Show bennington 1001 ed after lucy al ton s retreating form with amazement only the night before she had prom ased that she mould marry him in the spring and had sealed the bargain ith a kiss she had been tender and loving then this morning she walked past him with no sign that she was aware of his presence save a haughty sir when he had raised his hat in saluta alon the more bennington thought it over the more it became he and lucy had been more than friends tor a couple of years she had so clearly shown her preference eor his society that none had sought to dispute his position he could imagine no rival who might have poisoned her mind against him in so brief a time as bad elapsed since the night before he puzzled his brain until it whirled but still no satisfactory explanation presented its elf then be decided upon a very foolish action he left town not even his most intimate friends knew where he had gone and for ev eral weeks the set in which he moved wondered at his hurried departure then they decided that lucy alton had refused him after all and they gave the matter no further thought As for bennington he was seeking to dispel his ennui in paris and only succeeded in discovering that gay capital to be a most dispiriting place A week later he was arguing with the customs officials on the familiar pier in new york his man was too well trained to ex hibit any surprise when his master walked in he silently fly placed a huge pile of letters upon the bary table and went out to attend to the trunk bennington turned the letters over idly suddenly be gave a start there was one little square envelope ad dressed in a handwriting abe sight of which made his heart beat faster he tore it open dear jack it ran what has be come of youa it is not nice sir to leave one s fiance in this abrupt fash ion have you already repented our proposals 9 I 1 dont like to think that come in jack and tell me what the trouble is I 1 did so want to see you last night it wag signed lucy and bore a date one day later than bis expert ence on the avenue A second note was in mr aliens handwriting this was dated a wik later in vigorous terms her father told bennington what he thought of bis actions I 1 learn that you are ab oad s r he wrote I 1 should advise you to re main there I 1 cannot be answerable for the circumstances should we meet if lucy s letter had been a puzzle this was even less understandable there was no mistaking the cut direct be had received in the face of that why should she write a day later as though nothing had happened and why should her father brand bici as a scoundrel and a cad the quickest way to find out would be to drive around to the alcons he cal ed a cab and in ten minutes he holding converse sri with judson the ns butler judson was polite but evidently earful lease don t insist mr penning he pleaded mr alton Is not ng sir it e were to see you the excitement alight lull him here judson persisted ben hington batly the mattera why should the excitement kill mr alton wh t have I 1 donea judson cougal ed ever so slightly he was too well trained to admit that he knew the fan ily secrets I 1 m sure I 1 don t know anything declared judson respectfully only mr alton declared that you were not to see miss alton and dr sommers ordered me to be careful that mr al ton did not seo you I 1 am very sorry sir t 4 there was a slight pause and before he could gather his senses ben hington found himself outside the closed door it would never do to make a scene on the front steps bennington was determined to get at the bottom of the mystery but this was not the place he jumped into the cab again and was driven around to mis graves who had been his mentor since his mothers death I 1 m sure I 1 don t 1 now what the matter is jack she said icalla there is a report around that lucy would not have you and that ou tool a broken heart out of sight until it mended again can I 1 find out he urged I 1 are you sure you w II 11 never make the same a n can t go along like this it will drive me crazy come to the tableaux tonight said the matron lucy will be taking part and will try to see her it was hard upon bennington to face the curious gaze that evening at the charity entertainment it seemed to him as though every one in the room were discussing him still he bore it bravely sustained by the hope of seeing lucy she was to appear in the last picture and the program line read reflections miss alton miss car ter miss carter that must be mabel carter lucy s cousin from the west when the curtain went up there was no sign of miss carter it merely disclosed lucy standing in front of a mirror admiring her reflection then suddenly the reflection stepped through the mirror frame and a great light dawned upon bennington he re now that miss carter was supposed to exactly resemble lucy the resemblance must have been so strong as to have deceived even the ees of love heedless of mrs grays detaining hand he pushed his way through the crowd to the door leading to the am promised stage lucy was just corn ing down the steps from the tern horary platform he caught her wrist lucy he cried can you ever for give me for having been such a tool I 1 thought your cousin was you and she cut me I 1 did not have the heart to stay and see you again it you will forgive the error I 1 promise never to do so again are you sure you will never make the same mistake again I 1 assure you that it will not happen again he declared eagerly he sought to take her in his arms trat she sl willfully ill fully evaded him and a voice from the platform cried out see here jack I 1 don t mind your making love to mabel it you think it s me but I 1 draw the line at proxy kisses then miss carter very thoughtfully to her dressing room while jack had to make apologies again to the real lucy she has accepted a ring as a certain of identification it is a circlet of plain gold boston globe |