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Show J ENCOURAGING TEDDY jj By Cosmo Hamilton 8 'Copyright, Uifi, by Joseph U. Howies.) When two women are Bitting over , n Blowing fire In the broad daylight, nnd one Is mnrricd niul tho other Is not, they Invurlnbly talk of two things dtcss and sorvnnts, Hut when tho light has waned, and the glow of tho tiro nils tho corners of the room with dnnclng shadows, oven dress and servants nro left, and the convotsntlon Invarlnbly turns to the other great stock subject, man. "Of course, I didn't do It to bo 1 thanked; but I think you might have murmured one little word of gratltudo to mo for asking -Mr Carr down. I mean, ordinary politeness requires Bomo attention even from you." Kvu looked up ut Mrs. Clutton from n deep dell of hot coal which had been formed between tho bars. 'Thank . i . you," she said; and then, added, "for nothing." Mrs. Clutton wan one of those long, slight, tired women who ulwayit droBS to perfection, nro never milled, never different, who nro able to hurry while appearing to dawdle, to be exceedingly exceeding-ly annoyed without tho leant apparent appar-ent effort, to laugh heartily without making a sound, and to tulk with great animation, without In any way disturbing the undulating, velvety drawl with which they arc born. "You might talk to mo from now till tho middle of next week," sho said, "nnd then you couldn't convince me thnt yon mo not glad that ho In hero." A laugh sprang across Kvu'h face, to bo Instantly hunted away by ft sigh. "My dear Knld, I haven't the faintest desire to prove that I am not hopo-IchhI)' hopo-IchhI)' In lovo with him Unfortunately Unfortunate-ly It Is known to everybody In this world except tho man himself. And tho nbsurdlty of tho whole thing the tiling thnt makes mo feel like half n tomato on u gridiron Is that ho's Just as much In lovo with mo as 1 urn with him, nnd that's a very great deal Indeed." "I don't sco where the absurdity comes In. If you aru both In lovo as much as all thnt, why don't you mar-J mar-J ry him?" Hull-tragically, half-comlcally, wholly In tho manner so fnr as wo can guess of a petulant uugel, Hvn sprang to her feet, and Hinging her collection of I cushions far and wide, commenced dashing about tho room, greatly to Its danger. "Marry him! muiry hliul Don't t want to jiiarry him? Isn't It my ono ambition In lire to become tho wlfo of ' this silly, foolish, timid, wretch? It's nit lino for you to sit there nnd say (bono ensy, Insane things; but 1 en n't run away with tho man, tan I? I en n't buy n toy pistol, meet the poor denr in n dark passage and shriek, Mnrry me, or you die!' can I? I enn't y chase him Into u conservatory, Hop or ' my knees, nnd cry, Teddy, I lovo you with a lovo that is almost Indiscreet; bo, oh, bo my husband,' can I, cuu I, enn 1?" Kvu caught ono of tho cush- t . Ions a beautiful kick, and sent It fly- i ,- ng ngiiliist a whatnot. "Not very well," said Mrs. Clutton. "Hut shnll I loll jou what you can nnd will do?" "What?" cried Kva. eagerly. "Smash, my picclnus china If you kick cushions about llko that. . . . The point Is, hnvo you given him any 1 ' encouragement?" Kvn laughed the laugh of theater scorn. "Kncourugeinent? Why, my dear Knld, 1 have dona overythlng a nlccly-brought-up girl ought to do, and a good deal that sho oughtn't. During thnt time, a matter of perhaps per-haps u mlnuto and a quarter Mrs. Clutton had been thinking hard, although al-though It would have been Impossible to guess It from tho placid state or her feutures. Kva," sho said llnnlly. "have you over noticed that plcturo painted on the punol over (ho bookense, of a girl sitting on an armchair with her eyes cast down, and with her hands folded meekly on her lap?" "No." said Kva, "and If I had, what on enith has sho to do with my horrid hor-rid problem?" Mrs Clutton undulated on: "Tho llguro of tho girl works on a hinge, n-y. - nnd sonetimes when my husband had got Int-o a boyish scrape mid wanted to heat what his father said about It to Ills mother, ho used to get his sister lo pull the plcturo hack, and sit in tho girl's place lo report to nim whi't wont on. A dishonorable and very lancinating proceeding. A chair was planted behind tho plcturo In tho next room, the floor of which Is on a level with It, and in this kind of light It was Impossible to tell tho dlfferenco . , between tho real and the unreal girl. . . Now, don't you think--" ' "ThlnV.I Think!" cried Kva. covering cov-ering tho permanently epiiel Mrs Clutton with kisses, "1 should think I do think. Oh, Knld, oit engineer! You want mo to get Into the picture; you want to bring Teddy here to see my now jmrtralt; you want to lento him to say to rno on u panel what ho daren't say to me In tho flesh; and thou, when at last ho cries: 'Oh, darling, my beautiful piquant, little beauty, I lovo you so, If only J could screw up courage to ask you to bo my wife! you want me to say: 'Teddy, you Infant, I'm dying to be your wife.' " "How wonderfully well" Ileforo Mrs. Clutton could gat any further Kva mounted upon tho book-rase, book-rase, had pushed back the panel, had caught up n chair from a corner of the llttlo room which could just bo teen through the aperture, and In a twinkling had become, for the first time In her life, a quiet, meek llttlo llguro with downcast eyes nnd folded hands "How'h that?" she asked, through a cascade of chuckles, "Aro jou certain cer-tain you can't seo my breathing? And do ou think It matters If I blink every now and then?" "Certiiln. The unsteady flicker of the fire In this dim light will make any blinking seem quite natural." "Knld" Kva looked down with suddenly sud-denly earnest yes "If everything works well jou shall chooso whatever what-ever you llko from my wedding presents. pres-ents. . Sss-sh! There's Teddy at tho door. I know It by tho way ho clutches the handle." Ten minutes later, nftcr Mrs. Clutton Clut-ton had quietly led tho conversation from comic opera to tobacco, from tobacco to-bacco to Kva, and from that young woman to tho new portrait of her abovo tho bookcase, she asked Teddy to excuse hor whllo Bhc went to look for her little friend, and left the room. Teddy had hit back It tho plcturo as tho dooi closed; but in the looking-glass over tho llreplaco ho was amazed tc sco a handkerchief flutter hastily up to tho picture's nose, and flutter at hastily back ngnln amazed, Infinitely worried, nnd full of wonder. During tho first qunttcr of an hour he stood with Ills back to her, gazing gaz-ing at her In tho looking glass. From tho corner of her eye, Kva watched him with a kind of tingling amuse incut. Immensely Muttered at the thought that even In tho presence nt hor iortralt a mero thing of oils-he oils-he should Ftlll bo bashful nnd difft dent. The Btrcngth of his love routtl ffifij "Ohl" She Cried Aloud, Suddenly. ho enormous! In a moment or two, sho argued, ho would realize thnt she was meiely u picture, and conio nnd hiatal underneath her to examine more closely tho wonderful fidelity of tho pot trail, the exquisite skill ol the artist; and then, knowing thnt sho could not hear anything ho said, ho would utter aloud all those burn lug words he had bottled up so long In a moment or two . . . Keeling hot all over, his densu head In n whirl, certain only thnt Kvn had got Into the plcturo in order to mal.o a fool of him. Teddy sat down In the chair by tho llto to try to trausfoim the chaos of his brain Into something itpprouchlug order Dining the next hour ho lemalned motionless, not looking once In tho illiecllou of tho plctuie. To him, tho hour was a minute To her. sitting In the t-iimit attitude, hardly breath Ing. hanlly thinking, getting more und moio huiigr). the hour seemed n week, a vonr, an eternity, Shu made up her mind that when ho did think aloud sho would snap her Ilngms In his face and tell him. In scalding, hitter hit-ter words, that she loathed him, and that sooner than marry liliu she would dlu a thousand deaths. "Good gracious! There goes tho gong for dinner! Oh, how awful, bow liorillilo' What will they think? . . . Idiot! Cicuttno! Why . . . wh . . . Oh!" she cried aloud suddenly, forgetting for-getting everything under tho Inllu enco of crump. "Oh, oh!" Teddy sprung across the room. 'What's tho matter? What's tho matter?" Desperately concerned. Teddy stood upon n chair, lifted Kva down from the picture with tho Iiiiro gentleness of a six-foot thice man, (dared her teudeily In a chair, and knelt ut her feet. Her eyes were closed. He wus certain she was dying. "Kvu, my llttlo darling, open your eyes! It's me. tho man who loves you mora than all the world" lis grammar became ehitky, his heart stono, his breathing cyclonic. "Kva, my sweet-heart, sweet-heart, my beloved, look at me, If only for u moment, and tell me before you dlu that you will bo my wife" Of course, with tho change of position po-sition tho cramp had gone, and Kva knew that those symptoms were snares. She sal up coldly. "I havo no Intention of dying," sho said; "and of course I will bo your wife. Hut I think you aro the most abject person per-son It hs ever been my misfortune to meet. . . . Yes, of courso I love you, dourest Teddy, but think, think what you havo made me suffer. The gong libs rung and you don't know. ' never will know how frightfully hup-' hup-' s;ry I um." |