The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-27
THE ADVERTISERS
 DAILY SHORT STORY

Her aunt brought out the Knife and breadboard. ts.
 VII you GU. the breed. Polly, while
 The eyes f the woman grew warm with tears as she looked upon the bread knife and thought of those great clumsy slices but she assented as d matter of course. Her fingers closed over the horn-handle and that haunting. upturned face left her She saw him again beneath the hanging lamp, his eyes aglow with mixed up love | and mischief. An. how good to be able
 to think of him once more as her dear | bad boy. .s--
 When the house was still, she carried | the knife to her room and covered its | handle with tears and kisses. Trouble not yourself with Idle questionings, | whether the man came back from the
 wars or no; for when a man has won \ such love from a woman that she kisses handles for his sake, he has seen his Austeriitz; let him beware lest he live | too long and so look upon his Waterloo. :" | That's realism"
 "In all save one particular" comment | ed the Newspaper Man.
 The Woman Who Wrote spoke hurried | ly. Now for romanticism:
 | Tt was wild, dark night, dark as | death. The rain poured down in ceaseless | torrents; the wind tore the thousand year-old monarchs from the forest and | lashed the sea into raging mass of inky waters. Against 1t all In the very teeth
 of the storm, the man held on his way Heedless of the howl and roar, needless
 of the jagged lightning that leaped from | the lowering heavens. Deaf blind lost | to consciousness of aught save the sting of wounded pride and the fierce resent ! ment of an outraged love, None save gods or devils would have braved such | a night. but he What was beat of
 rain and lash of wind? What was this | wild storm without, compared to the | tiercer one raging within? The rage of ! passion that sent the blood seething | through his veins. and beat in his brain Stride by stride he fought his way through raging blackness that sucked and 1 choked and stroVe to baffle.
 'The crimson curtains with their satin | fringings swept to the floor, shutting out the storm and the night They could not | shut ou- the wind that howled and | shreked Nike a thousand fiends in tor | ment Genevieve Trevallion crouched | over her fire. her great violet eyes star | ing in dense terror at the flames. For hours she had sat there covering under | a sense of impending doom; suffering the | agony of a hundred deaths. No torture | as that of undefned fear She clenched | her hand until the blood sprang from | her tender palm and dyed her perfect l nails; low mornings broAe from her palli l
 lips. He would not come, he would not come, and tomorrow would he too late. l too late. Oh, God; the bitternes of a | luxury that defeats love-
 | "The man fought on, not knowing that
 he fought. Over rage and resentment a desire had come to him, more blinding 1 than the blue flare of the lightning The desire to be with her. to breathe the in- | toxicating perfume of her hair, to feel l the wild beating of her heart on his. tc | crush her lips beneath kisses strong as | eternity, eager as life. His foot sunk into deepening water and a stream of heav- l ems blue fire showed him the bridge--a | mass of broken timbers heaped upon the farther shore. Before him, wild, wicked l water. but not hell a-gape would have l stopped him now. Into the raging wa 1 ter beating against it. defying it. his \ magnificent muscles strained like whip ! cords. his face blanched. his lips numb | Fighting the sea even as he had fought | the storm: every fiber of his being wruns in the agony of frenzied effort.
 "The door burst open, Genevieve Ire | vallion sprang to her feet. The man l stood before her His grand eyes, black and passionate as the night. burned into l hers. His breath came in hoarse gasp ing sobs. Pallid. spent, unkempt as the
 storm. he stood before her. Wet as a drowned rat.'
 "Ah. how outragcous.'
 | But he was wet" she protested
 Bother: if we cannot escape prosaiC
 details let's have tea"
 l As the Woman Who Wrote arose tC
 follow the others, the Newspaper Man
 sHi Did you really kiss that knife's han
 "What knife?'
 "The one l cut ham with that night"
 "Why you crank. you and I have never l been anything to each other.
 1 Don't be to sure of that. Remember tho tama ge did to your mothers china. If -you hadn't been as cold as an iceberg 1 you would have been better posted on 1 realism When your own heart is going l of another against It. See? This is re- 1 a1 D