The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-04-17
TIE Scarlet Spider.
Whether They STATED In Winter or
Swung In a Hammock In Sum-
mer, They We're Caught
In Its Web.

- -
mer, They We're Caught
o In Its Web. o
o.~o~o~o~o~o~oo soeo~o~o~o.s-o
Love, the scarlet spider, will in a
night hang between two that have been
apart a web too fine for either to see,
but the strength of both will never be
able to break it."
Who was he? She hardly knew. A
partner She thought of him as moth
ing else. All the women were given
partners as a matter of course.
"Dick," their host had said, will you
have the goodness to look after my
niece, Miss Blynn? Edith, let me pre-
sent Mr.. Kirkland" They bowed.
They could not well see one another's
face there in the starlight. 1t was a
skating party at Lake Geneva, Wis,
and two big companies had come down
for a week of winter sports, throwing
open the houses which ordinarily knew
the sound of human voices only in the
summer time. The two parties met the
first evening after dinner on the ice. 1t
was cloudy with riffs of indigo where
the stars showed, and there was a
gusty, cold wind from the west Now
the ice looked bright. A silver ribbon
would appear to stretch itself out wav-
eringly, now it was shadowy and mys-
terious.
Miss Blynn held out her hand auto
matically to the man to whom she had
been introduced.
81 see your skates are on" she said
indifferently. $50 are mine. Let US
skate rather slowly with long
sweep"
A band began to play in the boat
house by the shore.
81 didn't know we were to have mu-
sic 1t is a waltz. Now I am ready,
Mr.. Kirkland"
He took her mittened hand in his
firm grasp. They moved slowly and
easily down the cleaning floor. They
crossed the silver ribbon and entered
the shadows.
1--WE shall presently be out of sound
of the music" protested Miss Blynn
gently. Not that she cared; she and
her new companion were moving along
with perfect rhythm.
perhaps if we listen hard we shall
hear the music Of the spheres" he
said.
''The shadows are black" she re-
marked, "and the wind is cold After
all this is too serious for pleasure. 1t is
hard to be frivolous in place like this.
See how forbidding the trees look on
the shore and how solemn and men
acing the sky is. This is sermon
this winter night-or it is a tragedy.
Let us go back to the house where the
lights are burning"
''There is a fire in the boathouse. /
heard your uncle say coffee was to be
served there. But if you are too much
oppressed l wish you would listen to
the tragedy little longer"
Listen to it? l look at it. 1t is a
tragedy for the eyes, not for the ears. y
They swung along together with fine
momentum. They were conscious of
their youth and strength and vigor.
Miss Blynn gave voice to her thoughts
in an indirect fashion.
''Some people," she said, ''are old and
weary and sit by the fire and wonder
If the winter will never pass"
They both laughed at this-it made
a harmonious but startling duet, that
laughter, and it echoed from the wood
ed shore.
"Some people," he responded, "go to
winter and drag him out of his den,
and shake him out of his sulks and
make him dance like a trained bear"
They laughed again, though neither of
them had been witty.
81 have been skating with you an
hour" said he at length, "and I have
not an idea of how you look"
81 have been skating with you an
hour" she retorted, "and do not
know whether you have red curls or
black elf locks"
"Come to the boathouse," he suggest
ed, land see"
They went in where the fire cracked
and where their friends stood in groups
drinking coffee and chatting. He undid
his cap with it's ear laps; she united
her scarlet velvet hood. What she be-
held was young man of "a or %, with
deep set gray eyes. dark skin, dark
hair, heavy brows, smooth face and
large sensitive mouth.
What he beheld was a woman with
a snow white skin, black eyes, melan-
choIy and timid in their expression; a
high brow, abundant dark hair and a
mouth that, essentially serious, broke
into unexpected Illuminating smiles
at would be rude of me to say what
a service the light has done me-" he
said stupidity.
.The light has told me number Of
things" she responded daringly.
"What?" he importuned.
''That you have been student. low
ing solitude; that you are melancholy
oftener than you are merry, and that
you like good book better than a
good friend"
mo, no; not the lastp'
She laughed and took the cup Of cot
fee he offered her. He took note OF
her gray skating frock, with its edging
of black fur, of her scarlet velvet vest
and little hood and the white, pensive
face peering above her voluminous
boa. She fell to talking with some
others, and presently she flashed up to
him for a second.
81 was rude to you with my personal
comments" she said under her breath,
speaking quickly. please forgive me.
knew at the time that l was doing
wrong"
Before he could get over thinking
how quaint a speech this was she was
gone. He saw her no more that night.
There was nothing, it would seem, in
this brief association to keep him wax
ing till dawn. There was nothing to
make her hold her fingers close upon
her eyes as if to shut out vision. The
mystery remains always beyond ex-
PLANTATION There is no definition TO
the magic word; there Is no fashion in
which the necromancy can be account
ed for.
The morning found him eager to see
her and found her wondering by what
means she could avoid him. There
was ice boating, and while he searched
| for her he saw her flying by In one OF
the skimming craft sitting erect and
fearless while the great white boat
took to itself the wings of a reckless
| bird.
In the afternoon there was musical,
and he saw her sitting, demure and
sober, in a corner where he could not
reach her, and later, at dinner, in all
the witchery of her cleaning toilet OF
white, he had the sorry satisfaction OF
glimpsing her as she went down 70
| dinner with another man.
A1A.o..i.,er Shn scanned To fit be