THE GREAT ENIGMA

It is to a symphony concert that I would conduct you reader, but do not expect to have your ears greeted by the perfect harmonies of a Boston orchestra for you are only in a Western city and musical culture is only in its first stages. I hope to compensate you, however, for your outraged ears by pleasant company.

Look carefully among the audience and you will see a girl rather stout, fair , and with a singularly attractive face, attractive largely because puzzling. Her mouth is just saved from complete severity by a slight fullness of the lower lip which seems rather an after-thought of her Creator. Her chin does its best to make up for this slip by hard lines of determination. Her nose just escapes being beautiful for at the last moment it drooped and spoiled its perfect shape. Still in spite of these features she is distinctly lovable and if you will watch her carefully you will notice how her hard lines are successfully contradicted. See just then the music pleased her and her eyes creased and wrinkled an in minatl nimitable charm. It expresses the essential womanliness within her that delicious crinkling about the eyes.

A young man who was is quietly watching her also seemed s to recognize the charm. He was is busily twisting his little mustache and hads a high but not particularly noble forehead. He is evidently an intelligent music-lover but tonight he has found metal more attractive …

The young couple had never met although they had seen each other frequently at concerts and each knew who the other was. After this particular concert they had the good fortune to be introduced by a mutual friend.

The acquaintance ripened rapidly Almost nightly the young man climbed the hill, rang the bell, and then sat quietly silently the whole evening twisting his little mustache , and once in a great while bringing out a slow quiet remark. The girl did not know what to make of this strange unsocial creature who observed none of the forms of good society and knew no small talk. At first she was amazed, then puzzled and finally amused.

They were perfect antipodes , these two. He was a completely negative character, always peaceful, and slow both by nature and by desire with malice of a forethought for he had found slowness very useful to him in business relations. He was very bashful, but most people did not recognize it that in him. On the contrary they thought him a very consciously superior young man. He was always imperturble , and when ever a storm was raging around him, he would look up peacefully sleepily and inquire of one of the heated disputants “Why what’s the matter ?” or else he would make for the most comfortable chair and go peacefully to sleep. He was the most negative of men and yet lovable withal and he was always mildly surprised at other peoples moral fights When he was sleepy he would drop off utterly oblivious of company or no company and when you tired to rouse him to a sense of his social dudes, he would amply declare sleepily that he didn’t care, he was sleepy and the other people could go home, . A and the strangest part of it was that no one ever got angry with him. He had no principles and yet he was thoroughly trustworthy. In short he was all negative in his good qualities as in his bad.

She on the contrary was fiery and impetuous. She could be cruel as only a woman can and then would become swiftly remorseful. She would be very thoughtless one moment and would do more mischief the next by an overly conscientious effort to make it good. She jumped came to at conclusions rapidly and changed them rapidly. She had always been accustomed to rule and H h er family had been afraid of her and all men had bowed before her. She had a glorious ideal of generosity but for the most part was thoroughly selfish. She was intolerant in the pride of her strength but no one could have had theoretically, a broader out-look. She was tremendously moral, riding with great vigor all those hobbies that belong to the women known in current phrase as advanced. She was painfully self-righteous in the midst of most violent denunciation of self-righteousness. So far the promise of her mouth and chin had not been belied but her eyes crinkled and creased in vain, that part of her nature was still hidden.

She had never met anything before like this man. She would grow vehement and fiery and then he would look at her and mildly, and sweetly remark, “Isn’t Sallie cute.,” She began to think she hated him but yet she allowed him to take liberties with her, such as no one else had even dared to dream of.

Finally it was evident that he was very much in love and soon she began to be in the same condition. This seemed to produce a reaction in the philosophic lover and he began to doubt if he really were in love after all. He would come and gaze at her meditatively and then decide he wasn’t ; but on leaving would wish to take all the privileges of a lover. This she would resent , much to his mildly imagined surprise for he did not see why it made any difference.

He would go home then and smoke a meditative pipe and finally write her a letter telling her that perhaps after all he did love her but strongly advising her to bum it up for he was the most cautious of mortals.

In the meanwhile this proud girl who had always been accustomed to be loved and never to love would struggle furiously with herself all through the night. The next

The next evening he would appear again as peacable as ever twisting his everlasting little mustache and always persisting in demanding a lover’s privileges in spite of the fact that, as he assured her, he really did not think that he did loved her at all. She would forbid him the house , but nothing daunted , he would come the next night to tell her that on thinking it over he really believed he did love her after all.

This strange courtship reached its climax one night. He had not appeared at his usual time and she was just beginning to

The girl’s nerves were completely shaken by this ceaseless struggle. One night her lover had continued his self-questioning far into the night. She had become even more violent than her want. She abused him as cruel, cowardly and unmanly. Finally he left and she was alone divided between her great love for him and her contempt for he his weakness.

She struggle with herself all that night but she could not down kill her love. She saw him as he was and yet, hate herself as she might, she knew that she loved him. He was weak and unmanly but he was more to her than all her great ideals. At last her strength gave way and she lost consciousness and awoke the next morning a miserable, cold heap on the floor.

At last in desperation she declared that he must end her torment. Hard as it was for her to speak she implored him to decide and let her be at peace.

He did not see how he could but finally he agreed to stay away a week and try and make up his mind.———

The next night the bell rang as usual and the strange courtship was completed.