Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-12-24
"A RESULT LIANT THOUGHT. ;
BY F. Il. LANCASTER. A
BY F. Il. LANCASTER.

in to sit beside her.
please don't get up; l want you to
promise me something"
What is it,"
THAT you will sit here with me until
the moon rises"
Certainly"
Thank you. But then you ought to
sit down"
why, the moon has already risen"
"Is that SO? All, but please stay. If
you knew how good it is to be here
after that hurly-burly down town! Be
sides, if We go in we shall have lights,
and my eyes are tired. Please, | want
to talk over some of the recent psy-
Geological discoveries. You are inter-
ested in thought waves, aren't you?"
Il have done some reading on the
subject recently" she admitted, and re-
sumed her seat.
Tell me about it," he said comfor-
tably.
why l thought you wished to do
the talking"
"Oh, no." cheerfully. 'Ive been
talking all day. 1t has been bargain
day at my counter"
you poor thing! Shall l bring you
fan or an ice?"
"Oh, you can taught" he responded
good-naturedly.
"A Pegasus in plow!"
please don't. I'm tired"
"Is bargain day so very bad, them"
she asked with touch of sympathy.
Very bad" he assureu her, smiling.
full"
Nothing on earth could rest me
more than the delicious repose of your
presence:
"'Ye had better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said,
For ye are the living poems,
And all the rest are dead.
Wait-don't move. l will shut up.
Please tell me where you learned the
secret of keeping silent. How many
owls did you sacrifice to Minerva be-
fore she endowed you with her full
heritage of wisdom?"
owls to Minerva"
Didn't the Greeks use to sacrifice
owls to her? They sacrificed doves to
Aphrodite."
ITO begin with, Minerva was a
Latin goddess"
WAS she? Well. what did the an
clients sacrifice to herr"
x1rha n1 nffnr n n
at her altars-miGnight oil and medi-
tation."
Whatever 1t was, wish you would
let women generally into the secret,
for | can assure you that few of them
possess it. | saw poor fellow at the
opera with girl few nights ago.
I've seen something of him on the
street; he's been travelling a rutty
road, and l imagine he had taken the
girl to the opera thinking she would
keep quiet and give his frazled nerves
q chance to knit UP their ravelled ends.
But you can bet your life she didn't.
She talked a blue streak from the
time she took her seat until she left it,
curtain up or down. And he had to
listen and answer best way he could.
You know | caught myself wishing
the poor victim could sit down by you
and rest. He looked an age older when
he went out and felt ten years young
er. You can't imagine what a boon it
is to a tired man to feel that he can
sit down by the woman-he-wel1, en-
joys being with-and needn't talk I'M
less he wants to-"
II thought" she commented dryly,
that We were going to discuss psy-
chological-what do you call it? Phe-
nomena?"
"If you wish. Yes, we were. That
is, you were to talk and was to sit
here and listen and forget that it had
been bargain day at my counter"
well, let me get my thoughts in Or
DER"
She leaned her head against the ban
lister and looked away to where the
early stars were struggling against
the stronger moonbeans. The linger-
| ing after-glow touched her hair to
warmer tints and fell with exquisite
softness upon her upturned face. Ben
looked at her wistfully and his pulses
quickened. If only he dared to hope
that his good news would be good
news to her! She had forbidden even
the suggestion of sentiment between
them, yet they had never met within
the last year that he had failed to re-
mind her she was to him queen of all
women. He suspected that the size
of his salary was what stood between
them.
Once he had asked her abruptly if
she would marry poor man and she
had promptly replied:
mo; it would be doing him too great
an injustice
Since then he had fancied, until re-
Gently that he held the key to the sit
uation that she preferred to wait for
him without being asked to do it. But
of late? Well, she had become very
much dearer to him, and she did not
seem to know it.