The Face And The Mask

Two beautiful ladies approached him -- one richly dressed with the most dazzling jewelry. The other was clad in plain attire. At first, the dreaming Mr. Crandall thought the richly dressed one was the prettier. She was certainly very attractive -- but, as she came closer, he saw how much of her beauty was artificial.

About the other there was no question. A beauty . . .

"Mr. Crandall," she said, in the sweetest of voices, "we have come here together that you may choose between us."

"Bless me," said Crandall, so much surprised at the unblushing proposal that he nearly awoke himself, "bless me, don't you know I am married?"

"Oh, "that" doesn't matter," answered the fair young lady, with the divinest of smiles. "We are not mortals. We are spirits!"

Scottish novelist Robert Barr (1850-1912) wrote of the common people of his times -- from bank cashiers and young clerks to business tycoons -- as in "Crandall's Choice," one of the many stories to be found in "The Face and the Mask."