| Show copyright 1905 by dally story pub co miss had boarded an elevated train on her way to the shopping district it was crowded with men and women going to but she was fortunate enough to get a corner seat next to those running crosswise it was not yet nine clock but miss was anxious to get to the hops early and have her purchases lent home before night there were several things an evening waist or two a fashionable wrap and a stylish hat that she must have before she could let herself be seen by anybody anybody meant horace whiting the dashing new yorker whom she had met the summer before at her home in his advent had made her extremely critical ot the men she had known all her life par of oliver leighton the greatest catch in at any time previous she joyfully bould have taken oliver for better or worse had ehe been able to bring him to the point of asking her to but now she began to 1 beep him at with a dis erect mixture of coyness and coquetry that bewildered him and naturally his ardor grew as she became indifferent whiting was certainly no better look ing than her admirer and not halt as well bred but his air of knowing it all his clothes and the way he wore them quite dazzled her she began to have brilliant visions of life in new york that made Pi neville seem unendurably dull and tame she say that whiting had made love to her but he had taken her driving singled her out on every occasion paid her many florid campli mants and made her promise again and again that she would let him know the minute she came to new york so she could easily picture his delight at learning that she was here and that he would have an opportune opp ity to entertain her as he had so often assured her be longed to do whether anything serious would follow she of course could not tell but she had no intention of binding herself to any one else until she bad given whiting a chance to meet her again mean while she had obtained a refusal on leighton to whom she had promised an answer within a couple of weeks the intervening time she would spend in new york and thus fit herself to come to a proper decision miss gelchrist s pleasing meditations on new frocks and hats and the thea and operas to which she would wear them were rudely broken in upon by a one s trampling on her toes two men were pushing roughly by several women in their eagerness to get possession of the cross seat next her which was just being vacated indignant at their indecent manner she cast a look of contempt at their backs as they settled themselves corn fort ably well this Is luck said one ive been out every night this week and dead tired the voice made miss gelchrist start and shrink back into her corner in dismay for an instant she was con of nothing but the danger of her being discovered in her out of date attire by the man who had spoken the very one on whose approval hung so many of her plans her heart beat hard and fast but as she remembered the thick veil she wore her mind grew easier and she began to study furtively the profile that was so tamil lar and yet different from her recollection ol of it some way whiting did not look at all as he had in pine talle he had pushed his hat back fortunate enough to get a corner eat on his head which gave him a boor ish air and as for his clothes they were not conspicuous here indeed there were halt a dozen men in the car who surpassed him on this ground how a business asked the corn canlon of the man she was lag slow growled the latter ira dead sick of it makes me feel like crawling into a hole and staying there but no matter what happens people seem to think youve got money to bum girls are the worst pay them the lightest slightest s attention and they think you are bound to keep it up there s never a let up with them that reminds me feeling in his pock ets of a letter I 1 had this morning from a girl just in from the country met her last summer not a bad lit tie thing at all the best there was in the place not a bad note either is it handing it to bis friend not at all replied the latter glancing over it and handing it bach quite clever in fact just so means of course that she wants me to take her to the thea ter and so on so I 1 would it things were a little easier but I 1 ain t in shape to do it now when you come to figure it out it don t pay there s five dollars tor seats flowers alve car ariage alve supper ten twenty five in all take the girl home press her not a bad little thing at all hand at the door bid her good night tain t worth it just wait a few days til ashes gone back then write her a nice letter telling her I 1 ve been out of town awfully sorry to miss her and all that kind of thing it s too bad but a fellow must draw the line somewhere the speaker wound up with a great yawn and threw his head back with such a jerk that his hat tumbled into the lap of the girl behind him I 1 beg your pardon madam he cried waving his arm wildly behind him in an attempt to regain his fedora why she s carrying it along with her confound it she trod all over it the matter with the worn an the other passengers ginned but the object of his remarks was already out of the car they were still a long way from the shopping district but miss gilchrist had lost all interest in her purchases her only desire was to get back to Pi neville and to dear dear oliver their wedding came off three months later |
