The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-10-21
AMID ROMANCE.



The fact that he was ri<ing bicycle
should have kept him to remembering that
ne was not living in an age of romance,
but he forgot IL, and TO live In the midst
Of a matter Of fact world and forget that
1t Is such is what makes most Of the trage-
dies of that world.
There were excuses for him. of course
the first that he was young; the second
that he was care f1e, and the last and, as
the nursery rhyme has 1t, the best that
he had come from the early spring of Now
York to that of southern California
He had ridden through willow paths
along the gravel roads that month before
had been the bed OF the San Gabriel. He
had crossed the shallow cleaning branches
OF the stream time and again. He had
doomed from the green swell Of the divide
over as green valley, where wild flowers
were thick on tho ground and whore peach
and almond trees made pink and white
patches. Just across tho valley the noun
tains were half covered with snow, but the
air was warm from the seq and the sky
was bright ne. So there was excuse for
his forgctting the bicycle and thinking the
world place for romance.
A place for romance, but there can be
none without woman, and there was no
woman.
He coastcd down the incline Of the di
vide and made for the Monte road by tree
bordered byways and paths. There was
not flake Of dust in the splendid air All
kinds of picturesque, old world things
ought to happen. In garden Of this sort
man ought certainly not to DO alone. Some
nymph should come dripping and glitter
ing out of tho zanja, some slender figure
should push its way through the high:
green barley and the fluffy branches Of the
peppers and stand beside him. He forgot
the barbed wire fence between the barley
field and the road, the grasses and flower
ing weeds and the peppers hid 1t, but the
zanja rippled and purled on, the barley
waved in the wind from the sea, and the
sun CLEANED on an uninhabited world.
Then bell rang out just ahead by tho
roadside, and the silence of tho spring high
noon was filled with the voices of children
and young girls.
Tho woman entered the garden. She
was neither. nymph of the zanja nor sprto
of the field, only black gowned school
girl, who stood on the schoolhouse steps
and waved IA handkerchief at the passing
tourist. The tourist was man and young
which was all the schoolgirl cared about
The girl was pretty and willowy, which
was all the man cared about. He raised
his cap and motioned TO n clump of trees
down the highway. or course she would
understand. II was all part Of the ro-
nance and the country, and she under
stood. She left tho calling, screaming
children and her older companions and
strolled toward where he sat on the grass
under the trees IL was out Of sight of the
schoolhouse He watched her black, 1.-THE
figure moving through the ilocked sun
shine that camc IN through the plumy
branches OF tho peppers. They were all
alone in the midst of spring and the gar
den, birds were singing from the Garth
the sun was shining from the sky and the
soft wind blew from the sea beyond the
valley. The snowy mountains were far
away, and the world on the other side of
them yet farther.
Her name, sho said, was Alicia. How
sweet the sound of the vowcls, how diff
fcrcnt the stern Nelson TO which he had
TO contest But even that was pretty when
she said it. How old was she? She was
10. The heroincs OF the poets were that
age Where did she liver Some vague way
over there among the pink blossoms Ho
remembered that when he was child
those questions had always begun an ac-
quaintance: What is your namey How
old are you? Where do you liver"
All the wisdom he had accumulated in
tho years between then and now had van
ished. He did not want IL. He forgot that
he had meant to reach the hotel of the
valley by luncheon time. He was not
hungry, hut Alicia was. She put her
plump brown hand into her pocket and
brought out newspaper roll Inside OF
the paper there were tortilla and boiled
meat She ate these While she talked 20
him, and when she had finished she started
To draw the back of her wrist across her
mouth, but rcmembering the teachings of
school and the presence OF the foreign
young man she took out her handkerchief
He had meant to ask for that handker-
chief, the white signal which had iluttcrod
in the air, but he saw that ii was grimy
and ink spotted 80 he asked for the wire
ring she wore instead Alicia parted with
it as though it had been very precious
Then she brushed the crumbs from her
black frock and stood up. II must 20
now," she said, with an accent that kept
the words from being commonplace.
First tell mo whore you live, be asked.
Shepointed over TO the patch of fcathcry
pink. In the white house in them trees. -
What is your fathers naneY
"Mateo Manzclo, she answered, wind
ing one Of her heavy braids around her
hand
Il will come to soc you tonight" he
told her.
Yes, " she murmured, with musical in
difference, as she went ieistirrly up the
pathway and never once looked buck.
The man rode on TO the hotel and re-
turned TO real life as he asked II valisc
and trunk had come and If there were
any letters FOR Nelson Cameron There
was one After he had hrd his luncheon