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Show I HER MEMORY I TEST 4 WONDER if other "shT E'r's ever nnvo V H such harrowing ex- V H perlcnccs as I do 09 In forgetting peo- Wi plo's names," said Kf tho girl with the tatting, reflective- "hSSJpKt ly. "Do you over MS!; Hi meet a mnn whom vSS- O whoso namo you Vti" cannot for tho llfo I ot you rcmem- J "Hundreds of times!" cried tho girl with tho French cyalot ombroldsry. "Qoodness, yes!" exclaimed tho-girl with tho Moxlcan drawnwork. "Woll, I never spent such another half-hour ln my llfo ns I did last evon- Ing," pursued tho girl with tho tatting. tat-ting. "I was lato In gottlng from my slster'B homo to my train and I would have beon worried only that I know father would moot mo ln tho city. As I got my bundles nil sproad out ln tho other half of tho seat I looked up and saw tho nicest sort ot back and shoulders Just ahead In tho nlslo. They turned around while I was looking nnd came straight toward me. I recognized recog-nized tho man at tho satno Instnnt, picked up tho bundles and smiled my very sweetest nnd I know In that mlnuto that I didn't havo any Idea who ho was! So I smiled harder than over and positively gushed for tlmo. "At first I thought his namo would como to me after a little while. So I kept on talking ns If I had Just boon existing and nothing moro until ho should nrrlve. Ho played right up to his pnrt. Ho had called mo Miss Iloach right away. Oh, how I envied him! "Of courso tho moro wo talked and told each othor how glad wo wero to meet again tho harder it was for mo to think ot confessing that I didn't know his name. "Then I began to rack my brains for a way to make him tell mo his own namo without suspecting that I waB Interested In-terested In learning it. "First, I tried leading tho talk nround to tho different peoplo whom I knew, very carefully, for you cannot talk about perfect strangers to a man for very long without its seeming rather rath-er odd to him. Ho didn't appear to know a soul that I did. Then I trlod sports nnd theaters and automobiles and cities and colleges and climate. I led him a merry chaBO through ovory subject I could think of that would ho likely to glvo mo a lead. He talked cheerfully about them all and seemed ' to bo enjoying himself, but ho didn't mnko n stnglo admission that helped me. "By this tlmo I wns ready to cry, Tho ride was half over and I could sec father In my mind's eyo wnltlng In tha railroad station to meet me. I began to grow frantic nt tho thought ol having to introduce a man whose namo I had forgotten. "Sometimes Uttlo glimmerings of hit namo would como to mo and I would stop breathing, but they always van ished Just as I almost grasped them, "Flnnlly I grow desperate I started In to cross-question him wildly. In five mlnutos thoro wero not many things about which I had not nsked that wretched man except tho ono thing I wanted to know. "I could havo torn him Into llttlo bits nnd thrown him out at tho car window. Hut Just then ho drow out n cigar case and I distinctly saw the word 'Martin' worked In Bilk on tho side. "That Eet mo to searching madly again for n clew. Martin, Martin, Martinwho? Mar-tinwho? "Tho train stopped. I supposo ho must havo seen tho perfect dismay In my fnco as I mado nut dear old fa thor trudging through tho gates to got mo, and so ho put two nnd two to gethcr. For he began to Btnllo and I began to blush. Tho moro ho smiled tho redder I blushed. " 'Now, confess, Miss Iloach,' he said, 'that you haven't an Idea who I am and havon't had from tho first, l'vo suspected It for somo tlmo nnd now I'm Buro. I'll wager five pounds of 'your favorlto kind of chocolate creams that I'm right.' "Girls, will you bollovo mo? Just his saying that mndo his namo como back to mo. I could havo hugged him. Hut all I did was to look surprised. sur-prised. "'Why, how absurd,' I laughed. l shall take tho creams to punish you, but of courso It wouldn't bo fair to make n wngor becauBo you could not bo n winner at this game, you know.' "This mndo him open Ills eyes a JtffiK?' bit. Fnthor reached 'SjT us at that minute nnd I had my trl- xiSoldK " 'Father,' I Bald, p!fc.vi! 'I want you to HsSeW ' know n friend wWIaJ who camo in with mo from sister's. IjPvJ tMf You havo hoard me speak of Mr. BMiffem I)ser Mr. Mar- WllHieST tin Loaori' iWvl'W "That was his fraw j namo and horo," E5 reaching down a rtgjW j box ot frivolous Wm j nppcaranco but ot piv considorabl o weight, "here is Father. '.ho proof!" Chicago Dally News. |