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Show fc.. ' T f by special! DESIRE & . ' By M. It. BKLLEW ALWAYS thought her a pretty girl. 1 and sweet and charming; but, from' her own account, there seemed to be bo many people In lovo with her already al-ready that I thought personally I should do much better by merely maintaining main-taining a friendly Interest In her. Be-sMes, Be-sMes, I always know that If ever I did fall In lovo It would be with qulto another an-other eort of a girl somo one who would bo much moro prepared to render ren-der me homage than to expect It as her own duo, which was Miss Courte-nay's Courte-nay's way cf going through life. Still, In splto of her many alra and E graces, which rather amused mo than otherwise, wo remained good friends on tho whole, and I am sure I gavo her no posshblo excuse for thinking that 1 was ono of her latest victims, I for tho simple reason that I had not In I any sense succumbed to her fasclna- A tlons, and never pretended to disguise I tho fat. I 1 had known her now for qulto a , long time, 1 should say It was about six months from our first meeting. At our last meeting, which had been tho day before yesterday, 1 had Introduced a great friend of mine to her Berths Beauclero. Ho was n tall, handsomo . fellow no brains, certainly, but still the sort of typo that I felt pretty sure would appeal to her. She really did seem to take an ardent fancy to him, which was another proof that my estimation es-timation of her character was a fairly correct one. I judged her to be frivolous frivol-ous and shallow a girl to bo taken with superficial show rather than a woman to love a man for his sterling worth, which Is really tho only kind of woman I should ever feel Inclined to love myself, for I don't ret much store by blue eyes and a pink and whlto I skin. It Is the beauty of the heart and mind that appeal to mo far more 1 think, as a matter of fact, that thero are a good many men like my-soir, my-soir, so that, when she used to enlarge to mo sometimes upon her conquests, I Invariably discounted half she Slid. I didn't believe sho had a tltho of the j ' success she made out Here was I, for ono, quite unscathed. It was really astonishing to mo to see tho way B;au- i clere made up to her, and I began to , v think thero might bo somothing In her v charm niter all. But then, "If she be not fair to me, what caro I how fair sho bo?" '" All tho same, I felt vexed I had In troduced Uertlo to her. I didn't want to seo her make a fool of my tost i ' friend. I didn't want to see hor maV o ' 'a fool of herself, either, and the way , " she encouraged his Idiotic compli ments was a revelation to me. I had taken It for granted that sho was a cofliiotte, but I had never actually seen -t - her In the role before, and I didn't j l.now how these things wero done until ithen, and I learnt a good lesson that ; afternoon. Bcrtlo fetched and carried for her like a dog. and the other men seemed to go down like ninepins, too. I had reatly meant to look after her a little myself, but I realized ray forethought fore-thought was qulto superfluous. . Tho next day 1 thought I woulu c'll ( on her and have a quiet chat I found j her In what sho was pleased to term j her "study." Not having loft rchool long, she kept up an amiable fiction i for the benefit of a fond mother and a i doting father I suppose that she did a few hours dally practicing and reading read-ing within Its sacred four walls. ' I always liked to And her In tho ' study. For one thing, It showed, tf 1 ' not a sortous bent of mind, at least an effort In the right direction; and, for anothor, her family never ventured to disturb her there. Sho said It In-? In-? ' tetxuptcd her train of thought. ; I sat down and, after haying helped ' her with a difficult problem the same problem, I was fain to observe, which I had tackled for her last time I be- - Ban to talk. "You and Beauclero seemed to hit It ! off pretty well. I always thought he IKtert a bit of a bluestocking In fact, ; preferred brains to beauty " "You don't think rae clever, then?" ' sho asked, ,' "1 didn't say that exactly. I think vnn nrn clever In vour own way." j "But you think my beauty Is In ex- !cess of my brains?" "Wo won't say beauty," I deprecated. "That Is a word only applicable to Greek goddesses. But you're certainly certain-ly sweetly pretty." !"0," she said, with her eyes down, "you think mo pretty, then?" "I wasn't giving you my personal oplnton," I reptled, guardedly, "but , what seems to be fho generally accept-, cd ono." "I don't know so much about that," sho said, with a toss of her head. "Mr Beauclero thlnka mo quite beautiful and clever." 5 , "Boauclero's an assl" I said, hastily. t And then, feollnc frlghtenod at the ominous stlenco which er.suod, I cn- Pj larged my sentence by adding: "Why, T . ho went down without a degree!" ? "Perhaps ho didn't want one. I'd ' tooner havo a straight npso than a d- !. y greo any day,1' fcha retortod, scornful ly. "And scarcely anyone here knows you are a valedictorian, though I'm euro I've told scores of peoplo." I rubbed my noso ruefully. I am forced to admit It Is distinctly of tho I Welllngtonlan order. "It was nlco of you to trouble to ' tell peoplo." I said, dubiously. "Pro- sure you meant It kindly, But what ever raado you do that?'! " 1 "0, I felt bound to say something In ' your dofenso. At that garden party yesterday, as you were walking past, ' a girl I know said; ' 'Who rs that awk ' Perhaps I'd hetUr not tell you v ' . "i what she thought of you," she added, Interrupting herself. "It might hurt your feelings." ..u.-I ..u.-I laughed. ki,, ii-v "No. Tell me." k " 'That awkward, plain-looking man, who is going about as It bo thought all tho women wero In love with I roared, "DIJ she thrnk that out loud?' 1 asked. "I believe I can guess who tho girl was." "No, you can't guess," sho said, crossly, "because I shan't let you. Naturally, when I saw tho Impression you wero creating I had to say out loud you wero a valedictorian, as much for my own benefit as hers. It was a sort of excuso for you." "And did It satisfy her?" I asked, admiring tho way sho spoko of herself In the third person. "It was a consolation," she admitted. ad-mitted. "I shouldn't havo thought Venus stood rn need of consolation with Adonis at her feet, not to speak of other admirers." "You teem to think," sho said, pouting, pout-ing, "that 1 couldn't win lovo If 1 tried, or oven If I didn't try." "If ono tr'.oa," 1 said, scntentlously, "ono can get most things ono wants." "But of course you wouldn't fall Into tho trap?" sho asked, merrily. "Leave mo out, please. Wo settled that question long ago." "O, I'm fairly sstrafled with my progress since then," sho returned, airily. Her assurance was really amusing. "You're quite wolcorao to my scalp when ou gel It," I returned, smiling. "0, no," sho sad, shaking her head, "It's too clever a one for me to know what to do wlthl You aro so clever," sho wpnt on, wistfully looking at rae. "I didn't understand your last speech at the debate at all. You'll explain It to mo one day, won't you?" Sho drew near, and tho wistful look becamo coaxing. "I'm not clever!" I declared, feeling flattered by her appreciation. "I'm only a dogged sort of Individual." "Well, rerhaps I'll bave a try on my own account," she said, throwing herself her-self Into a chair, "only jou must gle mo facilities.- "What am I to do?" I asked, following her. , "You mustn't use long words which I don't know the meaning of, and which only confute mo, and you must unbend a little and meet me on my own.ground. And you mustn't wear a blue tie, even If you havo got blue eyes, because 1 like a red tlo with a nlco brown skin. And It you come to teo rao to-morrow I'll tell you If you'vo got tho right color." When I got homo 1 looked In the glass with a sudden dislike for my blue tlo I bougal a tcuiUl o&a, feeling turc she was right. I should never have thought of It myself; but, then, women understand under-stand these things so much better than men she has such taste. 1 shaved my self carefully next day, criticising my sunburn and wondering tf she really meant I had a nice brown skin. Tho bright-colored tie, so different from my usual sober tints, raised mo In my own animation, and I sallied forth with a feeling of -assurance born of It. It was still early, and f found her In the study arranging tome flowers. My spirits were dashed by her reception of me. "You don't mean to say you really walked through tho town In that tie?" she asked. "Yes I dM," I said, feollng worried. "Don't you like It? 1 thought you told me to get a red tie." "Yes, but 1 rover thought you would for my telling," he returned. "What over made you do that?" "Ooodness knows!" I responded Then I laughed awkwardly. "I think I can give you a reason, such as It Is. It has Just dawned on me. I'm llko all tho rest, I suppose. I love you I" "O," sho said, with a complacent little lit-tle smile, "that was In the programme 1 mapped out for you!" "And you'll love rae, too, won't you?" I said, coming up to her and leaning my hand on the back of the chair aa I put the momentous question, "O. no!" she said, looking down. "I'm not going to love you. That wasn't in my programme at all." "Couldn't you include It," I said, "by special dcslro?" "Whose desire?" she asked, quickly. "Mine.'1 "I don't believe," she said, tracing a pattern on tho tablecloth, ,"that you really do love mo." "I'll try to prove It," I said, "only you must glvo rao facilities." "What do you call facilities?" "Well," I said, putting my arm around her waist, "this would be one." "I I don't mind gHlng you that one," she said, hesttatlnsly. "It's quite sufficient," I declared, "to encourage mo to take tho rest." Chicago Chica-go Tribune. ' ? |