The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25
The
Lifting of
The Fog
An
Evening Etching.
Written for
i" The Call"
By Lewis II. Eddy.

"Only cabman can be cheerful on such
a dismal nightH
AS the words escaped his lips Charley
Dimlight banged the cab door from
within. There was dreary rafting among
the cobblestones; the city was enveloped
in thick fog; the atmosphere was damp
and chill; the gas lamps cast that lurid
glare which only gas lamps can; the stars
were dead; the moon had not been born !;
the mast that gathered round the soul of
Charley Dimlight produced an oath; the
cabman whlstled merrily.
II.
The spacious ballroom was speedily
filed with grace and dignity. Like twink
ling stars in bright blue sky myriad of
precious stones and purest gems gIistened
upon the flood of brilliant toilets whose
beauty was enhanced by contrast with the
somber black and immaculate white of
living statuary.
No princes or peasants, no queens or
court ladies, no topsys or turveys, no gro
tesque figures or character studies, but
lovely women and stately men that formed
an intoxicating picture, to be improved
only by the removal of the masks.
The music for the grand march aroused
Charley Dimlight from his dream of dis
appointment. She was not there. He
started for the courtroom. He would 60 to
mis- club or somewhere and drown his soul
in machine-made cocktails. He would
drink to the widows doom.
The pictures in silk and lace and gems
and flowers linked their soft white arms
l., Al L L.
statuary. The mist about the soul of
Charley DimIight lifted as ne strobe
across the floor. Stretched around a
lovely throat, a string of emerald stars,
supporting a golden crescent, bedecked
with tiny diamonds, shone full upon him.
His heart reached his teeth. He clenched
and held it fast. He crooked his black
sleeved elbow. A bare, white arm was laid
softly therein, and the mist was cleared
away. Only step from the grand march
to the waltz. The soul of Charley Dim
light was bathed in sweetest silence,
broken only by the music of the orchestra
and the throbbing of q heart. The waltz
was done. He led his charming partner
to a secluded seat.
what shock you gave me this after
noon" he said.
Indeed How could ?" came the muf-
fled voice beneath the mask.
Come, let us have done with trifling.
Do not try to deceive me further.
81 deceive you! Indeed, sir, 1 did not
speak with you this AFTERNOON.
Look" he exclaimed, and raised his
mask. "Do you now deny that you told
me this very afternoon that you might not
be here tonight"
'Solemnly declare that it's fortnight
since I've seen your face, as you we'll
know"
Charley Dimlight's heart was moving
upward. He gasped:
How came you by that -"
~ received it with letter. Are you the
writer? And is it to you to whom I am
indebted for this beautiful necklace?'
Again he held his heart between his
teeth. The fog about his soul required.
"Ah! fair one, you shall play me no
longer. There!' He tore the mask from
her face. Her laughing soul dubbed
up through her navy-blue eyes. He tried
to swear, but failed, and only gasped:
miss Rene Sumner"
"Surely, and It's l whose name is on the
envelope" and drawing from beneath the
folds of silk and lace the very envelope he
had addressed the day before and sent by
messenger to Mrs. Rinestienner she placed
it in his hand, and asked so sweetly, SIS it
not?" And he would have lied and told
her Eyes, but her merry laugh estopped
him.
The mist had cleared away from the
soul OF Charley Dimlight as he held The
fair one in his arms and whispered:
But your aunty shall never know what
she has lost, nor how her niece has won a
lover"
The fog had lifted from the city. The
Pickering gaslight persisted in the food of
silvery moonlight. And as the dawn stole
softly on the horizon the cab moved
slowly off. The blinds were drawn. The
cabman muttered sleepily:
"Only lovers can be happy when the
dawn and m oonlight meet"