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LOTTIES BARGAIN. By EDNA BLEEKMAN. Copyrighted. IW*. by AHoc!ltd Literary Pres*. Perhaps it whs because Wisner >< the proprietor of the only dry good. l •tore in Under vale that I/ottle Vincent was attracted to him. perhaps because Lottie was uu inveterate bargain hunt er, and propinquity is a powerful aid Af Cupid. . „ j| r*- ' i.v a matter open to jt.’gument and not worth the arguing. The main point at Issue is the fact that Lottie was attracted and that Sidney Winner repaid that regard with interest. Undervale hud reached that stage of growth when the •general store” had commenced to resolve itself into its va rious component parts, not to he re united until at some far distant day, when the department store retreated the original shopkeeping on a larger wale and agaiu one could purchase dress goods and salt tii-b, groceries and harness under one roof. It was Wisncr who had seen that the time was litre, aid the Boston store was the result. He rented one of the rooms In the new Benson block and with new stock aud fixtures gave the place tile asjrect of a city establish ment. Undervale was delighted wiib the change, none more so than Lottie. She was a born bargain fiend, and as her parents were wealthy •■lie had tire money to gratify her passion, with the result that from the first she had been Winner's best customer. Even after the business reached a point where he was able to put on two clerks he made it a |ariut to wait upon her himself. Lottie delighted In her personally conducted shopping tours, and from visiting in the store Wisner passed to visits to her home. Wisner also began to watch his hank account grow. From the first liis store had prospered, aud he determined ibat when Ills profit and loss account show id a fair balance on the proper aide lie would put his fate to the test. Homer Vincent was president of the hank and trust company, and Wisner wanted to he able to make a good allowing when lie went to ask for Lot tie’s hand, though he could not hope to equal the Vincent fortune. Fie had not long to wait, for the new •tore prospered mightily, and the time •ocn came when Wisner began to re hearse the speech he should make to Lottie's father when he should first have spoken to Ixtttie. It was a simple matter to prepare his speech for the elder Vincent, He Maid it over until he believed that he must repeat it in his sleep. The trou ble now was to speak to little. He knew that Ixittie would not he won by the simple suggestion that they get married. When the Clem mons Comedy company ployed their semiannual engagement at the rink Wisner shut up shop and took Lottie to the performance every evening for the week. Lottie's keen appreciation of the romantic leadiug man dashed his hopes. He never could hope to make love like Ralph Rase war of the Clem mons company, and that was the mod el Lottie most admired. He had a vague idea of taking a course in a dramatic school, but be could not spare the time from his business, so he contended him Self with studying the methods of the leading men of the tenth rate companies that visited lln dervale, and the more be studied the more hopeless he grew 7 . Leading men were tall and slender and had dark, romantic eyes. Winner was short and Inclined to plumpness, and bis eyes were shrewd and gray. He could not 101 l over Ihc hack of a sofa and look Into Lottie's eyes as she raised her timid orbs to his. That was all right on the stage, but Lottie’s gaze was disconcertingly frank at times, and, anyhow, lie would have to stand on a footstool to gain the proper height, and lie was positive that at the critical moment he would fall off and spoil it a!!. Lottie herself was just a fbade too rounded in tier curves to he called willowy, and she, too, was below the medium height. Taken by the large, it seemed an impossible task, and the advent of each theatrical company seemed to set a higher standard by which his feeble efforts were to be judged. Hubert Bonnington was the last straw. Lottie came away from the per formance of •‘Won by a Vendetta” de claring that after having seen Bon nlcgton all other lovemaking would seem tame and flat by comparison. Wisner went home to spend a sleep less night with despair for company, and not until the dawn broke did there come a ray of hope. The company was playing not forty miles away on Satur day. . He might get Bonningtcn to let him over and take some lessons. He to the store to see that it was Nl and then he hurried to the sta vMtcb the company when they from the hotel. ~,< jirstUe. arrive ofr'YEe station platform, and Winner made an Immediate attack. Around the coiner of the depot be poured out the story of bis troubles, and. to his credit, BoDniugton did not laugh. “My dear boy.” he said kindly, “if you’re the right man and she’s the right girl you don’t need to study love making. Jts never that way in real life. You watch a chance aud take her off her guard. Then do and say what ever comes Into your mind, and she’s yours. “You could study for years, and you’d forget everything that you bad learned when It or me to a showdown. They wouldn’t stand for real proposals on the stage, and the reason we make love so well is that we don’t care for the girl. That’s how we can give all our at tent ion to (he iovemaking. "When the right time comes you’ll know ft, aud you won’t get down on your knees and say ’Be mint-, be mine!’ You’ll just gather her in. end it’s all over before you realize it.” Bouningtou accepted the cigars that Wisncr thrust upon him. and Wlsner went back to the store happy fn the possession of expert opinion. He puz zhsl over the comment through the day. and when Lottie came in to see about some dress lining he gazed hun grily at the flushed face and wondered when the right time would corue. Apparently it was not the right time yet, for Jxdtie left the store with a bundle tinder her arm. and his nearest approach to sentiment bad been to cut the price of the lining 2 cents a yard. He thought of a dozen clever speeches he might have made, but not until she had gone. lie was still thinking them over as he dressed the window that evening. Wisner made a point of frequent changes In the display, and every Fri day evening lie fastened a canvas screen outside (ho plate glass and changed the dressing, running out many times to observe tlie effect be fore lie pulled down the Inner curtains and took down the screen, content that the Saturday shoppers would he attracted by his display. He had just commenced to dress the window after removing the eld stock when one corner of the screen was lifted and Lottie’s smiling face was seen through the glass. Wisner smiled and nodded in reply to her greeting, and he was about tc beckon her to wait until he could join her on the sidewalk when his hand struck the stool on which rested the new price tags. He caught up the top j one and pinned it on his coat, striking an attitude In imitation of the dummy forms. Ixittie laughed at the sign, which read, “A Real Bargain at the Price,’* and the end of the screen dropped. For one awful moment Wisner thought that she had been disgusted by the clownish appeal. He could not know thut even eyes that are gray and unromantlc eau tell ; their story of love. Lottie bad read j their plea, and a moment later Wisner | heard the store door open and close again, and a moment later Lottie's fuce appeared at the door to the win dow. “I think I’ll take that bargain. Sid ney,” she said as her cheekß were dyed a deeper red. “You cau wrap it up, and I’ll take It home with me—to talk to father.” The bargain sprang from the win dow, but it was half an hour before It wrapped itself up—in its overcoat— aud was takeu home to talk to Homer Vincent. “I thought you couldn’t resist a bar gain,” he jubilated us they hurried aioug the street. Lottie gave the strong arm a little hug. "You’d be dear at any price,” she cooed. Rtportorial Persistence. Once a reporter went to a certain residence in New York to get details about the master of the house, who had just died, Jn order that an obit uary notice might appear in the news paper which be represented. Such de tails, as a rule, are easy to get. The reporter, therefore, was intensely sur prised when the widow of the de ceased. with scarcely a word, slammed the door in his face. She retired into the house. Present ly the doorbell rang furiously. She re fused to stir. Again the doorbell rang, more furiously than before. Still the lady of the house would net stir. “1 have told him that L don't want to say anything about my husband,” she thought to herself, “and he has no right to be so insistent.” So she sat still while the doorbell rang again and again and again. At last she could stand it no longer, so, opening a window over the front doe r, she poked her head out and re marked severely: “Young man, I do not desire to say anything to you Kindly do not dis turb me any more. Go away, young man."’ ‘‘l can’t!” roared the reporter, be side himself with exasperation. “You have shut my coattails in the door!” The greatest of ail human benefits, that, at least, without which no other benefit can be truly enjoyed, is inde pendence.— rrke Godwin. HOUSE And 2 Acres of LAND on Wright Street, known as the J. W. Wright place, for $1,850.00, PANNELL House and Lot on South side of Stevens street. Lot 76x210. A choice lot at lowest prices. Call and see us. Vacant lot on Broad street 70x100 for $200.00. ♦ $1650.00 House and lot on Sage St., between Midland Avenue and Stevens street; lot ioox= 150. This is a real bargain. House and lot on Broad street just remodeled; in splendid condition, large lot $1500.00. . Quarterman & Toole. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF WINDER.