Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1910 — HIS SUBSTITUTE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HIS SUBSTITUTE.

A Long Absence That Nearly . Lost a Loved One.,

By LOUISE WINTER.

[Copyright. 1910, by American Press Association.] , ' “And there’s this to be saidWn favor of marrying into the navy—you never lack for an escort. If your husband is away on sea duty there’s always some classmate of his to tote you around and play substitute." Margery had listened at the time to this defense of the service, but as it was her cousin, not herself, who was marrying into the navy she did not pay much attention to the argument. A year later, however, when she became engaged to Lieutenant Jim Allen she recalled it thoughtfully. For Margery was a southerner. Her appearance proclaimed that fact even before her delightful accent established it beyond question. She met Jim , while she was visiting her cousin at a northern navy yard and became engaged to him after three weeks of ardent wooing, and then she went home to Altamara with his ring on her finger and his image firmly engraved on her heart. Jim went to sea. It was easy enough to be loyal while she stayed quietly in Altamara, for she knew every man in the town and had been engaged to half the boys in her set, but being engaged really was different. A cousin of her father’s who lived in New York wrote and asked the girl to visit her for the winter. Her parents insisted upon her accepting the invitgtioij. The day she arrived in New York she slipped Jim’s ring from her finger and put it on the chain she wore about her neck. It would save her a lot of troublesome explanations. New York was a revelation. It was her first glimpse of the, metropolis, and she wrote glowing accounts of the theaters, restaurants and parties to Jim. Her cousin had threes daughters, and the house was never dull. A letter from Jim one morning Brought her up guiltily. Sh 4 was going motoring with a man who claimed a distant relationship and who had been most attentive ever since her arrival. Jim’s letter said that a shipmate of

. his had just been ordered to the New York yard, and he had promised to look Mhrgery up as soon as he arrived. Hjs name was Prater and he would be Sure to turn up in a few days. Margery sat beside Miller Wagram very soberly that day. her usual flow of easy chatter silenced, and Wagram glanced at her curiously. He w divined that something was amiss, and he was troubled, but he feared to lose - the position of .confidence he had gained step by step by an injudicious question, so he held his pea.ce. Prater called the next day. He was older than Jim, a hatchet faced man of thirty, with small, shrewd eyes and a lurking smile at the corners of his thin lips. He - delivered messages from Jim and then began to lay plans for her entertainment as ff he thought she had been moping disconsolately before he came. He invited her to tea at the yard, and she felt obliged to accept. The day was decided upon, and then he left. Cousin Kate received the halting confession with great tact.. z “My dear child, it was your secret, and you had a perfect right to keep it If you take my advice you will go on being silent. We will have tea with Mr. Prater and thank him for his charming courtesy, and in return, if you wish, 1 will ask him here to dinner. Then your Jim will have nothing to complain of.” It seemed so simple that Margery felt a load slipping from her, and she threw both arms about Cousin Kato and embraced her impulsively. The tea at the yard was as delightful as six bachelors could make it and, at* there was no open allusion to Jim, Margery soon got over her momentary embarrassment and enjoyed herself thoroughly. Prater scarcely left her side; he was most attentive, and he made her feel that he had gone out of his way to do her honor. He accepted Cousin Kate’s invitation to dinner with alacrity and proved himself a most en tertaining dinner guest. Then be invited them all to dine on board the sta-

tiou ship, aud Margery felt the meshes tightening about her. The arms of the service were lung, and they were reaching out She bad been on the point of slipping away, and they were stretching out to recapture her. And in the ten days that followed she saw Prater almost 3aily and Wagram but twice. “It’s different. In tbe'service 1 can accept Mr. Prater’s escort; he’s Jims friend.” she vouchsafed to Her cousin, as the latter ventured to protest against her going alone to the matinee with the naval office! 1 . “And MillCr Wagram is a relative. You can go with him better than with a stranger.” ■ v “Ah, but he isn’t a stranger; he’s Jim’s substitute,” and Margery forced a gay little laugh. “He’s what?” Cousin Kate was shocked, and somehow the explanation sounded rather lame. To tell the truth. Margery was miserable. She had reached a point where she felt that she had to come to a decision. Jim’s outline had become hazy, his loremaking stereotyped. 'She felt the distance between them was widening hourly, while Wagram was a real personality to be reckoned with. His flowers, his candy, his books, were all pleasures she must take into account, and now she must either decide to go on - with a shadow or cast it aside and Confess that she was mistaken in the strength of her affection for Jim. Prater came home with her after the matinee and stayed until Cousin Kate felt obliged to ask him to remain and dine. He accepted, and in the evening Wagram called. Prater’s intuition told him that this was Jim’s most formidable rival, and he was hostile in consequence. , When Margery went up to her room she had come to the conclusion to write to Jim at once and break off her engagement. Fearing lest her resolve might weaken in the morning, she sat up till after midnight trying to word her letter so that it should not sound too cruel and yet to show that her decision was final. When she sealed the envelope she was not satisfied, aud it was a white faced, tearful eyed Margery who crept into bed and sobbed herself to sleep. She had not dreamed the actual break would hurt so much.

Wagram came in the morning to escort her to church, and she kept him waiting beyond the' traditional half hour, and it took her so long to dress that she forgot to mail the letter lying on her desk. The day was a and she had scarcely time to thin? but when Wagram tried to draw her away from the others, suggesting that he had somethin# of importance to tell her, she put him off. “Not tonight,” she urged. “Then tomorrow. Will you listen to me tomorrow, little gfrt?” She nodded, not daring to trust herself to reply. In the morning she would post the letter to Jim, and in Ae afternoon she would te|l Wagram what she bad done. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that she had stifled all regrets, her sleep was broken, and when she awoke her head ached so frightfully shat she could not raise it from the pillow. About 3 o’clock in the afternoon she crept downstairs for a cup of tea. Her cousins bad gone to a musicale, and the house was very quiet. The tea refreshed her. and she curled up on the sqfa in the library and rested cozily among the cushions. She awoke with a start to find a tall, clean shaven man looking down at her. a heart full of love and longing in his honest eyes. She stared up at him/ wide eyed, a culprit.

•‘Margery, my darling, have.l frightened you? 1 wanted to take you by surprise, sweetheart, so 1 told Prater not to tell you 1 was on my way home. But now. Margery, speak. Aren’t you glad to see me?” He was terrified at her continued silence. This was scarcely the girl whose memory had never left him day or night, whom he had loved during the long, dreary -months he had spent in the tropics. She had changed; she was no longer a dainty child; she was a woman. And then he grew tender. Women were made of softer stuff than men. She knew what his coming portended, and she was a bit afraid. In a little while she would forget and give herself up only to the joy of their reunion. He had been too impetuous.- He should have let the maid announce him. But as be had been as sure of her as himself he had insisted upon going in alone. At the sound of his voice Margery felt her heart stir painfully, and as she kept on staring at him his dear face gradually blotted out all memory of that other till when he paused and the silence between them grew embarrassing. A rush of feeling swamped all other emotion, and she put up her arms suddenly. “Jim. oh. Jim! I am so glad!” she cried, and the rest was lost as he gathered her close to his breast. About an hour later, when Jim's ring was again on her finger and they sat side by side on the sofa, her hand in his. he spoke of Prater. “He is a tine fellow, and I’m sure you got on famoiifely together.” he said. “Yes.” Margery admitted. Then, with a burst of confidence, she added. “Nevertheless, Jim. I think, after all. I don’t care for substitutes.” She blushed as she said it and Jim interpreted it in his own fashion. “Still, with Prater, darling, you were perfectly safe. You were in no danger of falling in love with him. no matter how he felt about you.” “No. dear”—Margery snuggled a little closer—“l wasn’t in any danger of forgetting you for Mr. Prater.” But had she been perfectly honest she would have &ld that Prater was not the substitute of whom she was thinking. '

SHE AWOKE WITH A START.