
hurt if he hadn't pulled her hair: and of
course, she pretended to be insulted because
he did
Tommy" apoogized, at the same time pay
ing the fair ones beauty those true Irish COM
pllmentS which he never forgot how to pay
The girl accepted both compliments and apollo
gies; and that is the way the pair were intro
duced. Wasn't it as good way as any when
you ask yourself?
In those days she could have entered one
OF the beauty contests they're always getting
up" he said to me. And she'd have won!
Maybe she'd have been Miss Universe Any
how, that's what she was to me. We walked
out for awhile together. and my only grief
was be1n' too poor to give her the presents I'd
have loved to give. She had to take the will
for the deed: and that doesn't go for long with
a female
BY and by We were engaged, and l was the
happiest boy on Gods earth. except for the
times when she'd say to Tommy, when
will you be rich enough for us to get married?"
There wasn't answer to that question,
unless it was kiss! And the worst was that
a beauty like that one won't content herself
with only one boy. They were all after her.
Did ye ever see a picture of the girl that the
Austrian Crown Prince died for-Countess
Marie Vetsera, or some name like that? Well
my girl was the image of her, but twice as
pretty.
"The one hope had lay in the fact that
the boys she knew were poor There wasn't
SO much to choose between US One day how
ever new fellah came along and made eyes
at her. He was no great shakes, if I do say it
myself. but he was in business that promised
something for the future So my girl broke
her word to me and married the other almost
before knew what had happened
"Losn her like that just turned the heart
over in me breast. I thought at the time it
was more than could live through. seein' her
the wife of another man. But it's queer what
you can live through! And by and by the
wound heals. though maybe it's never as if
you'd had no wound at all.
Well so it was with me. The years. passed
and the fellah never got much further ahead
than he'd been at first He was that kind, il
the girl had had the head to foresee it.
Children came to them and my beauty lost
some OF her looks though with a pair of eyes
like that she could never be plain. AS times
began goin better with me- I would send
Christmas present to the pair, but never with
my name. Anonymous it would be, so it
couldn't hurt their feelin's and probably it did
them some good
We'll, that's my one romance. And now
you've heard it, you'll say it's hardly worth the
tellin'!"
I didn't say that. and didn't think that.
But it wasn't quite a complete story for Sir
Thomas kept back the fair ones name.
I wonder If she's alive still, and a grand
mother, and how many times in her heart she
has regretted jilting one of the best loved men
in the world?