Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-26

not move or turn hts head. Stoke closed
the door behind him as no entered the
room and went slowly toward the fireplace
Dixon turned and looked at him with
shrinking eyes. like the eyes Of a dog thai
has been beaten.
Let us get on to the elius. he said in
a whisper. we cannot talk here"
He was clean shaver and his hair was
grizEled at the temples. His face looked
oddly weak, FOR he had a rather irresoluto
chin, hitherto hidden by his smart beard.
Few would have recognized him.
By way OF reply Stoke went back toward
the door.
Come on. them he said. rather CURLY.
They did not speak until they had passed
out beyond the town toward the bare ia
bleland that leads TO the sea.
Couldn't face Il, Jack-that's the truth"
said the captain at last. and II you or
any others try to make me I'll shoot my
self. How many was IL? Tell me quickly,
mani"
''over 1sO,' replied Stoke.
They walked out on the bare tableland
and sat down on a crumbling wall.
And what do the papers say7 l have
not dared to ask for one"
Stoke shrugged his square shoulders.
What does 1t matter what they say?'
answered the man, who had never seen
his own name in the newspapers. Perhaps
he failed to understand Dixon's point OF
view.
Have you seen Nary" asked the cap
tain.
Yes"
Then they sat in silence for some mia
utes. There was a heavy sea running and
the rocks round the Lands End were
black in a bed Of pure white. The Long
.AaaH- IN-AAl-.A. aNzza 49, -
In a gray scene.
Come" said Stoke, be a man end face
it."
There was no answer End the speaker
sat staring across the dashed waters to
the west, his square chin thrust forward,
his resolute lips close pressed. his eyes
impassiye. There was obviously only one
course through life for this seaman-the
straight one.
"If It is only for Mary's sake" he added
at length.
Keeping the Gull lightship ESE and
having the South Foreland V by N, you
should find six fathoms OF water at a neap
tide" muttered Captain Dixon in a low
monotone. He was unconscious OF his
companions presence and spoke like one
talking in his dreams.
Stoke sat motionless by him while he
took his steamer in imagination through
the Downs and round the North Foreland.
But what he said was mostly nonsense
and he mixed up the bearings of the inner
and outer channels into a hopeless tumble.
Then he sat huddled upon the wall and
lapsed again into a silent dream with eyes
fixed on the western sea. Stoke took him
by the arm and led him back to the town,
this harmless, soft-speaking creature who
had once been a brilliant man and had
made but one mistake at sea.
Stoke wrote a long letter to Mary Dixon
that afternoon. He took lodgings in a cot
tage outside st. Just, on the tableland that
overlooks the sea. He told the captain Of
the cost guards that he had been able to
Identify this man and had written to his
people in London.
Dixon recognized her when she came, but
he soon lapsed again into his dreamy state
Of incoherence, and that which made him
lose his grip on his reason was again the
terror of having to face the world as the
captain OF the lost Grandhaven. TO humor
him they left st. Just and went to Lon
don. They changed their name to that
which Mary had borne before their mar
riage, a French-C Canadian name. Baillere.
A great London specialist held out a dim
hope Of ultimate recovery.
ut was brought on by some great shock"
he suggested.
Yes" e Stoke. "by a great
shock"
"a bereavement"
Yes" answered Stoke slowly.
1t is years since the loss of Grandhaven
and its story was long ago superseded and
forgotten. And the London specialist was
wrong.
The Bailleres live now in the cottage
westward Of ST. Just toward the sea, where
stske took lodgings. 1t was the captains
wlah to return 10 this remote spot. When"
ever Captain Stoke returns 70 England he
spends his brief leave OF absence in jour
neying to the forgotten mining town. Bail
lere passes his days in his garden or sit
ting on the low wall, looking with vacant
eyes across the sea, wherein his name was
once a household word. His secret is still
safe. The world still exonerates him be-
cause he was drowned.
HE sits and dreams all day" is the re-
port that Mary always gives to Stoke when
she meets him in the town square, where
the Penzance omnibus. the only link with
the outer world, deposits it's rare passen-
gers.
And your" Stoke once asked her in a
moment Of unusual expansion, his deep
voice half mufied with suppressed sus-
pense.
She glanced at him with that waiting
look which he knows to be there, but never
meets. For he is a hard man-hard to her.
harder to himself. .'
And who shall gauge a woman's dreams