Show TI FN ABOUT IS FAIR rus draw ir iw our chair cli air round a little I 1 krov tt r fieres res ft a drift draft on that side I 1 did bendt ten t nd dt t one ne tune dine to have it cured in some y hut t it does not much master now I 1 il 1 I 1 u a creel en ui put round your corner to y mr rr mine n comfortable enough 10 tl i is s U 11 s id ila to me tile one winter evening henmi iv riv ri mi in john J 1 ider as we ave sat on r ill sl f ft tic L fira in ili ill his particularly cozy din d T r iii where tho the table with its v ers and ert had been drawn 1 I p 11 i to 10 nu isy i distan e from our hands j lin 1 n ua w i s PK port and I 1 was cr cricket crick ackin mt 11 i is 1111 f A il I 1 it i I 1 1 pile pate of my years I 1 h live n e in awan ibl fector 0 and behind ny my chair is the tile door xi from v aich might but iid old pot not calle co t I 1 the lie drift draft john was speaking of jolin john 11 i ili i jerl ti bach bacil cloi clor y r ry well 11 vety comfortable a ald nd ver very Y p pal u lut hut tull still rather mysteriously loudly ft a r iaru e ho has 1181 4 always liked mid and be ben n lik liked d hv fly women I 1 am an elderly ian i i 1 vi idov and john and I 1 have been win friand f sall our lues lives the reabon why Y in III is sit it in III aside ix side jot johns dining lining loom room in firt ww was tt tilot it I 1 h had id come to pay lum him a visit i isit and as is thera tl in mere were no other guests in the holle lion t it as s enuch more sensible for me to KU ind talk with lum film while he lie enjoyed his h s aft r dinner ea fax e than to go aw away ay by b the bravi ing room althere there it is no draft I 1 said none at pr prel int tit I 1 lam an sure iset there may be ill thi v awl ii 1 is is north and a screen would make inake all if yes K he answered musingly as he lie looked lit t the lie wine ho he had just poured out it would do but I 1 did lid think once oi of allering sll Alteri ering ag the door making it really good obdia ob 0 it I 1 planned that with other alt alterations erih ind nd the plans tans were never carried out I 1 asked s ikc after I 1 tall waited a moment to see if it I 1 would say more well I 1 sup po poi poe e I 1 kev w when they were made but I 1 devir d ill 1 quite understand under why they came ame to ton not tl il I 1 in 11 11 no i ho lie un answered 1 I dont think any bod knew but ourselves it ans my fault cd n v ft t wa was 4 all my fault he lie s but I 1 thought lie was not deml ria r 1 to KO go on oil and arid I 1 was cu curious 4 indeed in in 1 t tin here re hail had been tin episode in john life about ab ut vi inch wo we hail had all been curious and arid it wis was it good while past pact I 1 baill fat fi it I 1 donld should like to know so I 1 said sald I 1 fin led it had been mias wood i offen es doing 1 I 1 a ild lid it was my fault he lie answered I 1 d did ill not say tt it was my doing oh I 1 answered rather blankly and there was w is a silence thin then john rao gave ft it little laugh half cul f himself I 1 thought and halt half rueful ness for the tile citory that was in his mind I 1 may as well tell you all fill about it lie said add you ou aro fire not likely to tell it to an any y 4 the young one ones and it certainly was nn sin dil all way of losing ones prom promised led wife vice jull u hie see that th iasha she was not to blime blame 11 I 1 saw now that I 1 was in for the story whatever ahik it t night might be the catastrophe cita strophe of which hid had left john a bachelor so I 1 feel tied myself in ili my chair put my feet more comfortably on oil my footstool and laid down the nute nutcrackers well ell he lie said s ud 1 I dare say you her that I 1 have always ays ben been much fouda of seeing s my friends in my ow own n house bouw than of going elsewhere for ho society clety I 1 dont suppose suppo e ie ive dined out ten times in lit tho the list jast ten years and ten tell years ago I 1 dilik disliked d doing it almost almast as much as I 1 do now only I 1 quite such an old fogy mid and I 1 believe Ix lieve I 1 had hall some vague idea of marry J in the was that I 1 lad had never seen wn exactly the right woman and very cr naturally I 1 nearly so keen about finding her tier at as I 1 hid had been twenty years bo bar fore that ali it it Is saw juten en years now aluce I 1 met alvs woodro e 1 ei I 1 said I 1 remember it is about tell e ayes years sinco since I 1 beard of her the only house where I 1 icier ever cared to dine in those days was Jodd and arid I 1 used to go there about once for every four times they ashod ked me mt one evening ci ening in sep I 1 went there much again stiny will doddrell Jod drell had pro promised me that I 1 should meet some write old friends but when I 1 arrived alrh ed there was not ore pre present ent but stringent stranger and nearly all till the party acro oung people fancy asking ing me to meet a room full of young people it till dinner was that I 1 saw tho the lady I 1 was to take in in then doddrell Jod Joil drell led me into a corner ot of the drawing r pom and introduced me to miss a friend of his wife john mopped stopped a little here and I 1 fancied he wits trying to ind find words in which to describe alatas if that were no so lie did not succeed bucce ed after a it in lie vent avent on again without attempting to give me ine any portraiture of tho the heroine of hla his tory story upon my word mary I 1 cant tell how bow it happe happened ried all I 1 know la Is that she was the most charming woman I 1 ever daiv in my life we e talked a creat great deal during dinner and we talked a great deal after dinner ind arid the more she talked and the tile more I 1 looked at her tier the mora more I 1 thought with disgust of my ioli military tary existence bonie how or other before I 1 got up next morning I 1 lid bad made up my mind that I 1 would gryto try to perau persuade ade berto her to be become my grife all this of course Is very ery common altoe plenty of men I 1 suppose ev even en some wen n en of efty alve fi e must have lii 0 had the tile kama saute sort of experience now comes the tile part of the story which I 1 think must belong to mo ine alone do you remember how years ago I 1 persuaded ion you to let me send one jome of your our handwriting to a lidy lady who professed pi to know all about tho the people irh Xe writing she silo was allowed to ine I 1 sent yours and arid jome others do I 1 you remember yes 11 I 1 answered 1 I remember very cra v well Ml landwe and are thought the characters chara sent bick back were wondern wonderfully ully true we edid did 11 said sald john emphatically and that was tho the mischief of it some time after ter that I 1 hid hall a it housekeeper who whom 1 suspected of cheating me and I 1 sent a note n te of lifors hato to aliss harris by way of cle clearing arill 0 up uli my opinion of lit lir r miss harris wrote baaki that abu hu was civil and plausible sible but lot to be trub trusted ted and buro hurc enough af after ter a birne I 1 detected her in downright robbery my woid word alary if I 1 did believe la in miss harris 1 I had good reason and im not lot BO go very cure sure yet that she de dc eno to be believed bell eved in well now w wh 11 ri do 40 you think itulid I 1 determined to get a note from front miss Woodro fre and send it tc harris before I 1 took another step li in the amir affair Woodro fre aa as it happen ed wis was to stay at tho Jodd for two oi 01 three weeks and anti before ft a week was over I 1 had hall manag managed ed to get a note of two or three lines f from rom her this 1 his I 1 sent to miss harria and I 1 can show allow you the answer I 1 received here john took from front his pocket a I 1 lette case or pocketbook from which after boac tural turning over of the papers it contained in lit drew out it much worn letter and hando handed fa A to me tile it began n the 01 0 1 the note of which you have requested request dl my opinion Is s a ory very remarkable one it ex presses in the strongest degree the quail t ties lea of a noble and refined character writer lias has a clear brain an affectionate affection att heart anil and brent great rectitude of 0 mind atilt talks well we 11 and neither too much nor tot little there wit n a good deal more ore in the same ba 81 vie describing huch such a paragon ol 01 our sex that I 1 really felt an rich or pvc taller for f r tin the reading of it if miss was a adall ill that I 1 said 1 I cant can b imagine i n isna how you v on ever ev ir let her tier go slie site was vi as he lie answered prad at any rat rate I 1 iia have e no reason re ason to don dou bt 11 it ile put tile piper paper back in in its place and went on I 1 think I 1 may I 1 fly that I 1 lost no ciric after that she A was aas as friendly from front beginning about four weeks after oui out first meeting I 1 asked her to marry roe toe anil and she said yes upon my it ly word mary if I 1 hid had been twenty five instead of fifty alvi 1 I dont think I 1 could have been happier she was just going away from front the jod brells and before she alie vv went ent I 1 told her tier al ill I 1 about miss harris and what a tho thorough belief I 1 had in her tier skill miss laughed at me but unfortunately I 1 wa wit quite convinced that my belief wag was well founded and quite determined to persua ii lier tier to think do too she went away and of course I 1 wrote to lier tier in one of my first letters I 1 fen her the one I 1 have just shown you ind nd i begged lier tier to send my h and asri ting also tc miss harris tor for her own satisfaction you 1 on a we I 1 felt quite safe in doing this berju c i the description of me which had been awit min at the time you remember had leen been rath i flattering on that occasion miss ilardi had declared that I 1 was wa of an tell per liberal but trustworthy I 1 i the words well and I 1 thought it could dc de me nothing but good if such su h an account ol 01 me found its ita way to miss fiss what fools people are the woman v w a rank impostor of course as I 1 found efte ward to my cost and as I 1 ought to known then but I 1 did re really illy believe bt cievo in iii hir lar could you have ha e guessed it well no I 1 answered 1 I really dont think I 1 hav e believed it only 5 on know john Jolin you shrewd men lan can be s si dreadfully credulous why I 1 a friend of my husband who doubted every thine and yet lie belil believed ved in in alme blavat sky john grunted he ile did not seem to lic like the comparison which was aai foolish of billi poor follow ft how bhe site said he went arent on that she could artist her tier own judgment and did no not vv m any anybody body alses that might li ivo auti suti ii 1 anybody but it did not satisfy me I 1 vv wrote rou i gain and begged her to do as I 1 wi wilho shel 1 telling her tier about the housekeeper atlant at last she wrote that she site had hall done lone to please rw me what she never would have dona tor for bir ber pelf self and she said 1 I suppose you expect me to abide by whatever alas its harris may nu bay PAY do you know that those word agave in mi a fright I 1 had hall never doubted till then that Aliss harris would give just the cliar acter of me as she had done before and albo I 1 had bad only thoU glit of it as its giving div lug me more value to was MISS ofTe I 1 got nervous as after I 1 heard ab ache 0 had really con cited tho the sabyl and two vivo diya days later I 1 ire re theae these t he I 1 le turned tu arned over his it Is pocketbook again agal n and arid handed to me tile two immers eni sinking back in his ills chir chair after be ile ial hall done so with a i g gea ture text bald suld you have the calastro catastrophe Cat astro phe and unit rai results before you I 1 opened one of the papers and literally I 1 opened it with trembling lingers fingers there was som ething trig ical in lit poor johns turo ture and in iho the emptiness and silence of the house my afy eyes fell upon a sheet of paper half covered with a neat legible handwriting the words of which were much as follows tills writing belongs to a person of aj r impulsive and arid eager tempera ment easily carried away by the tile feeling of the moment very uncertain cirtain un and able sadly inconsistent without fixed pur pose or deliberate judgment not wanting in ability but only in the pomer power it usefully careless car cless of money but scarcely to lie be called generous rot not altogether free from front vanity hs ills temper is very irritable and there waa was more but a sigh from AID jonn poor john the most faithful and generous I 1 of if friends and arid the most steady going 1 mortals made me ine drop thu the sheet sleet and take up the otter other I 1 this was a very short note DEAR IlFAn MR Mit ULDER li den yoa YOU insisted hat that I 1 should consult aikaa harris and trust her tier verdict on your our cliar character acter rather than ou on my ra own what but that la Is you v on A will ill BOO sec by the and lam sure lou you cannot cn not wonder hat that I 1 d dare are not marry tho the man I 1 am sending back your j conr unil letters by next lost post with most cincere u ashes for your ill APP buess i oura rd truly tru lonist oli oil john I 1 said when I 1 had lead read this but she could not have hav e meant it she silo coant it so thoroughly that when I 1 got to lier tier mothers house in london the tile veri very evenin the day I 1 received lec elved it they I 1 were both gone abroad and I 1 have not hotbo so much as seen her tier from that time to this so that vas was why the tile dining lining room door was never altered N ew york recorder |