In thinking it over Prince Charley said to himself: “What a strange
thing man is anyway! Some plod all their days and every one connected
with them holds them in one place at the point of duty, while others are
looking around for the chances that are sure to turn up if the mind is
clear. You never catch me taking bracers to steady my nerves, nor
smoking to derive comfort, as some say. Those things take money and when
I made up my mind that I wanted Helen Vivian for my wife, not one cent
was spent that didn’t count for necessities. My mind was clear because I
had no habits to attract my attention and compel me to pander to them. I
intended to succeed, and I did. The men who smoke may succeed in
business if they have plenty of backing but I have never known one man
start out with only his two hands and brain for capital succeed so that
the world would hear from them if they were smokers.
“These brains of ours need to be kept clear by plenty of rest, good food
to keep the body vigorous, lots of pure air, exercise, physically and
mentally. If we are attending to these necessities and look upon our
bodies as an instrument that must be kept in tune as we would a musical
instrument, then harmony will result. Harmony is the secret of
concentration. Concentration leads to success.
“Paul Arling is a pattern among domestic men and yet he has lost the one
thing his inner nature craves for because he has allowed himself to be
swayed by circumstances.
“I intend to look into this matter for them, for I’ll be blessed if I
don’t think it is a mistake all around. Let me see,” he mused, as the
machine slowly mounted a long hill going over the same ground that it
did a few evenings before when Paul was with him. “Scoris is to stay a
few days at the colony in Tripside. That is only two days’ ride from
here. I shall persuade Paul to take the trip with me. He will never know
what I am after. Then I will throw them together, for if I don’t get him
away from here before she comes home and her engagement is announced
then nothing can stop it.”
Paul readily accepted his invitation, not knowing that Scoris would be
there. Leaving Paul at the hotel upon arriving the Prince hurried to the
friend’s apartments where Scoris was visiting.
“Why, Charley!” Scoris exclaimed, laughing, “did you come all this
distance just to meet me?”
“Yes, I did, sister-in-law,” he answered, using his pet name for her.
Then aside he told her that he must have a talk with her alone as soon
as it could be managed. She was rather startled at first, fearing that
something must have happened at home.
“Everything is all right,” he assured her. “It is about yourself I wish
to talk. Is it true that you are going to be married?”
She laughed heartily. It seemed so absurd for him to have come all that
distance to ask her that.
“Why, Charley, what gave you such an idea?”
“It has been in all the papers,” he answered.
“In the papers!” she exclaimed; “before I had even told my own family!
How strange!”
“Then it is true?” the Prince said as a matter of course.
“I hope so,” she answers teasingly.
“Paul Arling is with me,” he announces to see the effect upon her.
“Oh! how nice!” she answers. “I am so glad he came too. It shows that I
am appreciated.”
“Scoris Vivian, don’t you know that Paul Arling loves you and has all
these years?”
“How could I,” she answers, “when he never told me?”
“He told me so only two weeks ago, but I knew it long before,” the
Prince said.
“And he came to meet me thinking that I was engaged to another! How
neighborly you all are!”
“Do stop your bantering, Scoris,” the Prince answered. “He doesn’t know
that you are here. That was my doing.”
“Well, Charley, it was good of you and I appreciate it. Go back to the
hotel and bring him to join the boating party that we are to have this
evening. Tell him I want to see him.”
The Prince started for his hotel going in a round about way to gain
time. “What will I tell him? He will know at once that I put up a job on
him. I believe I have made a fool of myself after all; but nothing
venture nothing win,” he said to himself.
He quickened his pace when nearing the hotel, rushed to Paul’s room in a
breathless way and then said:
“Who do you suppose is here in town?”
“Well,” Paul questioned, “how can I tell?”
“It is some one you will be pleased to see. It is Scoris and she wants
to see you.”
Paul turned pale for a second, then answered: “I came here hoping to
avoid seeing her until I become accustomed to the fact that she will
soon belong to another.”
“Well, it is too bad,” the Prince answers; “but you better go to the
party. I am going and I don’t wish to leave you alone. Besides, if you
don’t go she will feel badly.”
“Do you think she would care to see me?” Paul asks in a hopeful way.
“I am sure she meant what she said when she asked you to come.”
“I don’t think I’ll go,” Paul said after a while. “The man she is
engaged to may be there.”
“No, I am sure he is not,” the Prince answered, “or she would have said
so. It would be much better to meet her away from home the first time
too. No one here knows about you.”
“I believe you are right,” Paul answered; “and yet I am sure to say or
do something I should not.”
“See here, Paul,” his friend replies, “it is a lovely evening and there
will be quite a crowd and it will be the best time to see her. Come!”
When Scoris met them she was so natural that Paul was soon at his ease.
She asked after his mother, sisters and friends in the colony and before
the evening was over he felt quite comfortable with her, they had so
many interests in common.
The next day they met in the park and he made up his mind that he would
see her all that he could while he had a chance. They were with a party
and it was impossible to talk about themselves.
Two days passed and still every one seemed to claim Scoris’ attention
until Paul became desperate. “See her alone I will!” he exclaimed at
last to the Prince. “Here is an answer to my note saying that she will
go for a drive with me; now I intend to have it out with her. I can’t
stand this any longer. If she is going to be married at home I shall
leave the Colony until it is over.”
“That is all right,” the Prince had answered, “but while there is life
there is hope, they say.”
They had driven two or three miles and every topic had been exhausted,
still Paul had not touched on the one subject he was determined to talk
about before they returned to the Colony.
[Illustration]
Scoris could see by his face that he was suffering, but she had waited a
long time for him to tell her what she now believed he was going to say
and she wouldn’t help him. They had reached a grove that had been used
for picnics and she suggested that they alight and walk around for a
change. Wild flowers grew in abundance and she was gathering some when
Paul said:
[Illustration]
“Scoris, I would like to have a talk with you while we are here by
ourselves. It is about your engagement. I had hoped to be able to say
our engagement some time.” He paused a moment as if waiting for an
answer, but she let him continue while she laid the flowers down in her
lap to attend to what he had to say. “Do you love him?” he questioned,
“and are you sure that he is good enough for you?”
“I am very much in love,” she answered, “and I believe he is good enough
for me.”
“Of course I have no right to tell you this now,” Paul said; “but I have
loved you ever since I first saw you and I do yet; but if you love
another I will never obtrude upon your affections. One thing I ask, and
that is that you will always think of me as a good friend.”
“Paul Arling,” she cried, “I will not take you for a friend. It is you
that I love and if we are not engaged then I am not going to be
married.”
“Scoris,” he exclaims, “is this true?”
The log upon which they had been sitting for some time was surrounded by
a thick foliage.
Well, and then, after a little of that sort of thing, Paul began to sort
the flowers. Scoris had jumped up to pick up one that had fallen, for
some one was coming. Just then an inquisitive collie dog poked his head
through the bushes. Nothing but the dog appeared, however, and
confidence was restored once more.
The Prince and Paul arrived home the next day, Scoris the one following.
The public announcement of the engagement was rather a surprise when it
became known that it was Paul Arling instead of the stranger all had
supposed him to be.