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Show ' ' A ' i Misapprehension Br WILLIAM CHANDLEK llolngdola)etl In the town of Aclnnd. wliero 1 had (,'ono on hmlno. on count of tlic Rtiaciice of tlio man 1 had Bone there to co, I nked Iho clerk of the hole) where I Mopped If there was free library In the plaie. He direct Ml toe to one of the meat attractive llttlo buildings I crrr saw, Iu the cen tcr of a Rrore. I went thorn and noicd orer the fiction nhelves for awhile and finally took down a norel On turning the loaves a lilt of paper flitted to the floor. I pIcLcd It up and. Heebie aorne word written on It In pencil, read them Ten year todiy ilnca Frank Mt ui, nd I am no more reconciled to hi ab nc thin tli diy after hi departure Oh, th lonr. lon. weary Uy! ALtCf. Now, thorp mm aomctlilnc In thU that fitted me. My nimo l l'rank Tldalo. Twelve yean before I had accctod a poillkin In a commlMlon homo In Hongkong and gone out there to make my fortune. I returned ou a lilt after eight year' aojourn In CM ti and never went back. I was twen ty year old when I left home, and amoug tho girl to whom t said good-by good-by waa ono Alice Illngold. Hut t was uot aware that I wai any more to her than any other young mm. 1 took thn book and thn paper to the librarian, telling her that I had found the one In the other. She aald that returned re-turned booka were apt to bare variety varie-ty of article In Uura, usually put there In licit of a book mark. I aaked her If such article ware returned, and her p-ply wai, "Bomellme." I requested that If he returned the paper I hl left with her to tbe person who had written It ahe would let roe, know. I left with her a postage stamp and my address. Not very loug after my return to my homo I received n letter from tbe llhrarlau announcing that she had found the Alice whose name waa appended ap-pended to the writing on the paper I had discovered. Tbe lady had dropped It Into the book which was lying open on a table, aome one cite had closed the book, nnd It had been returned to tho library with tho slip In It. The librarian gave (he name, Alice Itiii-gold. Itiii-gold. Now, I had pawd the age of thirty, upinIiir that no woman had shown any prrdlipoaltlon toward mo. I wn ou thn verge of middle age, with no ono to care for me, mid now accident ally I bad dUcovnml that n girl from whom I had parted n dozen years bo-fore bo-fore bad been mine for the asking dur ing the wholo of that period. I rvtuetn-bored rvtuetn-bored Alice Utugold, a ahy little thing, ao young that I would not have be-Moved be-Moved she could love any mau. Uht could not at tho tltnn have been mors than fifteen Here waa a chance to break away from the bachelorhood Into which fate seemed to have thrown me. 1 would renew my acquaintance with Allen Hlngold, and tf she was of the same mlml-and from the recent date of what aho had written It was likely that abo was-I tulght settle myself In a homo under tho same advantage as lrutned to youth. Hut I must contrive con-trive to make tho meeting appear ic cklental. Him bad rvruotcd from tho town where ahe bad 1 1 ted to Acland. and there I went Having learned where her home waa situated, I ct out to And ber, proiMMlng to tuako up a itory as to how I had como to know of her bolus In Acl.ltM. Just before- reaching tho house a young woman c.imu out of the front door and In another moment met me face to face. She was Alice Itlngold. Hclwevn ail teen and twenty-six there Is nut great a difference Iu one's appearance as between twenty-six and thirty-six. At any rate, there was enough left of tbe girl f bad known for me to recognise recog-nise ber. I stopped, lifted my hat and spoke to ber. Ubo looked nt me, and I aaw at once that ahe know me. "Alice Hlngold r 1 asked. "Yea; and jou are l'rank TUdale." "Singular that you should know me after so many years' absence." "No more singular than that you should know me." "I havo boon wondering what bail become of you since my return to America I have been hunting you for month." Hhe cast ber eje down Just a she did when lu wa little moru than a child 8lio ttna going to the village, nnil I walled beside her I told her of the many tltuoi I had thought of ber during my iibnonce In the east and how I bad lunged that fato should have brought us together again, With that slip of paper In my poa krsslou I had all tbe boldness of a grenadier. I mado rapid progress, necking moru and mora plainly In my lutemaklug u l advanced. When l parted with her 1 told her I would aee her In tbe evening, and when tbe evening came, havlug gone thruti.-h the preliminaries, I proposed to her, Hhe said It was very sudden and a great surprise to her, I smiled inwardly inward-ly at this, thlnklug cf the wiper I bad found Il( tvever, after a little coyneaa she yielded nud accepted me. Just bo-fore bo-fore I left her she said: "Hit you remember my brother Frank V "FraukT I believe 1 do." "lit died soon after you left for China. I havo never got over bis loss," Great beavcnsl It waa bex brother aba had loved all these years. Nevertheless we are very happy. |