TALE NINE. WHAT HAPPENED TO A GIRL WHO FLIRTED.

“If all girls had as bitter an experience as I had, and all brought about by their first venture at flirting, I am sure there would be less of it.

“I had lived in Chicago a number of years, but had been so carefully reared that I knew absolutely nothing of the snares set for the feet of the unsophisticated.

“My parents died within a few weeks of each other and I was left all alone, so far as near relatives were concerned. After the estate was settled up and I had recovered from the shock of their death, I was left to my own devices, and while I had many invitations to make my home with relatives I decided I should like to be alone for awhile, so I went to live with a widow and her daughter. I enjoyed my Bohemian life very much, for it was such a change from the old way of living and I was bent on making the most of it. I was engaged to a young man from the South at this time. He was a young man of the highest principles and unimpeachable honor, and one of whom my parents thoroughly approved. I think mamma felt quite happy and resigned when she took Will’s hand and placed mine in it and said: ‘Will, you will take good care of my baby after I am gone, for I shall leave you all very soon now. I shall die happy if I have your promise,’ she said faintly.

“He leaned over her and said: ‘Mother, dear, I promise. Agneta shall always have my tenderest love and devotion.’

“Well, as I was saying, I went to live with this kind family and they granted me every privilege that I could have had in my own home. Will was an ideal lover and caretaker; in fact, he was too good, and I was not sensible enough to appreciate it then. Ah, if I could only live over the old days once more, things might have been different. One needs to live three score and ten years before one knows how to live.

“One day I dressed myself with unusual care, entirely in black, of course, but it was quite as becoming as any color. I could not have told why I was so painstaking in making my toilet; it must have been an unkind fate at work while the angel guardian of my peace and happiness, slept.

“I bought a few articles at Field’s and ordered them sent out, then went up to the waiting room on the second floor, where I could look down from the gallery to the main floor and watch the throng of shoppers. While I was sitting there I saw a fine looking young man standing near me, engaged in conversation with some ladies. At the first glance I took him to be an old acquaintance of mine. He was not very tall, but had beautiful wavy black hair and eyes of a soft brown.

“I suppose my gaze, which was a little more ardent than custom would permit, attracted his attention, for he glanced at me frequently, and as those things sometimes happen caught my glance every time. I knew by this time that he was not the acquaintance for whom I had taken him the first time I looked at him, but his face was so handsome it seemed to fascinate me, although on a closer inspection it was slightly effeminate. I think we kept that up for nearly half an hour, but all this time no word was spoken. I decided that I had better leave, and I arose to go and was soon lost in the throng. I was walking east on Madison when someone walked up beside me and tipping his hat said: ‘Pardon me, may I walk with you?’

“I was not so disconcerted as I had always supposed a girl must feel under such circumstances. I looked around and, of course, it was not the young man, but Will. I was half vexed and treated him very coldly, until he told me that he had seen me at Field’s and had noticed the conduct of the man in question who had held my attention so long, and believed he had evil designs on me.

“This made me really angry, and I told him that was just like a man to think that every glance another man bestowed upon the woman he loved was evil. ‘One would think I had no individuality, no charm of person at all to hear you talk,’ I said.

“‘Well, I know the men better than you do, dear; so please be careful, won’t you? Men never have a good opinion of a woman who will flirt with them.’

“Now, you see, if there is anything a girl hates it is to have her sweetheart assume superiority over her in knowledge of men; so it all combined to make me disagreeable.

“He walked as far as Lyon & Healy’s with me and I went in to buy some music. He went on back to his office. After I had bought my music I sauntered into the room where the pianolas are on exhibition and sat down near the window to listen to the music. It was not long before some one at my elbow said: ‘How do you do? I have been trying to find you ever since you left Field’s, and was just despairing when I passed this window and saw you. Are you enjoying the music?’

“I looked up into two brown eyes and my heart fluttered painfully.

“No, I didn’t feel any remorse yet, for I was still piqued at Will’s interference with my innocent pastime and what he had said still rankled in my heart.

“He sat down and we talked a few moments, and then he suggested that we walk up to the Auditorium and sit in the parlor, as it would be so much more quiet there. So I walked up there with him. We had a very pleasant chat and I thought more and more how ill-timed Will’s remarks were and how unjust. Why, this man was every bit as much a gentleman as Will himself.

“‘Pardon me, but are you not in mourning?’ he asked, noting my black apparel. ‘As you have probably noticed, I am wearing deep mourning and perhaps that is why I noticed yours.’

“I told him the circumstances, and then he told me he was mourning the loss of his wife, who had been dead three months. He seemed to feel like talking of her, so I encouraged him, thinking it might be a relief to his feelings. He did not say a great deal, except that they were very happy and she died, leaving a sweet baby girl, who survived her mother seven weeks.

“When at last I arose to go he laid a detaining hand on me and said: ‘Allow me to present my card, and will you allow me to call?

“‘I should like to tell you all about our life, if it will not bore you. You are such a sympathetic little woman that it will be a great relief to unburden my heart to you.’ Tears stood in his eyes as he spoke. If there was anything needed to win me, more than his words, it was those tears. So, after hesitating a little and alluding to the unconventional manner in which we met, he said: ‘I know; I can understand how you might feel, but this is not a day of strict conventionalities, and you know that if we all waited for a formal introduction we should miss a great deal in the world. Many of the truest friendships are formed in this way.’

“So we decided on the following Wednesday. I suggested that night because I knew Will would be out of the city on that night.

“Wednesday night came at last and found me waiting expectantly. I was delighted at the prospect of doing something a little risque. He came and I introduced him to my friends and they were very favorably impressed with him, I could see by their actions. I didn’t tell them how I met him though. After visiting awhile he asked me if I would not go down town and have dinner with him, and I thought that would be fine. We drove down town and stopped in front of a well-known restaurant; that is, well known to all but the novice.

“We alighted and were shown to a little room, which I have since learned was a private dining room. I did not exactly like the idea of being shut up in a room alone with him at the time, but did not dare comment on the matter for fear of showing my ignorance. He ordered a nice dinner and asked me what I would have to drink. I told him I never drank, so he did not insist on my taking anything, but ordered whiskey for himself. On the pretext of getting his handkerchief out of his overcoat, which hung back of me, he passed me and bent over and kissed me. Not a kiss of respect, but a kiss of vile, lecherous passion, and one, no doubt, intended to inflame me. I pushed him away from me disgusted and reprimanded him severely. He apologized and said: ‘You are so sweet, so irresistible I could not help it.’

“After dinner he came over to me again and kissed me. I was very angry this time and resolved to go home at once. He pushed me down into the chair and told me I could not go yet. I finally succeeded in rising to my feet and he sat down in the chair I vacated and pulled me down in his lap. I struggled to free myself and reached the door. He caught me in his arms and pressed me to him in a passionate embrace, raining burning kisses on my face. He subjected me to every indignity that was possible considering that I was fighting all the time to get away. I tried to reach the electric bell and summon aid, but he divined my intention and drew me back. I was afraid to scream for fear of creating a scene and perhaps getting my name in the paper in connection with such a scandalous affair.

“I prayed for deliverance from that man as I never prayed before in all my life, and promised myself if I got home safely I would never, never flirt with anyone again.

“As if in answer to my prayer, a thought flashed across my brain. My hat pins! They were of very stiff steel, and I snatched one out of my hat and plunged it viciously into his arm. It broke. I took the other and struck him with all my strength and that broke and I could not see that I had hurt him a particle. My strength was fast giving out, and I was in despair. I feared he would force me to yield that which I would rather die than part with. But joy! by this time the blood was running down his arm in a stream. He saw it and let me go. ‘My God! girl! What have you done? Look at the blood!’

“He took off his coat and rolled up his shirt sleeve. His heavy flannel undershirt was saturated with blood. The pin points had entered the upper arm with great force and the wounds were bleeding profusely. I felt sorry when I saw what I had done, and I offered to bind them up for him. He gave me his handkerchief and I bandaged it up tightly. Then he sat down, pale and trembling, weak from the loss of blood. I was in about the same condition from nervousness. He urged me to take a stimulant of some kind, and I finally consented and took my first drink of whiskey and absinthe. He told me all about his wife and how happy they had been the one short year she had been spared to him. He told me how she suffered on her deathbed and with what fortitude she bore up under it, trying with her last breath to cheer him and asking him to live for her baby’s sake.

“The tears rolled down his cheeks and I cried in sympathy.

“‘My angel wife is dead and her baby—our baby. No one cares for me now nor what I do. I have lost all my friends since she died and nearly all my money. I have been drinking and gambling and was in my cups when I came to you to-night. I would not hesitate a minute to kill myself if it were not for the fear that I should never meet her in heaven.”

“‘Do you think what you have done to-night would please her if she can look down and see you? You deliberately enticed an innocent girl here, one whom you surely must know was innocent, and for what purpose I can form but one opinion.’

“He went down on his knees beside me and begged my forgiveness.

“‘Give me one kiss to show me that you forgive me,’ he said.

“He called the waiter and ordered another drink apiece, which I should not have taken. It went to my head and when I tried to walk I staggered. He took me in his arms and that is the last I remember until I felt the wind blowing on my face.

“I was leaning against him in the carriage. I did not know where I was going and I did not care. The thought of Will came to me but dimly. I felt no compunction, and if I had it would not have aroused me from my stupor sufficiently to make me active.

“When I came to my senses I was home, thank heaven! Just as pure as when I left. They told me I had been brought home ill; had had a sudden attack of heart failure and had been given something to stimulate me. So much for the whiskey breath.

“When Will returned I met him as usual, but with, oh, so much keener appreciation of his goodness than I had ever felt before. I had had an experience which taught me his sterling worth. I realized how unscrupulous men were when they had no interest in a woman beyond that of a passing fancy.

“No, I have not told Will. I could not see that it would do any good. I committed one indiscretion and I think I should commit another if I told him. He might not forgive me, or, if he did, he would never feel quite the same toward me, perhaps, and both his happiness and mine would be ruined. I say ruined, for we are certainly very congenial and I believe God intended us for each other, and perhaps it was part of His divine providence that I passed through what I did.”