Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1910 — WHAT THE PAPER READ [ARTICLE]

WHAT THE PAPER READ

To the end of his day BHithorpe will never forget his sensations when he read the simple, coldDlooded announcement In the society column of the newspaper. The notice was tc the effect that the engagement of Miss Rose Burlingame to Dovle Jenkins was announced. That was all, but it was the end of the world for Elllthorpe. As he glared at the crumpled newspaper he admitted that he had dallied. For two years he had lived in the light of her presence and hadn’t opened his mouth to tell her how he feU about it. He had always meant to do so, but he was shy. Never in his maddest dreams had he pictured any other girl wearing orange blossoms and a tulle veil for him. And now • If it had been any other man than Jenkins! But he was honest enough to admit that he would have been just as enraged and upset no matter who had been his lucky rival. Elllthorpe pushed his dinner away without a look at the tempting chop and left the club. |le wanted ,to P walk and think it over. There was plenty to think about—what a fool he had bsen, for instance. He might have known others admired her as well as himself What a conceited chump ho had been to fancy it, dldnt matter when he spoke! There were always plenty of callers hovering about Rose, but he had been so wrapped uo in his own liking for her he had not thought about anything else. Now he was well paid for it. Where on earth would he spend Jojful evenings now? For he never could sit in the same room with the successful Jenkin? without strangling him. he was grimly certain. And Rose wouldn’t care to have him call now that rhe bad picked out Jenkins. Elllthorpe groaned aloud. Suddenly an overpowering desire to see her again, to view her in the light of this stupendous change, came over him ard he boarded a car. it was quite right he should call and offer his congratulations, he told himself miserably. All the way out there he was rehearsing different ways of doing this without giving her a hint of the anguish in his soul, for he had resolved never to let her know.

When he reached her street he had not decided whether to begin the conversation in a calm and everyday manner, gradually leading up in an incidental way to the news of her engagement as though he merely remembered to speak of it along with other pleasant'news, or whether, in a sprightly and jesting manner, to plunge into the subject at once. He rather inclined toward the former as more likely to give Rose’s vanity a letting down and to show her if she had any lingering suspicions as to his caring deeply for her that she was wholly mistaken. The maid had ushered him into the Burlingame library and at sight of the familiar room his heart dropped several more notches. Decidedly he would choose the first way; maybe he would even apparently forget to mention her engagement till he was ready to go home, just as though it had nearly slipped his memory. » “Good evening, Dick,” she said just behind him. Elllthorpe sprang to his feet. She was looking perfectly natural, happy and placid, not at all important as he had fancied she and she walked over to a settee as though nothing had happened. Ellithorpe’s eyes blurred and he realized to his horror that he couldn’t follow out his programme “I can’t believe it, Rose,” he heard himself saying, huskily. “Believe what? she asked In surprise, which grew as she noted his tragic attitude. “This,” said Elllthorpe dramatically, fishing out the newspaper folded at the fatal notice and handing it to her. As the girl scanned it her face turned crimson. There was a sparkle of wrath in her eyes. “How perfectly horrible!" she cried, vehemently. “It’s a mistake. I can’t Imagine who put it in. And Doyle Jenkins of all people! As though I—why, I never heard of such a'thing!” "You aren’t engaged to him?" Ellithorpe shouted. “I should say not!” said Rose decidedly. It was then Ellithorpe found his wits and his voice.—Chicago News.