If' A NOTaV SHORT STORY 1 FAMOUS WRITER J MISS CKATtV8'8 OMAMCE-By OMAMCE-By p gtSsflsftsrt Moore . Bevniwi . Robert Carter was s cWnrtasrun mmn Thml w" bs-exejv bs-exejv k Tarhad come to do so well for hJmLjVT Jr world. The atsoo s year to wfcAjP had attstnsd as head bojk-kaanjTr bojk-kaanjTr srths Arm of Bromley Longton f FMtan Showed how well be Had doijer himself, for six years earlier n, iii thought himself s lucky m.n to vLtouched loo. and his friends had aaPed with him. It so happened how-aSr. how-aSr. that luck had nothing to do wttn JTs advance It was lisrd work that had Soa It-hard work and. ss has been Jr hinted, commonplace work. m So he was pronv.led over the heed, or I half a tfosen slackers to ha ths heed I of the correspondence department, and then It was that Ms knowledge of French, German and Portuguese was discovered P by ths heads of ths firm and another So r was sdded to his salary Aftsr that his progress was stsady until at the Me of 5 he was In receipt of ths toT per annum, which was ths maximum paid by-Messrs. by-Messrs. Bromley A Longton to a member of their staff. But still Hubert Carter wss essentlelly commonplace, and he was Informed of this faot when he proposed to Pearl Cray-thorne. Cray-thorne. a young person who waa fully senslbls of her own responsibilities as a pretty and accomplished girl In a town of great dullness. Hhe was the only dsughter of a hujks'llvi -the chief b.iU-seller b.iU-seller In Uustlngton and she had for several yearn been a constant studem of a certain type of those romences which her father "etucked." Before she wss If years of age Pearl Craythorne waa living In a world of romance, ro-mance, among the heroes and heroinea of A few days later shs went on her annual an-nual visit to her aunt, who uvea in quiet ease at one of the watering places on the Firth of Forth, and for a fortnight fort-night she was cut off from her novela. for her Scotch aunt would not allow a work of action, apart from the waverley novels, into her bouse. , . Her aunt accompanied her to Edinburgh on her return journey, put her carefully Into an empty second class compartment In ths southward going train, but at ths moment of starting a man rushed up ths platform carrying a gun caae and a tea eeeket, and a porter bundled him Into Pearl's carriMe while the train was la motion. The abruptness of his sntrancs mads sn apology poeslhJs. not to ear necessary, eihe sew that he waa a tall, good looking and well dressed man. broneed and soldierly. sol-dierly. "A loss thing:'' be remarked. "1 hops 1 didn't startle you You saw how that porter simply flung me in. 1 never missed a train In my lite, however, and so my rscord remains unbroken. Can 1 cloee this window for youf" She thanked him and he pulled up the window and seated himself opposite to her. Her aunt bad presented her with a lady's magazine, and he had provided pro-vided himself Wth some Illustrated papers, pa-pers, and for some time they read steadily; stead-ily; but although she kept her eyes upon her mega nine, aba did not fall to perceive that he cast more than one stray glance at her over the top of his papsr. Nearly an hour had paseed, nuwsver, before he said a word to bar, and then It w as only to offer her his illustrated paper, when she had laid down her magaxlne. "There's a page or two devoted to the Highlands the same they have every year at thle time." he remarked. rren tnai moment eoo round ner-self ner-self i battering with him as If thsy had been acquainted for years. He was aulas ami rssessMiil, esse spsahaiss Hi a pleasant low tone of voice upon ordinary ordi-nary topics until South Africa was casually mentioned by her. He told hsr of many acts of heroism, but nsvsr dwelt for a moment upon any achleve-ment achleve-ment of Iris own. limee rwios,, sno a n, slvw uoi eoo conceived a great distaste for the people of th. town. 1 m young men whom she me wax 41 either aunutium at bounders, and though shs had many admirers among the n shs dkt-not give any of them the) leas', en. ourecemen: until st.s met Hubert Qerter snc thought he wss a good dsal wear thin the malorlty of ths .oung men In her circle of aou',!ntamj. i d ft would be imp v!'it- to deny that shs gavs him gurus encouragement. Mr. Carter fell In love with her he told her so, and wss foolish enough to confide con-fide In her not only so far. but also that he had long ago made up his mind never te fart In love with any girl until he could command Mv a year. "And your father agrees with me that that aum, with ths prospects that 1 bavs of an Increase, should be enough for us te make a slart on." "What, havs you artuslly asksd my father's leaves to to addreaa me? ' ahe saM. with mors than s little bitterness In her voice. "Why, of course I did: what did you take me for?" he said. "You went to my father and talked over the whole business ths whols business that Is the soluble word business? Oh, Mr. Carter, you are conimonplacenees Itself." It-self." "Am I? Ves. 1 suppose I am. now that t come to thlnh of It. I had not thought snvthlng sbout It before. And now that I think of It. I'm not sure that there's much wrong in being commonplace. All the beat business men I know are commonplace. com-monplace. What would you like me to be?" Again shs shook her head sadly. "I could not explain It to you." shs said. "Only I fesl that that oh, Mr. Carter do you mean to say that you would be content to pass the rest of your life In aa office from It) In the morning until f In the evening?" "If I was sure of Increases In salary at stated times, snd If I had you to coma boms to svsry evening.' he replied stoutly. stout-ly. "And you would call that lifer' shs said. i "I should csll It as happy a Ufa aa any man could have." hs cried. "1 aak nothing better. IMn't think that I have not been giving full consideration to this business 1 mean the uuestlos of asking you to marry me. Long before I came to know you I edmtrsd you greet!; I thought that " "Pld you fall In love with ms. thsn?" "Of course not. how could I. when 1 had never epoksn to you." He wss liopeleee. "llsve you never heard of love at first And thsn all st once be pulled himself up In ths midst of a story of another general. "I beg your pardon," he said. "I am boring you." "I have never been so Intsrestsd In all my life." said she. . "It Is very kind of you to say so," be Isughsd. "But 1 know my own weakness Never mind. Isn't It about tsa tlms? Will you honor ms by allowing ms to mske a cup of tea for you?" Hs hsd opened the tea basket end was taking out the cupe. They were of fine chins, and the tea ssrvtcs was of silver, aa were also ths plates and the other appointments of the baskst. Hs waa clearly an adapt at tea making. He had put the basket with the spirit lamp inside it on ths floor of the car-rlaga, car-rlaga, and while li stooped over It. shs uulrkly glancsd st the luggage label on the gun ease. She had read the Inscription Inscrip-tion In a second . Major the Hon. ORANTLV DIRWKNT I 1st Ufa Guards. Windsor. There be was kneeling at hsr fast her Ideal guardsman the eon of a peer-handsome, peer-handsome, a brave soldier, and as modest as he wss bravs. She waa not a vain girl, but shs could not but feel that she had msds an Impression upon him; and before they had come to ths snd of thslr Journey together at the Junction for Huh. tlngtun. she knsw that shs had not flattered flat-tered herself. She had get out of the train he waa going on to London and they had a few minutes together on the platform. . "Would yeu think It a great Impertinence Imperti-nence on my part If I were to beg of you to let ms know what Is your nams?" he said. "I should like to If 1 may "r", f.. OUl "d Perhaps you are not married 7 "I am not married." shs replied "My nsme s Psari Craythorne. and my rather le s book seller at Uustlngton ' Aud I may writs to you?" "If VOU think It worth k ,, "Worth the double If I think' It wortn But before he could complete the een-tei.es een-tei.es hs had to Jump Into his train: It began to move away a second later. She arrived at her home In due course snd found hsreelf standing flushed be-fors be-fors ths glass tn hsr wardrobe door, asking hsrsslf if It was poaslbls that her dream had come true. If she bad at last cress, J ths boundary of romance A major in ths guards Hhs had oftsn Pictured such a man, but now that she had become acquainted with him shs was conscious of ths great difference between the Ideal of her fiction writers end the reality. She now felt how closely the former resembled the bounder of dally life he had nothing In common with the subdued styls of the man from whom ahe had parted a raw hours earlier ths man who had promised to write to her. And thsn her heart sank. Hs was the son of a peer, and doubtless accustomed HjS v!?!.lf,rnt msnage from that of Philip Craythorne. tha respectable book I aeller of Dust naton. What irf .. Oh. yes. I'vs heard of It: but of course that sort of thing Is nonsense." ha replied "Is Itr' shs ssid. "Kohert. 1 like you very much, hut that I not love." "But don't you think Ilia) the right sort will rome?" "I should not like to many on the chanee." "I don't mean after marriage, I mean before It If you only keep the Idea of marrying me before your eyes you s " "Robert. Just now on. it Is Impossible. Now. go away. If you are wlss. Don't t eav another word." lie looked as if he were about to kiss her; snd to her emsssmrnt hs so far forgot for-got himself aa to do so. Its kissed her soundly and conscientiously, and shs so fsr forgot herself as to allow him: and. even moklng allowances for hla not being her Idea of a dashing lover, ahe found his rude treatment of hsr In this matter quite satisfactory. She went upstairs te hsr room snd hsr novel It bad for Its hero an officer In the guards, who had fa.lsn madly In love with a young woman whom he had rescued res-cued from a scoundrel of the blarkest dys. She came to the final shooting on the last page shortly aftsr midnight, and put the book under her pillow with a sigh. Ah! Wbv could not Robert Carter have , a little more of the guardsman about mf think If he came to Dustlngton and found that she lived with her father over the shop In ths High strset? well, he might turn about and go back to Windsor If hs wished. 8h, hT told him boldly that hsr father was s book seller, so he knew what to espsct tjet him come or let him stay away; she would not mske any attempt to deceive de-ceive htm. And then, curiously enough, ahe began be-gan to think of Robert with a tenderness tender-ness thst she had never known before She was surprised to find hsrsslf In such a mood, but she had never previously pre-viously considered what a difference panlng from him would make to her wlifoiV, ?ni . herself sarins In. .7 .Poor Robert:" and before .kP 'f!. w" ' ,lw I9H of wiah-Ing wiah-Ing that thla terribly distracting rig-1 rig-1 .aL Jir the Hon. Orantly Uur-went Uur-went of tha First Ufs Guards had not corns Into hsr life. By the evening fttrJSJ& h" "wt of ni di! 'urtMeS Personage, for no lette. a&B h r..1! " ,0 ber. It seamed Wain that her revelation respecting her fsther being . shopkeeper had been too much for him skTT2 .""l ' o herself on m yiSfM of the ascend day that nTm r silence. "Very wall Let Buf the Heal morning she found a letter waiting for hsr bearing the Windsor postmark. With flushed face sS ,nf, ,or " and reed the following: "t.sar Miss Craythorne "You were so very kind ss to give me permission to address you. though pea knew nothing of who I was or mv circumstances. cir-cumstances. And (Hi. S' berhapa the feeling which I Had for you. after only a few hours acquaintance, was returned bv you I hop. that I waa not wrong, for Indeed rrorn tha fleet moment that I eaw you I felt curtottslv sttrarted. and although I admit that there le conelderahle dleparttv batweee. our posit lens in life, t have been thinking that perttapo you might overlook thla and allow onr acquaintance to be continued when It may Increase Into s nearer and dsarsr friendship I ' " Is due to you. Miss Oral thorn a. to let vou know at once that I am valet to Major the Honorable Oruntlay Dur-went Dur-went of the First Uf Ouards and that I have saved a little money during the five years I have been in hla service ser-vice something tike r:l atvi am thinking of Inveetlng thle In a bachelor's boose In Jar won street or that neighbor-koed. neighbor-koed. I have formed a very nice connection con-nection and I have every proapect of da lavs wall. I hose I near he favored with a letter from you giving me permission to Kief a day In ywer company. Mean -e I remain your respectful admirer fJFJOROB STL'BB." Pearl Crs thorns flung herself on her bed In sn outburst of tears What a fool she bad been what a silly, vain, roraantle fool, not to be able to date t the difference between a gentleman ani hla vale! The evening had come before she was able to write two letters tbe ons In reply to the manly, straight forward for-ward letter which she had recatv ed from t he gua rda rna n ' s v aJ et shs told htm that she waa already engaged, and tha other to Robert Carter, aaklnar him to coma to her on his way from m-of m-of flee Properly speaking, ahe should not have told Mr. Stubb that she waa en gaged until ahe had setn Robert but before he and ahe had been together for five minutes ahe had Qualified for Mating Mat-ing it with a claar conscience (vop -tight.