Show a A BUSINESS J 1 11 it t 1 I if IF mr perceval val hoelz standing near the door in UG the draw mg ing room I 1 boughton Hoagh ton was not a very popular member ember of his set on account of a perilous faculty he had of avoiding all sa functions he was to be found at the Paul tons today well it the matter were probed to the bottom principally because he was an old friend of the family and jack paulton had bad reminded him he must not send a refusal at the peril of a serious breach tn in their friendship some one plucked his sleeve it was his hostess you remind me very much said mrs paulton of a statue I 1 once saw of achilles I 1 think it was why this heroic abstracted abstractedness new houghton had not yet spoken of his embarrassment when she put an end to it prettily sparing him the additional confusion of an explanation come let us ua descend to things more substantial than dead heroes if not less poetical I 1 have a pleasant gur surprise prise in store f for or you jn indeed deed yes let me fetch you to an old friend just returned from over the sea miss alice coates she conducted him to the damsel in question and left them together 11 rm im heartily glad to see yon again M miss iss coates said houghton a trifle awkwardly you ma call me alice as you did before I 1 went abroad said the girl with whom mrs paulton had left him and then mischievously though thoi gh im quite grown up now you see tear dear me yes quite grown up do you remember our chats when we used to poke fun at the courtly dames at your mothers at homes I 1 have Z never found congenial company since you went abroad and I 1 have gone out of society entirely become a kind of commercial anchorite how fortunate you are but then you never really cared for society did you no indeed nor did you are your ideas unchanged altce alice well in a way I 1 still think as you used to say the world would be better off it if it did riot not trifle with precious time yet and I 1 know you ill pardon me I 1 am surprised to find you single Is IE it possible there las been no one charming enough to break through the pessimistic ice of your nature N no 0 one indeed but though I 1 will not be so vain as to say it is entirely yet I 1 will be bold enough to say to my old confidante it has been largely due to the fact that I 1 have not had the time to devote to love making and you know it takes a great deal of gadding about before a man may even evidence his big affections slightly very true now dont you think yourself thit the conventional wooing is a very lamentable men table sacrifice of time if the woman in me decides no but if I 1 persevere along strictly common sense lines perhaps yes how charming you are jovel jove you have not changed a jot alice since your hair has been turned up and you have donned the harness of social slavery but to continue our subject I 1 honestly think this business of love and marriage might be expedited for instance in the commercial way A man comes into my office with a proposition that is almost as important to me as a marriage tor for it affects my life s affairs very radically he wants an answer that same day immediately if possible true I 1 take say half an hour or an hour to turn the matter over in my mind and view it in every light As AB a rule in that length of time I 1 have come to a satisfactory conclusion now if I 1 could find a woman to whom I 1 M 11 4 V 11 V k r RZ 0 1 O j 11 11 I 1 I 1 1 t I I 1 I 1 4 i wa 1 I 1 I 1 4 1 16 L I 1 1 1 I V IV I 1 C I 1 1 tina 51 b 1 aj 7 OF ka ff V AVILL ft ILL YOU MARRY ME TOMORROW might say aay mere here let us expedite mat rs let us get this thia preliminary bustness business of love making over immediately and come to the point without further rdo ado of course it should be some one with whom one Is rather well acquainted quain ted as tor for instance you and I 1 1 mr houghton there there you yon see heresy will crop out even in an old adherent let me continue I 1 take out ont my watch this way and say bay it Is just 10 now alice i love you very dearly will you in marry aary aa ry an me tomorrow how charmingly bic ridiculous right so it is perhaps ridiculous dicu di iGus and I 1 shall have to turn in again on my poor old lonely soul no one but my dew dear friend A aej j to believe your peculiar theories arry ry you seriously so go far ss AS that 1 I 1 I am profoundly adly in earnest my affairs of business are so Absorbing talat I 1 candidly am save no bisio aline to love lov making j then you deserve to get apt a vile is ifs it you cannot sa crince 11 1 1 ness tor for hm her is the best i 1 M 1 part ot of iran 1 ah wen I 1 b id eap exp ted to ifju I 1 you ou it is not a ar ibi ax aeri 4 97 eb ries at least W suver 77 X I 1 7 X t I 1 1 mat at wattles X WA M I 1 arball U mr N w aes 29 iz W i 14 t NM R nm diw t 0 I 1 alice qz ot or have hare ted i ae ersa tion on inta other channels but somehow shedid she ehe did not leel feel that she wanted d to do so 80 well she supposing mr houghton 0 be gall an fn in after a pause I 1 1 should say anthe the rustic fashion 1 1 I love you also very dearly I 1 am willing 1 though she e tried a to say this with admirable insipidity her face gushed flushed a spite of her houghton d noticed ced the blush and straightway became himself excited yet without betraying it good said he 1 I should say and now ww if vou ou will excuse me I 1 shall speak wi with th your father he is here I 1 understand 11 1 then taking out his watch it to ia now fifteen minutes to 10 wheres your father 1 I think he is and never until her dying day will she understand how these words escaped her with such perfect inconsequence 1 I think he is in the library with mr paulton houghton arose and putting the watch back into his pocket made as aa to go 90 away miss coates caught his sleeve she was trembling and the smiles had bad died out bf her face said she 0 0 percy I 1 meart mean mr houghton dont be so foolish he will 1 think you are in insane se he drew the sleeve away gently be careful alice said he we are attracting attention dont make a scene the next moment he was gone and in a daze of excitement and confusion conf uon alice hurried to the conservatory and dashed in among the palms when houghton walked into the 11 library he found alices father and jack paulton smoking and chatting listlessly major coates I 1 have just proposed to your daughter and she has accepted me are you willing we should be married tomorrow the cigar fell from the lips of f the major and he looked in blank amazement first upon his interrogator and then upon paulton with a slight questioning aspect in the last glance paulton burst out laughing and the major turned again to houghton helplessly and said laid percy my boy have you lost your four senses true the other answered drawing a chair up to the table this requires some explanation it then he told them of the conversation between himself and alice as ae well as explaining incidentally many of 0 his views of life which bore directly and some even which had no bearing at all upon the subject at present of vital interest but alice said the major 1 I cannot believe she is a a party to such wild plans 0 yes I 1 know she will be agreeable answered houghton she has sald said so yet I 1 am sure she will have changed her mind by this time she has had time to think it over collectedly ill go and ask her no put in paulton rising let me ine do that for you ill give you just three minutes jack said houghton london sun |