The Dickinson press., 1884-10-11
1 DANGEROUS Love.
SCENE I.

sCENEL
A winter day; . cold sky Of snow dancing in
Joyous ~vivacity, to cover, with negligent chart |
y, the ugly little town and hide Its curious air
Of incompletion. The walls of adobe and stone, |
the incongruities of design, the irregular, un-
even streets full Of rocks in the rough, togeth-
or with hillsetting of numerous abandoned
prospect holes and rudimentary tunnels, gave
q whimsical suggestion that Titans had left un-
finished a town they had been cutting out from
the earth's raw material
This was the outside aspect as seen through
= pair Of tall windows, with curtains stretched
back to gather every ray of lightfrom the dim,
dull sky. The light, scant asi was, brought out
homelike the cheer within. The warm red of car
petand casual fittings comforted the eve. Attic
windows broad shelves full of plants that gave
the sole suggestion ofluxury, barring the aroma
tic brilliance of afragrant cedar fire. A room of
whose possibilities the most had been made,
full of the personality Of its tenants room
where a man was very apt to get a sense of re-
pose and ministration-chief requirements of
the masculine nature.
Edward Lamb found its effect like that,
leaning at ease in a homely big chair that had
the knack, like all the chairs at this house, of
fitting the human frame. Alarge, fair man,
slightly inclining to %stoutness, he was of that
type of Irish beauty that involves wholesome,
clear skin, flushed with delicate r~osiness,
abundant blonde hair and deep blue eyes, with
more sleepy tenderness than was strictly es-
sential behind their thick long lashes.
"pm very fearful I'm in for another fort
night, " he said; mot much chance for roads
opening while this sort of thing goes on"
Miss Soulsby left the window and came back
to her low seat on the hearth, laughing. The
impotence of his words was so completely ut
variance with the elaboration and contentment
of his tone.
Possess your soul in PATIENCE she said.
1T is only a question of days for you, and then
=" She made an expressive little gesture Of
farewell and departure.
"And you?-are you coming East some day."
"Oh, yes, she answered, with q certain blithe
ekeptlcism, "when We sell a mine"
MIR. Lamb smiled at her ~satirical touch upon
the sanguine creed of the camp. 'Ledyard
was wondering what could keep me here" he
said, inconsequently; "a Bohemian born, for
whom the noise and worry of cities is as the
Madelon soulsby looked at him intcntly.
~ shS esAA - AAV0A0 u 4 WAog Ad6
kept you?"
And yet he knew that she was perfectly
aware what had kept them. Idlers both, they
could hardly have counted thelong compania-
BILE afternoons they had spent together that
winter. The little town was agog with the
Irishman's infatuation. 1t would have needed
more than their joint assertion to have con-
WINGED the gossips that between these two no
love-making had been.
eyes, I ought to have gone last week, " he
said, ignoring her audacity," when Ledyard
"Why did you not go?" she persisted.
The household cat had leaped upon her lap
"a vicious big beast, whose claws had a wicked
way of unsheathing themselves upon fondling
fingers. Mr.. Lamb found himself dwelling on
the fact that no had never seen Dick so requite
Miss Soulsby's careless endearments. The la
~ creature laid himself luxuriously across
her knees like q great, gray muff, as the girl
nestled her hands on his warm fmr-dolcate
hands those, always cold; not clammy, but
cold with q firm and reticent force Of their
own.
some day-who knows?-itmay be made q
penal onence-their exercise of this capacity
some woman have for indirect challenge; this
tacit wooing that perhaps overweighs q mans
prerogative of outspeaking.
Edward Lamb naI was a phlegmatic man, or.
now he would have bartered his SOULS saliva
ton for the right to displace Dicks padded fur
with his own handsome fair head, to feel that
caressing touch press down his %throbbing eye
lids. To his dying day he would not forget the
picture that instant photographer the retina
Of his heart. For him, hereafter, no wonder
of art nor revelation Of living beauty could dis
pei the memory of the graceful, girlish shape
whose quietude told of repression, not %inertia;
the air of absolute self-confdence and cool, i'm
partial self disdain; the bright face, with that
mocking phase of mingled wooing and warn
ing; the grave, childish usefulness on that
rounded brow; the sweet lips just now curved
in scorn; the intent, amber eyes.
Mr.. Lamb averted his gaze and took up a
novel from 3 couch in the inglenook By the
gates to inopportunity these crucial moments,
it was q novel treating of the domestic adven-
lures Of a young journalist and he pa
thetic, small economies of his wife. Both
had read the tale; inevitably their COM
ments must partake of sentimental color
els it the manlier way" said Mr.. Lamb, with
. fine air of unconcern and indifference, "to Of
fer a woman such q life as that?-or would orc
better protect her from self-sacritice by keep
ing silence?"
. woman will not mako instant personal
application of such a speech. An exasperat-
ing smile Of discernmont bent Miss Soulsby's
lip:
"Men have the prerogative of committing any
Madness" she said; with woman rests the
veto power Of self-protection against such in-
sanity"
care you 80 worldly"
81 may well be-" said the girl, bitterly:
IT have known privation all my life long
that teaches the true value of this worlds
goods"
Involuntary his gaze fell straight upon her
%garb-soft, rich gray, it's outlines defined here
and there by broad bands of gay Roman stripe
n some velvety-lookipg wooden fabric. 81
cannot conceive your having known the need
Of money" he said; 'few women are dressed
like that" He stopped, becoming conscious
how pointed were his remarks.
"Few are" she asserted, laughing, "happily
for themselves and the peace Of their house
hold. I see. You like my frock-men are 30
short sighted-blind bats! You like it, and
w,hy? Because it is nicely proportional, and
held her drapery forward %naively. 'sThis is a
frock for the house-not the sort of costume
one would wear on the street Harmony,
adaptability; that is it, not elegance. The
whole thing costme-three dollars"
SIT is quite true. Ipaid that for the gray
flannel. I'll bright stripe was the best por-
ton of a worn out shawl, and I had the but
tons, with q air of triumphant conclusion.
Mr.. Lamb found something very brave and
very pathetic in the simplicity and detail of
this confession. This endurance of vanity's
modification appeared heroic as contrasted
with the lavish expenditure of other women far
less lovely and worthy. But then, men usual
~ are willing to concede great virtue to tho
practically that achieves slightly results. II
if Miss Soulsby,s self had been less pleasant to
the eye, no doubt her exposition of ways and
means might have seemed sordid and revolving
in the extreme. Also, some allowance must be
made for the attitude of delightful intimacy
implied in condolences on a topic 80 nearly per-
sonal as this of toilet matters. Altogether,
many things go to modify the triviality in value
of Observation-Disclosures woman and man-on