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Show y'oooooooooooooooooooooooocoooooo I ENCOURAGING TEDDY I 8 . By Cosmo Hamilton jj 600000oeocQoeoeo0-ooQoo (Copyright, 1J0S, by Joseph 11. Howies.) When two women nro sitting over n glowing tire In the broad daylight, and ono Is married nud tho other Is not, they Invnrlnbly talk of two things dress nnd servants. Hut when tho light has waned, nnd tho glow of tho lire lllls the corners of tho room with dancing shadows, even dress nnd scrvnntn nro left, and tho conversation invnrlnbly turns to the other Kroat stock subject: innn., "Of course, 1 didn't do it to bo thanked; but I think you might havo murmured ono llttlo word of gratitude to nio for asking Mr. Carr down. I mean, ordinary politeness requires 8omc attention oven from you." Evu looked up nt Airs. Clutton from a deep dell of hot coal which had been formed between tho bars. "Thank you," sho said; and then, added, "for nothing." Mrs. Clutton wus ono of thoso long, slight, tired women who always dress to perfection, nro never rutrtcd, novcr different, who nro nblo to hurry whllo appearing to dnwdlc, to bo exceedingly exceeding-ly annoyed without tho least apparent appar-ent effort, to laugh heartily without ranking n sound, and to talk with great animation, without In any way disturbing tho undulntlng, velvety drawl with which thoy nro born. "You might talk to mo from now till tho middle of next week," sho said, "nnd, then you couldn't convlnco mo. thnt you are not glad that ho is hero." A laugh Bpruug across Eva's face, to ho Instantly hunted away by a Blgh. "My dear Enid, I haven't the faintest desire to prove that 1 nm not hopelessly hope-lessly in lovo with him. Unfortunately Unfortunate-ly It is known to ovorybody in this world except tho man hlmsolf. And tho absurdity of tho wholo thing tho thing that makes me feel llko half a tomato on a gridiron Is thai ho's Just ns much in lovo with me as I am with him, and that's a very great deal indeed." "I don't see whero the absurdity comes in. If you are both In lovo as much as all that, why don't you marry mar-ry him?" Hnlf-traglcally, hntf-comlcally, wholly in tho mannor so fur as wo can guess of a petulant angel, Eva sprang to hor feet, and flinging hdr collection of cushions far and wide, commenced dashing about the room, greatly to Its danger. "Marry him! marry him! Don't I1 want to marry him? Isn't It my ono ambition In life to becomo tho wlfo of this silly, foolish, timid, wretch? U'b nil flno for you to alt there and say thoso easy, Insane things; but I can't run nwny with tho man, can I? I can't buy n toy pistol, meet tho poor dear III' a dark passage and shriek, 'Mnrry me, or you dlo!' enn I? I can't chaso him Into u conservatory, Hop op my knees, nnd cry, 'Teddy, I lovo you with a lovo that Is almost indiscreet; be, oh, bo my husband," can I, can I, can I?" Eva caught ono of tho cushions cush-ions a beautiful kick, and sent It flying fly-ing ngalnst a whatnot. - , ' "Not very well," aald Mrs. Clutton. "But shall I toll you what you can and will do?" "What?" cried Eva, eagorly. "Smash my precious china If you kick cushions nbout llko that. . . . The point Is, havo you given him any oncouragement?" Eva laughed tho laugh of theater scorn. "Encourngomont? Why, my dear Enid, I havo done ovorythlng a nlcely-brought-up girl ought to do, and a good deal that alio oughtn't. During that time, a matter of per-' haps a mlnuto and a quarter Mrs. Clutton had been thinking hard, although al-though it would havo been Imposslblo to guess it from tho placid stato of her features. "Eva," sho said finally, "havo you over noticed that plcturo painted on tho panel ovor tho bookenso, of a girl sitting on an armchair with hor oyes cast down, nud with her hands folded meekly on hor lap?" "No." said Eva, "and If I had, what on earth has sho to do with my horrid hor-rid problem?" Mrs. Clutton undulated on: "Tho flguro of tho girl works on a hlngo, and BO'iiotlmes when my husband had got Into a boyish scrnpo and wanted to hcai what his father aald about It to his mothor, ho used to got his slstor to pull the plcturo back, and sit in tho girl's placo to report to Dim whiit went on. A dishonorable and vnry fascinating proceeding. A chair was planed behind tho plcturo in tho noxt room, tho floor of which Is on u level with it. nnd in this kind of light It wns Imposslblo to tell tho difference botweon tho real and tho unreal girl. . . Now, don't you think " "Think! Think!" crlod Eva, cov-orlng cov-orlng tho permanently quiet Mrs, Clutton with kisses, "I should think I do think. Oh, Enid, you onglneor! You waut mo to get Into tho plcturo; you want to bring Teddy horo to boo my now ortrn!t; you wnnt to leavo him to auy to mo on a panel what ho daren't say to mo In tho flesh; and then, whon nt last ho pries: 'Oh, darling, my beautiful piquant, llttlo benuty, I lovo you so, If only I could bciow up courage to nsk you to bo my wlfo!' you want mo to say: 'Teddy, you Infant, I'm dying to bo your wife.' " "How wondorfully well " Boforq Mrs. Clutton could get any further Eva mounted upon tho bookenso, book-enso, had pushed back tho panel, had caught up a chair from a corner of tho llttlo room which could Just bo seen through tho aperture, nnd la a twinkling had become, for the first tlmo in her life, a quiet, meek llttlo, flguro with downcast eyes and foldod hands. (' "JIow'h tha?" sho nsed, through' n cascado of chuckles. "Aro you certain cer-tain you can't seo my breathing? And do you think it matters it I blink every now nnd thon?" "Cerfnl'n. Tho unsteady flicker of tho tiro In this dim light will mako nny blinking seem qulto natural." "Enid" Evn looked down with suddenly sud-denly unrnest eyes "If everything works well you shnll chooso whatever what-ever you llko from my wedding presents. pres-ents. . . . S-r-r-h1i! There's Teddy nt tho door. I know it by tho way ho clutches tho hnndlo." Ten mliiufcs lntor,nftcr Mrs. clutton clut-ton had qulbtly led tho conversation from comic oporn to tobacco, from tobacco to-bacco to Evn, and from that, young woman to tho now portrait of her nbqvo tho iiookcaBO, she naked Toddy to cxcubo hor whllo Bho went to look for hor llttlo friend, nnd loft tho room. Teddy had hit back t- tho plcturo ns tho dooi closed; but in tho looking-glass ovet tho fireplace ho wns amazed tc seo a handkerchief flutter haBtlly up to tho plcturo's noao, and flutter as hasUly back again amazed; Infinitely, worriod, nnd full of wonder," During tho first quarter of; nn hour, ho stood with his back'' to" hor, gazing gaz-ing at her In tho looking glass. From tho corner of hor oyo, Eva watched him with a kbnd of tingling nmuso riicnt, Immensely flattored at th thought that oven in tho presenco ot her portrait a mero thing of oils ho should still bo bashful and dim dent. Tho Btrongth of .his lore must "Oh!" She Cried Aloud, 8'uddenly, bo enormous! In a momont or two, sho argued, ho would rcnllzo that sho was merely a plcturo, and como nnd stand underneath her to' oxnmlne moro closoly tho wonderful fidelity of tho portrait, tho oxqulsito skill ol tho artist; and then, knowing that alio could not hear anything ho said, ho would utter nloud all thoso burning burn-ing words ho hnd bottled up so long. In n momont or two . . . Feeling hot all ovor, his dense hend In u whir), certain only that Eva had got Into tho plcturo in .order to mako a fool of lilm, Teddy sat down In tho chnlr by tho lire to try to transform tho chaos of his brain Into something approaching ordor. During tho noxt hour lie remained motionless, not looking onco in tho direction of tho plcturo. To him, tho hour wns a mlnuto. To hor, sitting In tho samo attitude, hardly breathing, breath-ing, hardly thinking, gutting moro and moro hungry, tho hour Boomed n. week, n year, on etornlty. Sho mndo up her mind that when ho did think aloud sho would snap hor fingers in his fuco and tell him, In scalding, bitter bit-ter words, that alio loathed him, nnd that sooner than marry hlui she would dlo u thousand dcatliB. "Good gracious! Thoro goes tho gong for dlnnorl Oh, how awful, how horrible! What will thoy think? . . . Idiot! Creature! Why . , . why . . . Oh!" Bho cried uloud sudilonly, for-gottlng for-gottlng ovorythlng uudor tho Influence Influ-ence of cramp. "Oh, oh!" Toddy sprang across tho room. "What's tho matter? What's tho matter?" Despcrntoly concerned, Teddy stoo'd upon a chair, lifted Eva down from the plcturo with tho hugo gentleness of a six-foot-throe man, placed hor tendorly In a chair, and knelt nt her foot. Her eyes wero closod. Ho wns certain ahe wns dying, "Evn, my llttlo darling, open your eyes! It's me, tho man who loves you moro than all tho world." Ills grammar becamo shaky, his heart stone, his hreuthing cyclouic. "Eva, my sweetheart, sweet-heart, my beloved, look nt mo, if only for a momont, nnd toll mo beforo you dlo that you will bo my wlfo." Of lOiiiEO, with tho chango of position po-sition tho cramp had gono, and Eva know that thoso symptoms wero snares. Sho silt up coldly. "I havo no Intontlon of dying," sho aald ; "and of course I will bo your wlfo. But I tlilnk you nro tho most nbject person per-son It has ovor boon my mlafortuno to moot. . . . Yes, of courso I lovo you, dearest Teddy; but think, think what you havo mado mo snffor. Tho gong has rung and you don't know, nover will know, how frightfully hungry hun-gry I am." |