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Show M fSfEQF'EMHl (Copy right, 1005, by Dally Story Put) Co Miss Gilchrist had boarded nn elevated ele-vated train on her way to tho shopping shop-ping district. It was crowded with men nnd women going to business, but sho was fortunnto enough to get a comer scat, next to those running crosswise It wns not yet nlno o'clock, but Miss Ollchrlst wns nnxlous to get to tho shops enrly nnd hnvo her purchases sent homo hoforo night. Thoro wero sovcrnl things, nn evening wnlBt or two, n fashlonnhlo wrap and a stylish lint, that sho must havo before sho could lot herself bo soon by nnybody. "Anybody " meant Ilornco Whiting, tho duHhlng Now Yorker whom sho had mot tho summer beforo at her homo In Plnovlllo. Ills ndvent had rnado her extremely critical of the mon sho hnd known all hor life, particularly par-ticularly of Oliver Lclghton, tho greatest catch In Plnevlllo. At nny time previous sho Joyfully would have taken Oliver for bettor or worse, had sho been nblo to bring him to tho point of asking hor to, but now sho began to keep him nt bay with a ills-creot ills-creot mlxturo of coyncBs nnd coquetry that bowlldored him, nnd naturally his ardor gre as sho beenmo Indifferent. Whiting wns certainly no bettor looking look-ing thnn her I'lnovlllo ndmlrer, nnd not hnlf ns well bred, hut his nlr of knowing It nil, his clothes nnd tho way ho woro them epilto dazzled her Sho bogan to hnvo brilliant visions of life in Now York that mado I'lnovlllo scorn unendurnbly dull and tamo. Sho couldn't say that Whiting had mado lovo to lier, but ho had taken her driving, singled her out on every occasion, paid hor many llorld compliments, compli-ments, nnd mndo hor piomlso again and ngaln thnt sho would let him know tho minute sho enmo to Now York. So sho could easily plcturo his delight at learning that slio wns hero, and that ho would hao an opportunity opportun-ity to entertain her ns ho hnd so often assured her he longed to do. Whether nti) thing serious would follow sho, of course, could not tell, but sho hnd no Intention of binding herself to any one olse until she hnd glon Whiting a chonco to meet hor agnln. Mean-whllo Mean-whllo sho hod obtained a refusal on Lelghton, to whom sho had promised nn answer within a couplo of weeks Tho Intervening time she would spend In New York, ami thus fit herself to como to a proper decision Miss Gilchrist's pleasing meditations on now frocks nnd haU mid tho theaters thea-ters and operas to which sho would wear them, wero rudely broken In upon by somo one's trampling on hor toes. Two men woie pushing roughly by several women In their eagerness to get possession of tho cross seat not i her, which wns Just holng vacated Indignant nt their Indecent manner, sho cast a look of contempt nt their backs ns thoy settled themselves comfortably. com-fortably. "Woll, this is luck!" snld ono. "I'vo been out ovefy night this wcok, and dead tired." Tho volco mado Miss Ollchrlst start and shrink back Into her cornor In dismay. For an Instant she was conscious con-scious of nothing but the danger of ml 1 1' 'j$m$ Fortunate enough to get a corner seat, her being dlscoutod in her out of date attlro by tho man who bad spoken, tho vory ono on whoso approval hung so many of her plans Her heart beat hard and fast, but as she remembered tho thick veil sho woro hor ralnd grow easier, nnd she bogan to study furtively tho profllo thnt was so familiar, famil-iar, and yet so dlfforont from hor recollection rec-ollection of It. Somo way Whiting did not look at .Ml ns he bad In Plno-ville. Plno-ville. Ho had pushed his nnt ba It on his head, which gavo him a boorish boor-ish air, and ns for his clothes, they wero not conspicuous hero; indeed, there woro1 half a dozen men In tho car who sut passed him on this ground. "How's business?" asked tho companion com-panion of tho mnn sho was scrutinizing. scrutiniz-ing. "Slow!" growled tho latter. "I'm dead sick of It! Makes mo feel llko crawling Into a holo and staying there. Hut no matter what happens, people seem to think jou'vo got money to hum. (llrls nro the worst. I'ay them tho slightest attention nnd thoy think you aro bound to keep It up. There's never n lot up with them. That reminds me," feeling In his pockets, pock-ets, "of a letter I had this morning from a girl Just In from tho country. Mot her last summer. Not n bad llttlo llt-tlo thing nt all, tho best thero was In J!,,M1 "Not a bad little thing, at all." the place. Not a had noto,. either, is it " building it to his friend. "Not at all." replied tho latter, glancing over It ntid handing It buck, ljulto clever, in fact." "Just so. Means, of course, that sho wants me to take her to tho theater thea-ter and so on. So I would If things woro a llttlo easier, but 1 ain't In shnpo to do It now. When you come to llguio it out, It don't pay. There's llvo dollars for seats, Mowers tlvo, car-rlago car-rlago llvo. supper ten twcnty-llvo In all. Take tho girl home, press her hand at tho door, bid her good night 'Tniu't worth it! I'll Just wait a few days 'til she's gono back, then write her a nice letter, tolling her I'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 tho lino somewhere." some-where." The speaker wound up with n great jnwn, nnd threw his head back with such a Jerk that his lint tumbled Into the lap of the girl behind him. "I beg your pardon, imul.un!" ho cried, waving his arm wildly behind him In un attempt to regain his fedorn Why. she's carrying it nlong with her Confound It, she's trod all over It. What's the matter with the wom an, anyway?" Tho other passengors grlnnod. lint tho objoct of his romnrks was nlready out of tho car. Thoy wero still a long wny from the shopping district, but Miss ailchrlRt had lost all Interest In her purchases. Her only dcslro was ! got back to Plnovlllo, nnd to dear, dear Oliver. Tholr wedding catno off three months lntor. |
