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Show I 1 Making If tie Rest By w , J I ""MMMBwiBit mwww ! iim "warn I I r OU see. began the II 2s5 -IP widow er, 1 have ""-Hsr" been tring hard 0 Ji)tJ traveling and all! 9Ep1 lhat sort thing,li t- JWS '.6hed jp at Monte : Orga jr Carta. The place' r'Jr cheered me wonder-Vo-PSv-- fullv I lost quite a lg i lot of money at the tables." K) "I think that was very wrong of i you, ' said Winnie sternly. Gambling 1 is wicked." "Ah but If you knew what a relief It was to be able to do something wicked again," sighed the Widower, c "you would overlook it. Do you know I was gradually becoming almost tool fl good to live. It gave me quito a shock 1 when I realized it. My constitution lC would not have stood the strain much longer, I am certain " ' The older men grow, the worse they get," declared Winnie with the y air of one delivering a profound epi- gram 2 "That, of course, is the natural tendency," he admitted "It doesn't I do to check It -beyond a certain d oto check it beyond a certain point. It's like suppressing measles, ' he added a little InconBequently. "What is?" sho asked. regarding her fan. M "Curbing man's natural tendency to J grow worse," he explained, "beyond a certain point It often leads to more dangerous complications." "In your case I do trust," exclaimed Winnie in a lone of cxtierae solicitude, solici-tude, "that the the complications have not yet become as bad as all - "Fortunately no." he assured her 1 ' "Monte Carlo just saed mo You have slain no idea what an excellent safety-valve issty 1 for suppressed tendencies Monte . ..Ilia. Carlo Is. It's a most terribly wicked place." ' I should love to go there," she sighed. "I am surprised to hear you express ex-press an inclination of that sort!" he scld fternly "You have no tendencies that require artificial evaporation." "Of course not," said Winnie bastl- i ly. "How dare you suggest such a thing!" "The suggestion was yours," he pointed out judiciously. "You Implied" Im-plied" "I didn't," she interrupted, blushing blush-ing "I merely meant I should love to see the scenery " "0," said the widower, looking relieved, re-lieved, "the scenery, of course. The scenery, I may say, is beautiful. The , sea Is a kind of gr?enish-blue tint, snd there are, I beliov.-, hills and things and the Casino is quite a fine building especially inside The the trees " "0, never mind the treets!" Interrupted Inter-rupted Winnie Impatiently. "I wanted want-ed to talk to you about something else I wanted to to condole with you. ' "Thanks," he murmured "I shall be erj pleased, I'm sure.' "Pleased" She regarded him severely. se-verely. "I mean pleased- to be condoled with," he explained, "by you." "It must have beeo a groat blow," observed Winnie In a tone A detached commiseration. "It was she never expected it," he sighed. "I meant a blow to you," corrected I Winnie. J "0 to me! I suppose it woe; yes. no doubt it was though I managed i bomehow to bear up. Yes, I pulled through somehow " "With tho help of travel and Monte I Carlo," suggested Wlnn.e n little ma- llolonsl . "Precisely," he agreed, quite unof-fended unof-fended "And if you have done con-aoling, con-aoling, we " "I've not done,'' she interposed. ' Though I don't believe you require to be condoled with a bit What's the good of a man pretendlugjo be sorry when he isn't?" "That's exactly what I say," remarked re-marked the widower, brightening. "What's the good?" Winnie frowned; she felt that her ethical sense was in some danger of outrage by this practical view of the matter. "Well, then, don't pretend," she retorted. re-torted. "Certainly not, If you wish It," he assented cheerfully. "Let us talk ubout " "No," put In Winnie firmly, "not yet. It's It's hardly decent, I think, to dismiss a melancholy subject In such an off-hand way." "Well, perhaps not," agreed tho widower, In a resigned tone, "Only, if It's all the same to you. I " "It isn't," she cut him short. "Of course." he admitted, with an amiable smile. Winnie was silent for a moment. Then she looked up suddenly, fixed her large, blue, childish eyes on the widower's abstracted countenance. "I can't think," she protosted, "what on earth ever made you marry her." "You didn't know my wife," he remarked re-marked cryptically "I don't see that that would have helped to explain what made you marry' her." persisted Winnie. "It would have helped immensely," he corrected It would have afforded a complete and satisfactory explanation, explana-tion, in fact." "I don't understand," she admitted "It has puzzled me ever since especially espe-cially as as " sho faltered and blushed. "Exactly," said the widower "Especially "Espe-cially as that was the case ' "Don't be absurd!" exclaimed Winnie Win-nie wrathfully. "All the same. I should like to know," sho added, with true feminine pertinacity, "what made you marry her?" "Shall I tell you?" he asked calmly. calm-ly. "Do, please," entreated Winnie. "She did," said the w idow er. "Sho did? What do you mean?" "I mean that she made mo marry her," explained the widower patiently. patient-ly. "Your wife?" demanded Winnie, opening wide her eyos of amazement upon him "Yes She was a woman of the most extraordinary determination. She was very rich, too." He sighed. "Money 1b such a power," he added. "Then," eald Winnie, with an air of stern rebuke, "it waB not a love match at all?" "Well, perhaps not exactly what you would describe as a lovo match," he conceded, "although sho pretended to be very devoted to me I may add that she had a rather remarkable way of showing her deotion at times " "What sort of a remarkable way?" inquired Winnie, becoming Interested. ' Did she pet vou too much?" "Hardly too much," replied the widower reflectively. "You see, the poor girl had a somewhat fiery temp-( temp-( r. Sho was terribly Jealous entirely, entire-ly, O, quite without cau6e." ho hastened hast-ened to add "Nevertheless, she would not allow me on any consideration considera-tion to speak to a woman under 46." "That must have been a great hardship," murmured Winnie "1 could have supported It with equanimity' he sighed "But she latterly developed various uncomfort- able eccentricities. Among other things she became a vegetarian and compelled me to live on herbs like herself She embraced the absurd theory that two meals a day were enough for human belngu to BubBlst upon, and from that moment I never knew what It was not to feel hungry. It was this practice, I believe, that eventually carried her off." "She she was not very young?" hazarded Winnie. "Poor girl no! She she had been, I believe But she outgrew It. Sho was In her 64th year when she expired." ex-pired." "Sixty-four!" exclaimed Winnie. "Sixty-three," he corrected. "O 0!" ejaculated Winnie In a longdrawn gasp. "And you you were only 25 when you married her!" "When she married me." the widower wid-ower interposed mildly. "Yes; I couldn't help that, you know. It was three years ago now. bo 1 became considerably older as wo went along." "She wbb old enough to have been your grandmother!" exclaimed Winnie Win-nie indignantly. "True; but she would never have consented to act In that relation toward me though, of course, I should have preferred It, If it could have been arranged." "I feel," declared Winnie severely, "that we are treating Che subject much too flippantly." "I feel that, too," he agreed. "Marriage," she continued, ignoring hie Interruption, "even with an elderly elder-ly lady, 1b a subject that should be discussed In a spirit of proper rever-I rever-I ence Marriage 1b a beautiful and ro-I ro-I mantle Idea " "Yes," ho said "Go on." it Is," said Winnie, warming to her theme, "the most blissful state in which human beings can exist " "Pardon me," interrupted tho wid- owor, but do you think 'blissful' Is exactly the right word to to express your Idea?" "Certainly," said Winnie, with asperity. "Cases havo been known," he observed, ob-served, in an impersonal tone, "where there has been quite a regrettable absence of this particular ingredient, I believe For Instance, if your wife is a vegetarian " "Food has nothing to do with marriage," mar-riage," retorted Winnie. "You've not been married," he sighed, ' so you don't know." "That's true," conceded Winnie meditatively. "I don't know at least not yet " "Thero's no reason why you shouldn't," put In the widower, with sudden eagerness. "0, but I era not sure that I want to," she objected. "You would then enjoy the advant-I advant-I age of being in a position to prove I your assertion," he urged. "About food?" sho inquired fnno-! fnno-! cently. "And tho other things,' he added i "The romantic beauty and the bllss-I bllss-I fulness, you know." "And supposing I found when it was too late that I was wrrong?' sho I demurred "You wouldn't," eald the widower, with emphasis. "You would find that I in your case theory' and practice would entirely coincide To begin with, you are not a vegetarian." "But," protested Winnie, "my hus-j hus-j band might Insist upon making me , become one " "I can answer for him," said tho widower decisively. "Do you know, , Winnie by the way, you don't mind ! my calling you 'Winnie,' do you? You see, I have known you ever since you were a little baby " I "You have known me Just six years," corrected Winnie sternly. f I Since I was 16 " j "Really!" said the widower in j ' astonishment "I fancied I Imagined j I was quite under the Impression, j ' in fact, that I had known you much i longer." I. "Well, you haven't," Bald Winnie. I "And I should think that's quite long I enough." j "Quite," ho agreed, "for the pur- I pose. And 'Winnie' has always struck ; i me as being the very prettiest name I a girl could have Wlnnlo." Ml didn't say you could!" she exclaimed ex-claimed "I have a wonderful way of taking ' things for granted," explained the widower airily. "But, do you know, it just occurred to me while you were talking and while you were j showing me what x beautiful thing ' marrtag'? might be with a sweet girl j (who wasn't a vegetarian) it Just occurred to me that I was most ! frightfully fond of you " "O," said Winnie, rising, "there's ' tho next dance beginning, and I" "Sit down," said the widower, plac-, plac-, ing a detaining hand ou her arm. j ' Never mind the next dance. What do I j you think I camo here for tonight? j ; I didn't come to dance. I came to see you I have bem waiting to see you forfor months; but they told me you were engaged, and I kept away." I "I I broke it off," sho murmured, ' looking down. "Was was ho a vegetarian?" asked the widower anxiously, i Winnie raised her eyes to his, and her cheeks turned suddenly crimson. j "No. but I I" fl The widower gave a little trium-pliant trium-pliant laugh. "My darling," he whispered In her j ear, "we can make it up to each i other all the rest of our lives!" |
