The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-12-06

sighted eyes that CLEANED excitedly be-
hind her glasses. She must have been
forty II minute, but had the originality
to face 1t squarely In her soberly expen-
sive garments, her unchallenging-almost
apologetic-bonnet and her hygienic boots.
A certain broad humanity in the mouth
and decided CLINT of humor in the eye
saved the face from downright ugiiness
Orwell. nearly saved It.
At three minutes to a young man Of
about twenty-five, very short, very fair
and bloodless, with a stoop, and yellow
orchid in his buttonhole, entered the same
room from the other side. he, too, looked
about him with quick, light eyes, wherein
a corresponding CLINT Of humor fought
with an impressive mouth.
They did not appear to see one another
at once, these two, although the room
| held no more than its usual half dozen
| people. But they moved toward each
other, from statue to statue, with slow,
casual steps, and a deep interest appar-
| emily in the antique, till they met Then
| they glanced hurriedly over one another
and passed Oh in opposite directions
Both continued this slow prowl round the
room until they necessarily met again.
| This time the woman stopped, fastened
her shortsighted eyes on the mans but
tonhole, and said with a rush, 81 am
John Giddens."
He looked fxedly at the orchid in her
cape and said, "And am e. f. Cornish"
She held out her hand, their eyes met
squarely, the glints struck and they stood
there laughing Historically, two ill
shaped, civilization soiled moderns among
the cold glories of the ancients.
nnaStfono ND PoIIoxuoI fv,
quick alienation. Why had John Gid
dens masQueraded as a man in a private
correspondence?
Don't you see that thought you were
a woman?" she explained frantically.
Don't you see what q sublime situation
l was going to bring about-to work up
to the point of romance, almost of love,
and then meet bonnet to bonnet and
watch the effect3 Tableau! How 1
should have scored, And what a valua-
BILE experienced To find out how another
woman would really write to a man, and
oh, 1t would have been perfect! But
why you should pretend to be a womanr
And e. r. Cornish had to explain how
the idea, once given to him, had seemed
irresistibly suggestive; how he, too, had
determined to represent himself as a
young and beautiful girl that he might
wallow In the moment of establishment.
"Again the same idea, you see." he ended.
But after one hours talk. sitting face
to face in that silent company, each had
said and heard enough TO realize that
theirs was indeed an unprecedented in
tellectual sympathy. 1t was extraordi-
nary. No two friends Of half a century's
standing could have played better into
each others hands. taken each others
illusions with quicker grasp, enjoyed
each others utterances with more un-
jealous admiration.
1t was almost unconsciously that she
told him such fragments of her life as
could interest him; how sheer boredom
and social reaction had started her pen
in middle life. and how her age and her
wealth made her fearful of ridicule and
determined her to conceal her identity.
And. equally unconsciously. he gave her
glimpses of his lower middle class setting
in Hampstead, his attacks Of literary de-
spair, his sister. who painted screens and
bellows, his struggles against i'll health.
Yes, there was the intellectual affinity
In Its finest fower-spontaneous beauti-
full. urging eternal union. Only-there
were likewise the facts of his twenty-five
and her forty years, his 5 feet and her
s feet II, his probable consumption and
her certain mother; and, far above all,
the fact of their common humof, illumi-
mating all these and holding them to their
tacit pact Of mere Friendships friend
ship which lasted them their time.-King.