Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1912 — EAVESDROPPERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

EAVESDROPPERS

By SUSANNE GLENN

(Copyright. I9H. by Associated Literary Press) Lucy Desmore settled herself comfortably in the hammock hack of the arbor. - She had many Pleasant things to think about in case she cared to B tay awake. But the breathing of Bummer winds in the maple boughs and the sing song of bees among the flowers soon soothed her to unconsciousness. She awoke with a start to hear voices in the summer house. “Will you be seated here for a few minutes, Miss Tracy?” Aaron Stanley’s unmistakable voice was saying. “I have something ver y special to say to you.”

“To me, Mr. Stanley?" “Do not think me too abrupt, dear Miss Florence, If I be B you to become my wife,” he continued without further preamble. "Every young man should marry when he can maintain a home. And I have long f e jt the stirring Q f i o ve Florence!” He paused eloquently. “Will y ou> » he gaid, as the girl re ~ mained silent, “be my wif e ?- "Oh, Mr. Stanley. y° u can have no idea how surprised I am - I never had guch a thought! I esteem you very highly and appreciate the honor you confer, but—truly, this. i s impossible!”

Lucy Desmore crouched among the cushions her hands crushed against her throat, too stunned to think of stirring. There was a momentary silence. Then both occupants of the arbor rose to their feet "You have dealt most kindly with my P re sumption,” said Stanley gently. “Will this make any difference with our friendship, Miss Florence?” “I trust we may always be friends,” said the girl. Lucy heard them walk away, as If in a dream. “How could he do it? How could he do it?” she thought over and over. “I can never believe a man again!” Through her stunned mind passed a remembrance of the hours spent with him, of his devotion to her, of

his flue strong ace that she had teamed to trust, the strange happiness his presence brought her. She pressed ‘b er fin gers over her dry eyes to shot out the mocking beauty 0 f afternoon. Presently sbe, beard some one again approaching the summer house. Lucy crouched miserably in the hammock, too shattered to attein Pt flight or to chance encounter* 11 ® any one. “Will you be seated here for a few - minutes. Hiss Mac Wayne? I have something very special to say to you.” Lucy sat uP suddenly rigidly. »t the sound. Aaron and Mary MacWayne!

“To me—Aaron?” faltered the as- I tonished young lady. 3 “TO you, my dear Mary! Do not I think me too abrupt if I beg you to become my wife. Every young man should marry when he can afford to maintain a home, and I have long 5 felt the stirrings of love!” He paused I eloquently.* ( “Will you,” he finished impres- f sively, “be my wife?” “Oh, Aaron,” wailed poor Mary hys- 1 terically, “are you crazy? I never dreamed of such a thing, i thought ] you cared for-—” , ’ "Then you refuse me?” he inter- I rupted gently but firmly. “Oh yes, yes!” she said, “and I’m so sorry, Aaron, if you are really sincere!” £ “You have dealt most kindly with my presumption, Mary,” he said quietly. “Will this make any difference with our friendship?” “I shall always want you for a friend,” answered the girl regaining ber composure. “Then we will forget all about it, dear girl,” he concluded with unmistakable relief in his voice. Lucy sat motionless long after they bad left the summer house. “Oan he possibly have gone crazy?” she thought. When Lucy encountered Aaron Stanley on the hotel veranda after dinner that evening she studied him critically. His smooth tanned face looked serene and healthy. His steady, sane eyes looked into hers with a tenderness that made her dizzy ia spite of her overpowering fear and indignation.

“Lucy,” he said in his brief, compelling way, “come with me for a walk.” The girl rose reluctantly. “Not far,” she stipulated. “Only to the arbor,” he said. A sudden daring entered her heart. Would he ask her, too? It is rather an unusual experience to be proposed to in words as familiar as those in which this proposal would undoubtedly be versed: “I may as well see it through,” she thought bitterly. In the fragrant twilight of the arbor he made her comfortable in. silence. “There is to be a little variety this time,” she thought with strange humor. “i a m not asked to be seated that I may have Something very special said to me. Perhaps he lays his failures to fault in his system and is going to vary the program with this victim!"

“Lucy,” he said huskily, taking her cold little hands in his big comfortable ones, “I love you—l love you! It seems almost absurd ito tell you so, because I have loved you so long, and it seems as if you must have known it. “I could not ask you to marry me before, dear, when f had nothing to offer you. I have just got the new position that I’ve heen working so I’ve only bee« reasonably sure of it for two hours, and now I can take' care of you, Lucy, as I would wish. Will you marry me, darling? I offer you a clean record and. as great a love as a man can give a woman.” “A clean record!” cried Lucy Desmore.

“Aaron Stanley,' I was in the ham- 1 mock back of this arbor this after- I noon; i heard every word! How can I you come to me this evening with a I tale of love? Do you suppose I would | marry— * “Wait!” Commanded the young | man sharply. “Do not say another E word, hbeg you. You in the hammock, I Lucy? oh, good heavens!” He dropped her hands. “’Only trust me a few minutes longer, Lucy,” lie pleaded at last. “I can explain the whole accursed thing, black as it looks against me. Do not say another* word. Come!” She followed him silently. “Stay here,” he whispered, seating her beside a window on the upper veranda.

Then he tapped lightly on the window and stepped inside. “MacGregor,” he said to the man seated at the low table, “you offered me that position on a peculiar condition. You want a married man.” “I do, Stanley.” “And, since I am neither married nor engaged, you stipulate that I am to propose to three eligible youngjadies, the first two of whom are to reject me and the third to accept—that this is to be done without ahy explanation of any sort to the, young ladies. Those are the conditions?” “You are right, my boy. Any young fellow who has the nerve toi Pull off a stunt of that sort is just the fellow I want.” “Very well, sir. At four this afternoon I proposed to Florence Tracey in the rose arboy. She refused me. At 4:30 I -repeated the performance with Mary Mac Wayne as leading lady, with ‘ similar results. Half an hour ago,” his voice grew suddenly tender, “I asked the dearest girl In the world to marry me.” _■ _

- "And she accepted you?” ‘‘She is going to,” he anwered. “I only wish,” said McGregor admiringly, “that she knew the sort of fellow she is getting! Come up in the morning and we’ll fix up the papers.” MacGregor’s usually gruff voice was very cordial. : l Aaron Stanley stumbled through the window, held out his hands entreatingly to the girl. She slipped her own into them happily. “Sweetheart, forgive me for saying you were going to accept me,” he begged humbly. “I had to say that or lose you —and I cannot lose you, Lucy.”

Lucy Sat Up Suddenly.