The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-10-15

was not 10 look for anybody in the old bar
rack yolder / was TO walk the sands un-
would. perhaps, fly at me. but the. girl
would not. II / escaped the fangs OF the
beast l was to present this to the beast
He extended an unsealed square envelope.
Inc girl took the missive. Its from
Margaret" she said.
Yes, from Margaret"
She reading down the lineS:
Mr.. John Geer will present this. He
40 look very interesting; Tut you VIII
good deal. And he has the gift or CAB, as
Aunt Jane so truly remarked concerning
him. He also has nervous prostration just
now. They've sent him to vegetate in a
warm climate. AS you had nervous pros
tration when you left home last January
and were 10 vegetate also, / thought you
two might like to compare symptoms.
Don't be too sympathetic. Mr.. Geer weeps
easily. | almost forgot to add he is that
cousin Jack of whom you have heard me
speak-cousin twice removed You may re-
member that you said when you saw his
photograph in my room that you should
adore a man VINO looked like that. But
That was before you had nervous prostra-
tb on-a Rav ne doesn't look in the least like
Having read this letter M tSe eiaI smiled
rather broadly into 1t; at the same time she
plushed even through an atrociously thick
e6ating OF tan. Instataneously. however.
S Sne looked up with great apparent self
possession and said:
How do you do. Mr.. Geer?"
MI Geer rose and bowed.
xPretty WELL thank you. If 1t were not
Tor that trifie of nervous prostration. You
see our meeting is perfectly proper now.
ana you may possibly feel like asking your
teeth"
Certainly; Romeo, stop it. This gentle
man has been regularly introduced. Give
as If you could, just hold out your hand,
and. as a great favor. Romeo will put his
dusty paw in it,
hel Ot1fh 10 ha he Ia
paw was deposited in it.
did you come in the Mabel F.?" now
advisable to give Give. It was juliet story. ans
Romeo.
mo. You must have learned that the
Mabel +. is too erratic to depend upon. l
came in little naphtha launch, not much
longer or wider than peanut shell. In.
Gotham who embarked in a bowl. But,
fortunately, the Matanzas river Is smooth,
SO the shell was steady, and here am
The launch belongs TO friend Of mine who
is in st. Augustine. He volunteered to
bring me down. He said also that / would
find this locality a brisk, busting kind of
Miss Story?''
Very" with gravity.
How many inhabitants? And where Is
the wharf"
You are not very observant The wharf
is the settlement; that and the hotel. and
they used to sell coffee and ice cream, but
where they. don't sell them any more. You
can't sell ice cream to marsh ponies and
gulls. and fiddler crabs; they are not yet
sufficiently developed"
Mr.. Geer, watching his companion as she
talked slowly, noticed that she had Gu
rious little way of pausing now and then
with her upper lip raised very slightly,
and with something in the corners of her
only she did not smile at least not then,
when observer might have expected
that she would do so.
He thought over this first interview later,
in what seemed to be the immense privacy
Of room that appeared to cover acres in
extent.
In this leisure hour it occurred to him
that it was rather remarkable that he had
so quickly formed the habit of watching
for that expression to come upon Miss
Story's face. He did not know whether ne
liked 1t or not. But certainly 1t was diff
ferent from other looks. Now he repeated:
''And the inhabitantS?"
''Since you have come the inhabitants VIII
number five, not counting Romeo. have
been in the habit OF counting him, but
will put you in his place in the census"
.'Thank you. But don't hurt Romeos
II never do that There is my mother and
there is me, there Is Mrs. Judson Briggs,
you, Mr.. Geer. If what you want to do
is to vegetate, this is the best place In the
world Here you are obliged to vegetate; you
cannot do anything else. / have gained al
most twenty pounds in weight since l came
and my mind is getting fallow. That is
what the doctors wanted; that my mind
your mind to do, Mr.. Greer?"
Miss Story looked at the man sitting on
the sand before her. looked with scruti-
nizing calmness that was little irritat-
Ing.
ST think II amounts to the same thing.
They said 1 must be stupid: That advice
pleased me because ii carried the infer
ence that there were times when 1 was not
stupid.'
"Pn guarantee you'll get stupid here
you'n like it, that is, 1 do. 1t is now al
most two months since L have had a
thought It's delightful I suppose pose. you bud do
You have a look as If you did"
II am lawyer; or rather, was one be-
yes, 1 remember. Margaret did say a
good while. ago that you meant to be
lawyer. She hasn't said anything about
many mar IT things a as She used asa to tell" ~ "
then dropped her lashes. apparently as a
thought it was too bad Of Margaret to
have sent that letter of introduction open,
even though that was the custom.
Il suppose you read Ii, Mr.. GeerT
mo; she advised not; said it would
hurt my sef-esteem; and / never Willingly
do anything to injure that 1 gave my
private note just then. You see 1 called
on her ten minutes before starting, and L
had resolved ten minutes before that to
start. What is that? Is there a bell here?'
long, cracked peal rang out from the
direction of the only occupied building in
the place, which building was still called
1.-The hotel"
THAT is for luncheon. Aunt Sally is
ringing it on the back porch. Mrs. Judson
Briggs is putting on linen collar; mother
is laying down her novel and yawning. Are
you hungry, Mr. Geer
Very"
'It is the kind of air that comes from the
Atlantic, mingled with the air from the
Florida pines. 1 haven't stopped being hun
CRY from the moment L came But 1 have
pounding open their shells that l might eat
what was inside. / did that necessarily
nearly all last winter; and had sneaking
feeling all the time as If l were some kind
Of cannibal. Did you ever have that feel
ing, Mr. Geer?''
Not that L remember. suppose 1t was
because l thought OF what Thackeray
said"
Miss Story rose.
Mr. Geer picked up several of her belong
sion from the dog. Not being a great lover
of dogs. Geer felt that he could have wished
Juliet had been without her Romeo.
The two plowed their way through the
heavy, dry sand TO the smooth, compact
wet sand close by the river. Innumerable
with every movement of the two pairs Of
feet IL was astonishing how anything
could be active beneath such sun.
Mr.. Geer cOnVerSed about the crabs. He
asked If there were rattlesnakes in the old
fort, Which now was quite near, across the
caught and rode one OF those marsh ponies
there was a group OF five of these indie
pendent little creatures just cantering into
sight among the deep green OF the meadows