Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-12

having the gayest kind of a time, and 1 their gayety had in 1t the shy ripple | of happiness easy to be detected by | an interested observer. More than l once Miss Danton and Warren passed | close to them without being them selves noticed, and both of them were l conscious that the affair would reach ] crisis before night. The girl from the east liked the inperturbable manner l in which the civilian accepted the de- 1 feat which was inevitable. 1t was the way of the Anglo-Saxon, and good way too, she told herself. She want | ed to tell him that some day he would find good woman to appreciate him, but she reflected that it would be inn | pertinent and refrained.
 It was on the way down that chance intervened. The lieutenant and Jessie | Cochrane were little quiet, and when their shy eyes met they did not hold each other long. 1t was Miss Danton and Warren on the seat behind them | who kept the conversational ball roll ! ing as the train moved slowly round 1 the curves of the steep mountain edge. Presently the pace. quickened percep- i tibly. Mansfield, looking for moment far out of the big windows, drew in his l head to say:
 "We're going pretty fast. l don't know what the engineer can be think | ing of. We are right at the steepest i part of the grade, and he ought to go easy instead of sending her along like | this.'
 Still the rate of speed increased ominously The car swept, round a curve at a pace which threatened to hurl it from the track over the precip- l itous edge of the mountain. The driv- l ing rod of the engine had broken by one of those mischances which hap pen once in thousand years. Wom- en began to cry out historically, wringing their hands and moaning. Men looked at each other with white, frightened faces, then made for the doors and the big windows in panic l terror, everything forgotten except l the horrible fear of death which was clutching at their hearts. The tradi- tions of the Anglo-Saxon race were l ignored, and they were bent on saving | themselves, no matter whom they trampled down in their wild rush for safety.
 Kate Danton was conscious of no fear, only anger and disgust at the selfishness and cowardice of the men who were intent on getting out at any cost. She saw Jessie Cochrane clutch 1 at the arm of the lieutenant instinct ively, and noticed that young Mans field turned on his sweetheart face sick with horror. Terror was knock ing at his heart and sponging clean the slate of those things man must remember Another instant, and he had flung himself out of the window to the mountain slope outside. | James Warren looked into the angry eyes of the young woman beside him, then at the white-faced girlhuddled on the seat in front. The one to whom his heart went out in that moment when life and death hung in the bal ance was the one who needed him most. He rose in the swaying, pitch ing car, and stumbled forward to the place beside her. Conventions were | all forgotten. He remembered only that the woman he loved was close to eternity, and his arm encircled her to ward off harm if might be.
 | All IIilS was 1 1udALOA VI oCCOhdS only Presently the air brakes caught, the wheels ground into the iron of the tracks, gradually the speed slackened and the train jolted to halt. There was plenty of excitement. Everybody was talking at once, eX- blaming and questioning. The men who had played the lesser part were showing speciously just why they had | jumped It appeared that they had | intended to get at the brakes some l how and that their minds had been full of saving the women, though when it came to details their explana- tions halted little. Warren ex- changed a grim and-cynical smile with Miss Danton at all this voluble talk. One might have noticed that the men were really feeling sheepish and that their eyes met each other only fur | lively.
 As for Lieutenant Mansfield, he of fered no defense, but chose the man Her part of bearing his shame in si- lence. He was white to the lips with
 his disgrace, and he hated himself with bathing that was exceeding bitter. He dropped into the seat be- side Miss Danton and rode the rest of l the way in silence. By tacit consent the accident was tabooed topic. The young army officer had shown the white feather, and all of them under stood that he was prepared to accept as his punishment the loss of his place in the regard of his sweetheart. He
 was quite out of the running, and he knew it. The day was one long agony of shame to him. It was scared into his consciousness beyond the chance
 of healing that after he had won his love he had lost by reason of his own cowardice. It did not help matters
 that he had only done what four fifths of the rest of the men in the
 car had done. The point was that he
 had finched where Warren had stood firm.
 Three months later Miss Denton
 was chief bridesmaid at the wedding
 of Jessie Cochrane to MT. James War
 ren. The affair passed off with great
 eclat, but one army officer in the Phil
 ippines who read the newspaper ac-
 count found the reading something
 less than enjoyable, if one might judge
 :iy his white, tense face.
 IN THE SUPERLATIVE DEGREE.
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