Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-12-12
MRS. WHITEHEAD.

through. Gllchrlst went to Las PalmaS,
in Grand Canary, by a British African
boat, because they start from Liverpool,
near which port he resided. Mrs. White
head went by the same steamer, because
she thought there was less likelihood of
meeting people who knew her there than
there would be on one of the bigger and
faster Cape boats which go from the south
of England. And, to further this coy de-
sire, she ~decapitated her name and ap-
peared on the purser's list as Mrs, White.
Gilchrist foregathered with her before they
had brought Holyhead over the quarter,
because he and she were the only two pas
sengers who had not seen the necessity of
going below to lie down.
"Will you let me lash your deck chairp"
he said by way of introduction. "The
sea'll get worse soon when we open up the
channel more, and you may get a nasty
spill"
He very naturally got leave to do that
and quite naturally wedged himself in a
corner beside her and began to talk. That
was the beginning Of it all. By the time
they had got abreast of Lands End he had
discovered that her Christian name was
Edith, and by the time they had crossed
the bay and were carrying the brown hills
of Portugal along OH their beam he had
dropped into the habit of letting slip the
name of Edith with the most skilled un-
consciousness whenever there was none
else within earshot.
He was not exactly new to this sort Of
game, and no more was she. They owned
up to the fact cheerfully. II do hate cal
low youths said Mrs. White, and,
"When l find myself paired off with
schoolgirls under two and twenty" said
Gilchrist, 81 bolt as soon as I convenient
ly can and have a comfortable swear. Let
me drag you a chair behind the lifeboat
there, and then you can smoke a cigar
ette."
lone more cushion, please; just under
the head" said Mrs. White. "And now
tuck the rug in round my feet. There,
thanks; that's nice. Now, some men
would be shocked at my sitting here and
smoking when half Portugal might be
looking on at us through race glasses for
anything we know. Others would be
greedy and keep all their cigarettes to
themselves. You are neither one nor the
other, and therefore l like YOU"
1U0T0lOT0 LII all llull1ttly luCky
man. said Gilchrist.
II think you are pretty lucky all the
way round. Nothing to do except amuse
yourself. You certainly aren't going to
Grand Canary for the good Of your health,
because you're the picture of that already,
and 1 can't say you've got the cut of a
man who's going there on business"
"Oh, I'm going to kick up my heels and
walk about and climb the mountains, and
eat oranges and avocado pears. At inter-
walls I shall play a little golf"
Delightful programme. Nothing to do
but amuse yourself. But don't you get
rather tired of it sometimcs?"
ut hasn't bored me SO far. When a
mans had enough Of one thing, he can try
another"
"That depends on the mans income.
IT, an expensive gamer ringing the changes
too often"
"Well, I suppose it is, come to think of
It," said Gilchrist. II started the yacht.
ing mania last summer. That came in
rather heavy for a first outfit Of materials"
Evidently" said Mrs. White, with a
sigh, ''you are a young man having many
possessions. What a blessed comfort it
must be to get away from the region Of
narrower meansr'
Gilchrist thought the matter over at
greater length that night when the lights
had been switched off in the smokeroom
and the other passengers had turned in,
and he came to several conclusions. Above
all things. he was satisfied that it was en-
tirely without drawbacks to be well off.
He also gave a good deal Of his time to
thinking over Mrs. White. He didn't
quite know whether he was in love with
her or not-he couldn't quite define what
being in love meant-but he was complete
~ satisfied she was the incest woman on
that particular steamer and possibly on
many steamers. Moreover, he reminded
himself that he was 80 and was under in
structions from various relatives who took
an interest in him to get married without
any further dawdling over 1t.
To think over a matter of this kind
solus at sen and under the suggestive
stars is o very different affair to doing the
anne prosaically at home. Mrs. White did
not turn up all the next morning, and he
was bored with his own company. In the
aftesnoon she was also absent, and he grew
more bored. And in the evening when
she turned up again he proposed In the