The guardian., 1941-01-18
FACT AND
FICTION
g
By III. IRVING KING
Mcclure Syndicate-WNU ServiceD

\1Oh1EO OF adventure appealed
- with an overwhelming force to
the soul of Margaret Leamington.
The more bloody and more hair
raising they were the greater their
appeal. Even as little girl she
found herself bored by the Dottv
Dimple and Little Purdy series and
would surreptitiously procure vol
umes of high-spiced literature, which
were taken away from her when
ever she was caught reading them,
the removal being accompanied by
lecture on total depravity and, like
as not, some sharp raps over the
knuckles.
By the time she reached marri-
ageable age she had discarded the
pirate and train-robber as being
while in many respects wholly de-
ightful-decidedly bad form and, on
the whole, hardly calculated to fit in
well with any practical scheme of
domestic felicity But all men of
adventure are not criminals: There
are some very respectable persons
in the adventure business. Margaret
decided to marry one of these.
She wanted a soldier of fortune
who had fought all over the world
under many flags; an explorer who
had been tortured by Tartars on
Mongolian plains or shipwrecked in
the vicinity of the North pole; a big
game hunter who had had an arm
and three ribs broken by the charge
of a mad notwithstanding like
that
ClaXton Simms saw Margaret, ad-
mired, fell in love and laid siege.
He soon found out her hobby-in fact.
had been warned of it before and,
though a modest, retiring sort of
young man, allowed her to draw out
from him some of the particulars
of most romantic and exciting ad-
ventures in which he diffidently ad-
mitted he had taken part. When he
talked of his adventures, Margaret
listened to him with rapt attention,
giving utterance now and then to
little eXclamations of interest and
delight.
THE trouble with all you men
who have really done things" said
Margaret when Caxton baked at re-
lating one of his marvellous tales.
'the trouble with all of you daring
adventures is that you are so reti-
cent about your exploits. Now you
lOOU1 bOy1y y,o,,ob 7 lO1yo 70 Loa, a..
ring tales, and I want you to be
sure and tell one of your adventures
to me every time you call"
That was rather a large order;
but CaXton did his best to fill it.
What wouldn't he do to please Mar
gle? Sometimes he would hesitate
and stop short just at the most in
teresting and exciting part of the
tale; and Margaret would say, en-
couragingly, Now don't get fur
ried. You were not furried then,
you know" And Caxton would
plunge into his blood-curdling story
again. But he was so excessively
modest that he extracted a promise
from Margaret that she would not
publish to the world the fact that he
was really such a daredevil. The
courtship was a most delightful one
for Margie-she told an intimate
friend and confdant of hers that it
was all that she had dreamed of.
But before the courtship had
reached the popping point" rival
entered the field; another man of
adventure-this time a tall, strap
ping, bluff sort of person who had
interviewed the Grand Lama and
written a monograph on his discov-
cries in the recesses of the forests
OF Brazil. Margaret met him at
dinner. His name was Paul Ravel-
stock and truly Paul was nothing
loath to talk of his experiences. And
everybody said, Nov Margaret
bennington has met her fate"
CaXton Simms heard about it, Of
course, and had an acute attack of
jealousy.
Well" said he, II hear you have
met the great man, Ravelstock. You
will not care about hearing of my
adventures any more after listening
to his"
"Oh," replied Margaret, che was
very entertaining-very entertaining
indeed. But after all his stories are
not half as interesting as yours. Tell
me again of the time you were
wrecked on the coast ofNew Guinea"
Caxton was walking up and down
the room, his hands clasped behind
him, thinking hard. Suddenly he
came to pause before the young
lady and, looking intently into her
eyes, said, Margaret, want you
to be my wife. But before you an
swer me l have a confession to
make. Those weird stories of adj
venture which l have just been tell
ing you are all imaginary as far as
my ever having experienced them.
The only adventure l ever had was
on Sound steamer. She broke
something about her engine and we
were four hours late getting into
New York. l spun my first adven-
ture-yarn in an attempt to excite
your interest in me. After that you
kept me going. Now. can YOU marry