Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-11-15

| Nohi0, dS efeisOH else, SO ugly tnat L
would increase your ugliness and baG
bad temper to be forced to look al
tuem. When a woman under these
conditions is still pleasant TO contem.
plate, you may set it down that hel
charms are real and enduring.
| Harrington did so in the case of the
girl in Section ,. He was in Section
himself, and her back was turned tc
him, but she faced the beveled mirror
so considerably built in the end of the
car, and he sat so that he could watch
her reflected in it. Besides which he
| could see her back hair, which was
| brown and looked soft, and which es
capped in wisps that curled up tighter
and tighter as the day grew hotter and
hotter.
There were only four people in the
Pullman-a man and a woman who
were not interesting, Harrington and
the girl. The girl was there already.
The only mark on her traps was a sill
Harrington had not been able to get
| within reading distance of it. He had
tried hard enough. Neither had he
been able to screw up his courage to
the point of questioning the conductor.
He did not believe in discussing wo-
men with the first conner So he put
his feet on the opposite seat and leaned
back and watched the pretty little
curls and noted how prettily her skin
flushed, and what nice shadow her
| have been far pleasanter thing if he
I could have talked to her.
| The prospect beyond the cinder
| guard was so monotonous. That of
| course, is putting it very much more
mildly than Harrington did. Ben
| Bolt began to run in his head, which
is bad enough in itself, but when it
times itself to the te-rumpety-rum, te-
rumpety-rump, te-rumpety-rump of
the wheels, is enough to drive a sober
man to drink. The only reason Har-
rington did not drink now was because
he had already had one bottle of beer,
and he was afraid of the opinion of
the girl. Besides, it flushed his face.
And trembled with fear
at = your I"
froWn"-the wheels were turning more
slowly. There was that ugly hush of
uncertainty, of interruption IN the nat
ural sequence of things, that falls when
i train slows down in the midst of the
prairie. The sensation Of dying must
be rather like it. The train stopped
and the air brakes Kissed Then all
was silence that let you hear the
blood running in your veins, until
there was a crunch of footsteps on the
cinders beside the track.
Harrington put up his window and
locked out. A group of men stopping
about the wheel of the forward car and
the ringing taps Of a hammer upon
irO1 told the story. 1t was hot box.
Harrington said, Hang it," and drew
in his head. Pretty soon he got up
aod put on his hat and loitered out
When he had joined the group he
glanced along at his car. The girl
was leaning out Of her window. He
felt that in a time OF emergency one
should not handle a situation a la
Somers or Peter Gray. He put his
hands in his pockets, which is always
the way you show that you are just
being casual and offhand and making
no particular point of it, and sauntered
back along the cinder bed until he
ho
raised his hat and told her it was
hot box. She said, Thank you, very
much" and hoped it would not delay
them and was very sweet and civil
about it, but it vas borne in upon him,
for all that, that it would not be eX-
pected Of him to continue the conversa-
ton. "'Peter takes the North again;
and Somers takes the South" he
murmured as he continued on down
to ask the conductor how long they
would have to stop, and lighted a
cigarette The conductor did not
know. Harrington had not supposed
that he would. But he went back into
the train thoroughly Disguised with
everything.
He flung himself into Section with
sigh that could be heard in Section
2, and looked out disconsolately over
the prairie, SO dull and dreary to those
who see it with dull and dreary eyes.
The air went in heat waves so that
the distance seemed to CULVER and the
whole prospect was vile. He sat up
and pressed the electric button. The
bell fairly pealed in the silence, rever-
berated to the horizon. The girl start
ed and looked away from the window.
Harrington told the porter to bring
him some iced beer. The girl was
watching him in the mirror. 1t was
the first time she had paid the small
est attention to him. He caught her
eye-and perhaps she did not smile,
but it was not quite stony stare
either. He felt encouraged. And that
to the extent of ordering another glass,
filing it, and taking it to Section 2.
Might he Offer She looked startled,
but also uncertain.
Its awfully cold and nice"
She reached out hesitating hand
and flushed yet more pinkly at the
reckless brazenness of it. She raised
her glass and Harrington raised his
hat and said Howl"
Then both stopped with the cups
at their very lips, and there was an
interval of sound which her eyes filed
with a beautiful light"
''Whv didn't Won tell me?" she cried