SHORT STORIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 90

SHORT STORIES.

IHE CYNIC'S LOVE AFFAIR.

By GrABNET BoXXET.

"Yes, sonny, I have been in love," said the Cynic, in answer to my question. "Deep, downright-, desparate love it »vas, too. None of your puling, sentimental affection that lingers on drearily through countless years and ends in marriage ; but a love that was real, and lasted six months, consuming my love while it lasted, and vrhen at last it., flickered and died out, .caving only the dead ashes you now be.hold. And thoujgh those same a.^hes have ■been raked many times since by 'maid, wife, and widow,' never a spark lias one of them found that could be fanned into even the tiniest flame. So don't run away with the idea that my heart has never overflowed with the very same calf love /•hat has been turning you into an idiot dor the past month and making even the 'iandlady "pity you." " "Ha! ha!" yelled" Andy Seaton from his corner. "Not a . b&d- one, old man. But do you think the old girl's pity will run to another week's board?"

I was indignant, and showed, it. "What aTe you talking about?" I exclaimed 'mrathlfully. '"Calf love be hanged! ' I'm cot a baby, and, anyhow, as fpi being idiotic, I don't come home six nights out of seven intox "

Two .cushions — each from a different direction — stopped my utterance. " 'Sh ! You mustn't get wild now, sonny. You're a real live man, and it's only my little ioke."

"Oh, well, try and dodge these frequent jokes of yours. They're not appreciated." "Here, let's hear about this love episode, you bald-headed old Don Juan," suggested Andy peaceably. The Cynic rolled up a cigarette deftly and lighted it at the top of the lamp globe. "It isn't much of a story," he said, "but it might make us forget that this is our last evening in this cosy little "room, unless something very like a miracle happens to-morrow. The landlady is very emphatic on that point. The girl's name •■was Kate — Kate Kilgour, — and I first met Iher at an evening in her married' sister's thome. She played the accompaniment to one of my songs, and afterwards, naturally enough, our conversation was mainly about .musk. It co appeared that sW had never heard a, voice so full of sympathy as mme — so tearful, as jt were, — and I y as .positive that never before had i been so •rell accompanied, on or off the platform. Wasn't a 'bad start, was it? In further confidential chats we discovered that on most subjects our opinions were agreed, -and before the party broke up we had learned tliat previously she had disliked all men most sincerely, whilst I, for my part, had been an absolute sroman-hater.

"She was very frank and outspoken, and told me right away that there was to be no love-making — we would' be real •good mates, and she thought there could be no harm in dropping the courtesy titles of Miss and Mister, which under the circumstances were stupid and quite unnecessary.

"I agreed with her every word, and said further that no man could desire • better friend than a good sensible woman, and that on my part there would be no •infringement of the law she had imposed. "I was living at Drummoyne (a little suburb five miles from Sydney) at that time, and had to leave my adopted sister at half-past 10 in order to catch the last .ferry. I went up on to the decK, and right forward in the shadow of the wheel4hou6e, where I knew I would be undisiturbed, and gave myself up to thoughts of The Girl. I tell you, sonny, I was in «. very pleasant frame of mmd — so pleasant that I took no notice .vhen the deckboy shouted 'Drummoyne,' and had to ■make a six-foot jump for the wharf as the ferry steamed out again. I Temember that jump well. I landed on the steps «11 riiirht, but my hind lee slipped back into tb© -wat-eT, and the rest of aie followed. The damp walk home was responsible for a bad attack of influenza, and for a fortnight I was confined to my bed. Kve letters and two wires arrived from Kate during that time, and in each she expressed igrreat concern for her dear (brother's illness, and hoped for a letter 60011 "Snigger away, Andy, but it's quite true. When I had recovered we took up the game in real earnest. I saw Kate t-ynce a week, and wrote to her five times. We were a pair of ninnies all right, and thought Diatonic friendship a grand thing. We always used to assure each other that Jove was a foolish and friendship a sacred thing, and that every lover gained was a lost.

"After a few weeks I joijed the choir that «n« attended, and after church accompcjiied her home. She lived at North Sydney, and instead of leaving the ferry at Milson's Point we used to go right on to Lavender Bay and walk round to the Point again. My liappiness during those few weeks was complete — but "alas! it didn't last. Kate's brother was the element that disturbed our tranquillity. He was a young whipper-snapper of 16, and after he dropped to our little ruse seemed determined to thwart it. After church va Sundays he would stick to us like a leech, and hints were simply wasted. I told him all the stories I knew of the 'young brother' series, and he would laugh most heartily at them — and remain with us. I hated that boy. Even now I'm Hot sure whether it was pure innocence r>r darned cussedness that actuated him, Jbut at the time I felt a yearning to accidentally pu#h him overboard whenever he ppened his mouth. "But on Tuesdays and 'ihuisdays we >reve free from his attentions, and we made ihe most of our time. How well I rememiber tire flight on which I told Kate I Jor<sd her. We were sitting on the lower d«ok of the M&nlj ferry, and the chap jya Hie deck above was singing 'I trust job etHl.' (That's why I told you tc shut

up the other evening when you were ' whistling it.) It was too much, and my hand strayed round and grasped hers. I told her the brother and sister business was dead, and that I loved her deeply, dreadfully. We remained on the ferry for three trips — three blissful hours, — and when at last I said good-night we had j sworn several hundred times to love each other always.

"But somehow Kate as a sweetheart wasn't so satisfactory as I anticipated, and we used to quarrel very often. I objected to her calling me 'Baby,' although she said it w?s meant affectionately ; then .she took a sudden dislike to my smoking, whereas previously she had seemed rather to like it than otherwise. Altogether we were a failure as lovers, and perhaps that accounted for the climax.

"Still, we jogged along pretty comfortably for a tinTe, and one Sunday I took her to Hornsby, to spend the day with my sister. The last train was tabled to leave for Milson's Point at 7.30, and we, of course, intended catching it. Something — I forget what — interfered with my plans, and I had to remain the night at Hornsby. "I was greatly upset, but it could not be helped, so I. took Kate down to the Station and saw her safely installed in a compartment. A few minutes still remained to the half-hour, during which time we vowed our vows once more aiid promised to wTite on the morrow.

"Then the train moved on, and I reached up to snatch a last farewell kiss. A fatal mistake, and one that cost me dear. It is a most difficult feat to perform successfully — to walk along beside a moving train and kiss a gir) at the same time, and unless a man lias an indiarubber neck I should say it is impossible. She turned her face at the critical moment, and our noses met with considerable force. Another and yet another eseay was frustrated by the same contretemps, and the train was gradually increasing its speed. "I gave up the attempt in disgust, and stopped, feeling rather like a fool. Then I caught sight of Kate's face, and 'that idiot laughter' took possession of my soul. After that the train and Kate — Kate with the tears of mortification in her brown eyes — rounded the bend, and, slowly and thoughtfully, I climbed the steps that led from the station.

"It did not surprise me, somehow, when the promised letter did not come to hand the next day. and in the evening I paid a visit to the billiard saloon 1 had patronised in the old days before Kate came on the scene. Her brother — the young scamp — was there, and we played 50 up, which I won, much to his disgust. "The end was very near. He evidently informed his sifter that he had met me iv the billiard room, for on the following morning I received a note from her saying she could never, never marry a man who frequented places of amusement. Her heart was broken, but %ye must part. She had her duty to perform. Only — she would never look at another man so long as 6be lived."

The Cynic rolled another cigarette savagely. "Billiards my grandmother! Of course I knew it was not the fact of my being seen in a billiard room that caused her to break with me. No, sirs, it was the damage to her ■'eelings, pure and simple. If it had not been for that frustrated kiss I might have been a respectable member of the community to-day. Ah, well ! perhaps it was just as »yell we parted, for, as I said before, Kate was never quite satisfactory as a sweetheart. "As fox her broken heart — well, three weeks later I saw her on the Manly ferry boat — on our old seat, but with her head resting on the shoulder of another ! "And I'm blessed if just at that moment the musician upstairs didn't strike up the opening bars of 'I trust you still' !"