Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1897-11-05
LOVING WORDS.
BOX FIFTY-TWO.
ny ROBERT W. sfsE.


quarter of four, as we were walking
uptown after having put the paper
to bed. II any other man had told
il ! should have simply said that it
was lie, but as / have never known
Sam to lie about anything 1 give it
for what it is worth. Bryne, the city
editor, says that so far as he knows
it happened just as Sam tells it, and
they say Pemberton does, too, al
though he's working on the New York
Sun now, 50 can't swear to that.
when Kitty Andrews said she'd
marry me, L suppose 1t made me
about the happiest man in the news
paper business" was the way Sam be-
gan his story "You fellows who
have always lived with your folks
don't know what it means to have
been without anything you might
call home and to have lived round at
boarding houses and cafes since you
were boy as have done. 1t sounds
mighty fine to say you're your own
master and accountable to no one, but
you get deadly tired Of it by the time
you're 80, and you wish to Heaven
that there was someone for you to be
accountable to; someone who cared
whether or not you came home ut
night and took some interest in you
and what you did. Well, you can
imagine how L felt, then, when found
out that l, who have no single thing
about me to attract woman, had won
the heart Of the dearest little girl in
tie world.
ut was two nights after she told
me that I was sitting in the office,
waiting with the philosophical content
of man on call for something to turn
up, l had the last call, from to 3,
and ordinarily should have looked
forward with anything but pleasure to
such long pull, for it was dull
evening, and there was not thing in
sight which would be likely to take
me out, but that night the time passed
quickly and pleasantly, for I could sit
there and think of Kitty and wish that
were with her. She had been stay
ing with her sister ut North Beach
and was to come up that evening.
There was no one to come with her,
but it was only short distance from
the boat to car which would take her
home, so l did not worry about her.
ut was early in the evening, and,
of course, at that time il was very
quiet in the big office OF all the re-
porters there was only one other in
beside myself, and the four rows of
desks shone closed and empty in the
bright glare of the electric light. The
only sounds which broke the stiffness
were the muilled CONVERSATION in the
city EDITORS room and the rattle of
Pemberton's typewriter as he worked
on q story.
THAT was at 10 o'clock, but the
hour had not more than sounded
when there crept over me most in
descrbable feeling of terror and
dread. There was no reason for it, no
possible explanation of it, but it came
"a me suddenly, and it grew and
grew until it seemed as though
should spring ont of my chair and
scream aloud. Now, you know me.
You know I've no more nerves than
craven image, yet there | was with
every nerve in my body quivering
with forebodings and fright withouh
any apparent cause. l could not sit
still, but got up from my chair and
began pacing up and down the Office,
faster and faster. Then the dread |
took more definite form, and l could |
feel that it was some danger to Kitty
that was moving me so; that some
where, and not very far away, she |
needed Inc and needed me fearfully. |
l could almost hear her voice calling |
me for aid, and the longing to go to |
her, if | had only known how or
where shook me like reed. What |
made it worse was that L knew she |
must be somewhere in the city at that |
time, but even knowing this l could |
not tell where to go to her and could |
not bring myself to leave my post on
a mere impulse, SO matter how strong
it was.
II paced up and down, up and
down, getting more nervous and ex-
cited, when all of sudden the fire
alarm Taper over the door of the city
editors room began to strike, and
from the first tap of the bell it sounded
like q summons to me. We didn't or
dinarily answer first alarm, and yet
/ could feel that l should answer this
one and that it was more to me than
a mere fire alarm; that it was some
thing of vivid personal import, though
what could not tell.
81 stood in the centre OF the floor,
counting the strokes of the Taper
with every nerve on the culver. One
two three four five rang out
the little bell. Then a pause; and