Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-04-11
NOT A WRITING MAN.
@HE boy stood and looked and

60 he boy stood and looked and
looked at lie girl. It was by no
means the first time he had met
her, and he would have been extremely
glad to know that II was the last. Tat
ls tC say. he would have wished. OF all
things in the world. never to part from
her again. But this. he acknowledged
to himself. was past hoping for. All
her people were SO clever. everybody
she knew had written something or
other. she was Only used to the very
most intellectual persons. Why. even
this party that he was now at was given
In the great room at the end Of her IA
Tiers garden where he wrote bis Won
derful books. And he-he was such a
countritied fellow. He only had money
and ridiculously. quite Intellectually
useless strength of body. He could
only shoot and hunt and play games
and manage dogs and horses. BOorish
pursuits. he thought. despairingly.
Once he frightened for a moment as he
looked round the crowd Of nervous.
narrow -shOul1ered men.
I'D bet anything not one Of 'em could
bring down u pheasant at 100 yards.
he said. and almost chuckled to him
self
Nobody took any notice of him. He
felt that he had hardly any right to be
there. If he had ever taken compost
ton prize al school. or even so much as
written a letter to the papers. he felt
that he need not have stood there so
ashamed. Once she in her capacity as
young hostess had come and spoken to
him. Very shyly. And no wonder. he
thought. bitterly. What single thing in
common with her could such a stupid
fellow as he have? And SO she had left
him alone, after taking him to one or
two girls whom he supposed to embody
genius in its most terrible form. the
feminine specimen. and who therefore
found. and left. him dumb.
So he wandered of into a far corner.
for 1t was a large room. and when he
had put himself behind a small grove
OF portfolios he could watch her with
out being seen In anybody's way. For
a long time he gazed at her. very fair.
and in white. with what he called a
lump OF black velvet against her shin
ing white shoulder. Then at last she
was lost to him In q .throng far away. at
the other end or the room. He turned
his back on everybody and looked with
q curious. ingenious wonder at some
Inca drawings which were In the cor
ner ON the wall.
He did not observe that the noise o.
voices grew less and less. and then
ceased altogether. He was lost in a
dream Of her. till suddenly he was
awakened by the electric lights going
out altogether and the sound Of the key
turning In the lock Of the door. He
gay voices growing fainter and fainter
outside. as the guests went along the
Chinese anterned path into the house
to supper He started out of his corner
to rush for the door and try to make
somebody hear him. But he entangle6
himself among the portfolio stands with
q loud noise. and when he extricated
himself and felt cautiously round in
the darkness for landmarks he found
that he had lost his bearings. The
sounds outside died quite away.
He stood still and wondered what he
should do. And where was she? What
more worthy man was handing her to
supper? His teeth came together at
the thought. 1t had been his one final
daring hOpe-and then to retire to vege
tate and slowly die in the empty cOun-
try. And even this had been denied
hir'. He felt chair near and sat heav
lily down.
Then his sharpened senses seemed to
cake In q breath and a soft rustic a
very long way OF. and there came a
low. sweet voice. Are you there. Mr..
PenwinY
Rapture Are your was all he
could say. and he bounded from his
chair.
She laughed gently. Yes. IL got
left behind as-as you did, you know"
II can't imagine how l did it." he
said.
"You were dreaming something beau
tiful In your corner"
II was" he cried out eagerly, and be-
gan to make his stumbling way toward
her voice.
-"sOmething that l shall perhaps
read some day in a great bookY' she
breathed softly.
He stopped cropping with a gasp
Heavens! this was worse than any
thing She took him. him, for a writer!
He blushed as he stood there ilD the
darkness. And. Of course. how could
she suppose that any guest Of her ia
TIERS had not written, or was not about
to write. some world-stirring master
piece? 1t thrilled him for a moment
to think she had thought him capable
even for an instant of writing some
thing, anything. But the despair was
all the hatter afterward. Well. 1t GER
tainly was all over now. the only thing
was to get away from her as quickly
and with as little betrayal of his stu
pidity as possible. So he blundered
out:
Tell me what l can do to let yoL
out"
us" she said. very gently. he
thought.
us" he echoed, and his heart seemed
to him to stop beating as he said. That
she should put herself into one word
with him and say ''usr'
There aren't any windows." she said,
IN voice that struck him as oddly
calm. coming through the tumult Of his
feelings. Father has 1t lighted froIA
the top. SO that he shan't see anything
to distract his thoughts, or we could
have got out that way"
Does he realiyr said Penwin. in