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Show Suitors of MELISSA WOULD NOT PLAY HONEY TO A BUTTERFLY. Mrs. Merrlwid's maternal maiden Aunt Jane looked particularly knowing know-ing as her niece entered the room, and her cough, delivered behind three correct fingers, Bpoke volumes of ln-lnsinuatlon. ln-lnsinuatlon. Mrs. Merrlwld, who was a little flushed, but as composed as usual, 6miled tolerantly In recognition of what the cough and look Implied, and made herself comfortable on the lounge. "Can't fool you, can I, auntie?" she said. "I lay no claim to uncommon penetration, pene-tration, but I had an idea that you didn't take all that trouble dressing for an ordinary caller, my dear," she replied. "Mr. Wethervane is not aB ordinary caller, certainly," agreed Mrs. Mer-riwid. Mer-riwid. "Nor was it with an ordinary purpose pur-pose that he called," Aunt Jane asserted. as-serted. "You needn't tell me, Melissa." Me-lissa." "But I'm aching to tell you," declared de-clared Mrs. Merrlwld. "Please listen, dearie. Mr. Wethervane proposed." "So I inferred," said Aunt Jane, complacently. "And you accepted him." "That's where your lnferer slipped a cog and threw the prognosticator out of gear, darling," said Mrs. Mer-riwid. Mer-riwid. "That comes of slipping into high too abruptly. Mr. Wethervane Wether-vane Is a charming man, auntie dear, but this is one time his charm didn't work. He is now on his way to seek surcease of sorrow, so I infer in-fer from what he said some anodyne or antidote, presumably. At least, he'? on his way. I don't say it didn't ccst me a pang, but refusing him was the only thing I could do to hold his permanent regard." 4 "Oh, that's it, is it?" commented Aunt Jane. "He has a record as a butterfly, dearie," said Mrs. Merriwid. "Ever since the down of adolescence darkened dark-ened his upper lip, ho has been flit- seared by former fires, scarred by old wounds, marred and chipped by the wear and tear of a hundred previous ownerships,' says I. 'Be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Wethervane.' That's what I said to him. " 'Let me tell you about these old dead loves of mine, Melissa,' says he. " 'I don't want any mortuary statistics, statis-tics, thank you, Mr. Wethervane,' I answered firmly. 'Besides,' says I, 'we have dinner at seven, and it's past three o'clock now.' " 'I claim the right to be heard," says he with noble dignity and iron determination. 'I loved one woman passionately for her beautiful face, the classic regularity of her features, and all that sort of thing, don't you know. I'm not naturally Inconstant, as you seem to think, but I found in time that there was something lacking in her. She was beautiful, but mere beauty was not enough to satisfy the cravings of my soul. I met another an-other ' " 'I don't want to have the appearance appear-ance of hurrying you,' I Interrupted him in low, rich tones of deep earnestness, earnest-ness, 'but I think I get you. "Another" was Intellectual, but not spiritual You loved her madly, but you couldn't make the temporary organization permanent per-manent without an infusion of the spiritual. Number three was spiritual, spirit-ual, but angular, number four was curvilinear, but her dimples couldn't hold you, owing to some other deficiency. defi-ciency. They all fell a size or two short somewhere, and it wasn't until you met me that you discovered the right combination of loveliness of face and form and high mentality and earnest earn-est soulfulness and wit and charm and tact and style and all that sort of thing. Having found me, your affections affec-tions are anchored unmovably and eternally. Is that the situation?' " 'Practically,' says he. 'You understand, under-stand, of course, that all the love I lavished on these Incomplete objects is now concentrated focussed, as It were, upon you. Considering that from a mathematical standpoint you "He Admitted He Had Loved Before." ting from flower to flower. Anything with pet ahem! petals, attracts him, or has attracted him barring wall flowers up to the time he decided decid-ed that I was his hollyhock. I told him that my romantic fancy demanded demand-ed a man that had never loved before." be-fore." "Do you know, I think that it Is rather unreasonable, Jlelissa," protested protest-ed Aunt Jane. "So do IP dearie," replied Mrs. Merrlwld. Mer-rlwld. "It was also untruthful. Any male person over fifteen who has never nev-er known the tender, not to say mushy passion. Is a monster, and I certainly wouldn't cafe to give a kindergarten kin-dergarten course to a person of post-graduata post-graduata age, if it was ever so. But a real man should flirt in moderation and not get tho habit so strongly fastened fas-tened on him that his wife will be unable un-able to control it. I mado the remark out of curiosity, however. I wanted to know what he would say." "You might have known without resorting re-sorting to falsehood," said Aunt Jane. "You mean I might have guessed," corrected her niece. "I might have guessed that he would say that he had never truly loved; that be had only imagined it. That's your guess, too, Isn't it, dearie? Well, you've got two more coming. He admitted that he had loved before often. " 'And you offer me your heart can easily see how strong my devotion must be.' " 'It's all right, Mr. Wethervane,' I replied, with a note of sadness In my voice. 'You put up a good talk, but I'll have to ask you to release my hand. It can never be. You are not wholly indifferent to me, I confess, but I'm afraid you'd realize In time that I am a brunette, instead of a blonde, and that my nose Isn't tii-tilted, and that I don't know anything to speak of about fancy dancing or the nebular hypothesis. hy-pothesis. Farewell!' Shortly after which he left," concluded Mrs. Merriwid. Mer-riwid. ' "You want a more stable character, then?" asked Aunt Jane. "I want one that will stay tied," replied re-plied Mrs. Merriwed. "I have no idea of following any man around with a pan of oats through the dim distant years. Come to think of it, 'stable' Is the word." (Copyright. 1913, by W. a. Chapman. |