The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-11-13
Belle of Bear
City ~ II II II
BY WIN. PERRY BROWN.
Copyright. lo1, by Authors syndicate)

1VWO YEARS without SIsht OF D
woman? What a life! If one
could have two years without sight
of IL man, now"
She glanced at Sterling meditatively
from the hammock, as he swung one
long leg over the arm of his chair and
twiddled raw gold nugget doing du.
bous duty asa watch charm.
Gould you imagine such horror"
he qu!zzed.
at would be heavenly. Men grow
wearisome when they fancy them
selves in love.
"All of them-O, most sweet sati:
ety?"
"M-,m--tell me about your life up
there" she said, briskly. "Of course
the cold must have been terrific, and
with no news, no papers, no women,
no--e er-"
NO anything desirable, yon might
add, except the grub, the fires, the
gold dust and yes, there was one
thing else which became to me. at
least, more satisfactory than oil the
rest of our meager comforts
This last with a steady, adm!rine
stare that caused Miss Lamar to slow
ly droop her eyelids, as II the long
lashes might veil the faint blush that
seemed to ripple beneath the white
down of the rounded cheeks below
"And what was his cminently desir-
able thing?" She continued, imperi-
ousiy.
I'VE called her the Belle of Bear
City. Fun!" he chlrkled to himself.
"Iou would have thought it dizzi'y alb
surd gould you have seen us line up ev-
cry morning and make our bows. We
even reserved our smartest small talk
for her--seemed as il she could hear,
you know
"Why not, unless she was 'dizzily'
deaf? So the most desirable thing
turns out to be feminine after all. l
might have guessed it, If there was
pet-at-able woman inside the arctic
circle. sat was shc-some EsGui-
man?' This las. as a sort of debatiye
challenge.
Not on your life. Neither was she a
EtNdSH, VI
Ian monstrosity. All! how we did
adore that eirl!'
"Well, really" Here Miss Lamar
cvinced sundry diyniiied symptoms OF
rising. "How do you reconcile this
withyour staying gtwoyears in that hor-
rid hole witho,r~seeine a woman?"
at is a solemn, lngubrious fact" he
graveIy asserted. THAT We dif."
'Wit is one thing, Mr.. Sterling" said
she, adding hauteur to dignity. Men
tIaeity is quite another. Even actress.
es are supposed to know that
She rose. darting at him final
glance. neither mcditativr nor deha-
tive. Had he not seen her look that
very way al the unsuccessful suitor in
"iIearts Are Trnmps." her latest stage
success? Was She really going? Ap.
pa!ieh lest he had offended. yet drilled
indeiinab!y that anything he might say
could be of more, han zephyri!kc i'm.
portance to move her. Sterling timidly
put ont Il detaning hand.
please don't GO he yentured. 81
had no idea f,r-of-you see, it was
only Il picture, aftcrall."
Miss Lamar paused tentatively, with
her hand on his chair back.
"You seem overburdcned with conun.
drums to-day" she commented. why
not solve them yourself""
"Ru', do You not understand"
81 am Il poor hand at guessing. Be-
sides, it is too much trouble" This
with a SORT of dry weariness which,
however, seemed to impel her to forget
her previous intention and sink Ian.
euidly back in the hammock.
Sterling graspe@ his opportunity by
linking his hands together around one
drawn-up knee and gazing slcepily into
vacancy, as if still mesmerizcd by the
magic memory of the elusive Belle of
Bear City.
"There were seven Of us fellows Gagged
in one large cabin that winter. Most
of us. being college bred, we herded
together-birds of a feather, you know.
1t was dreary time. No sun at all
for three months, the mercury 80 de-
grees below or worse, with an ever
believing surf grinding the mush ice
along shore, and not scrap of news,
nor a woman nearer than Nome City,
1870 miles away"
always excepting the mysterious
Belle of Bear City," she interpolated,
suppressing strictly artificial yawn.
"Poor thing! Alone among all those
men--what did you soy was the popu.
lation?"
81 did not say, but there must have
been hundred showed in under the
Tundra Bluffs, and every mothers son
Of uS man." He grinned feebly.
always except" she began again,
when his eyes caused her to relent.
'Don't." he pleaded. "You uQueens Of
the stage have your trials, of course,
but they are apt to be those resulting
from safety rather than starvation.
We seven got SO that we hated the
sight Of each other only degree less
than we abhorred the average Bear
Cityite cached in the other cabins.
Fling dozen society swells into pig
sty and they will herd together; not be-
sause they weary of each other less,
but to avoid the pigs"
"No wonder she was popular Satir'
ical emphasis-feminine emphasis on
tha perSnrot n,onnn. "uoW on1 when