The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-10-24
Told on the Banks of the Nile.

Told on the Banks Of the Nile.
"A. Love Story. By Henry Austin.
Thanksgiving night beneath an Egyp-
tan moon the sweet red headed lady told
me a curious tale.
Twas a magical night, full of vague
suggestions Of strange perfume. and faint
zephyr-tones of mysterious music, and
the full moon did not look like a moon
in any other land.
1t seemed rather as if it might have
been a platter of gold which, flung at the
purple sky by Cleopatra in some festive
freak, n stuck there Tor a symbol and a
sign to lovers in the aftertime.
Had | not been in love with the glorious
red hair of the lady I should have wor-
shipped that Oriental moon; but the odd
ness of the. Occidental revelation she
made me-the lady, that is, not the lu-
mlnary-soon absorbed my attention.
Twas the tale of how they met, her
first and only love and his first and only
love-and he was her husband!
l marked him now and then, strolling
ilacidly at some distance, pulling a cigar
OF doubtful virtue in the majestice face
Of nature.
He didn't mind my dancing attendance
on her, for he knew | was but a scribbler
OF impassioned verses, and was only in
love with her rich red hair and was bare
ly sixteen, and was merely an American,
while he was her English lord and mas
ter. So it was all right all around.
"Iou think we never met before this
trip up the Nile" she murmured, "but we
have. Several times in. the last four
years" Here she laughed, and her
laughter was as warm and full of vital
color, though low in key, as her beauti-
full, profuse hair.) II have handed books
to you over the counter of the Boston
Public Library, and you have thanked me
in a dreamy, far-away name that made
me think you must be a most interesting
boy" -
I did not particularly like this refer
ence to my being a boy, but I made no
protest. She continued:
"Iou look surprised, but since we have
become such chums I'm going to tell
you my romance as a mark of my spc-
cial esteem. l was a poor girl FROM the
Berkshire Hills working in that great.
splendid library, and, strange as it may
sound, 1 had never seen a man l cared
for.
"Well, one day a stranger, very badly,
almost shabbily, dressed, came up and
got L book, not from me, but a girl near
by. AS he turned our eyes met, and he
gave me a slight stare, and the thought
flashed through me. what kind eyes that
rough-looking fellow has!' Then I forgot
all about him the next minute.
Several days after this one of the
girls said to me, Nell, have you noticed
that man who comes here day after day,
gets a book and sits at that table facing
our corner and stares and stares and
stares over the book at me or you, and
l guess you must be it this timer
Il was nettled at this nonsense, but
I looked in the direction she had indi-
Gated, and there, u r. enough. was the
roughly-dressed stranger with the kind,
quiet gray eyes, and they met mine for
a moment, then fell before my frown on
q big book.
"A queer thrill ran through me. It
wasn't love, but it was queer. I turned
to my duties, and took no further no.
tice. But in a few days the other girls
began to plague me about this constant
visitor, who, they said, always took out
the same big book and never turned more
than one leaf from day to day, and
watched me like a faithful dog.
II saw that what they said was true,
and I grew very angry, but what could
I do? I couldn't complain to the au-
thorities of the library, for the man had
done nothing but look, and looking is not
a crime, though it's often an offense to a
woman.
"Then I %bethought me of Cousin jim,
a big six-footer from Vermont, who could
easily take up my little prosecutor by
the scrutf Of the neck and drop him into
the frog pond before any one had time
to interfere. So I appealed to Jim.
AT first Jim roared-Jims always do,
I think, at first, when you tell them
anything important.
"But when I blubbered about it, that
fetched Jim around quite serious, and he
said he'd come to the library and watch
my cowboy Il had told him the fellow,
when he put on his SLOUGH hat to leave
the place, looked like a Western man)
and see whether the charge against him
was a true bill or not.
"'Girls are so blamed vain,' said Jim,
"they often think a man is eying them
when he's only wrapt up in thought or
stewing over a business problem
"But Jim was convinced after he had
watched that person a couple of hours.
and what do you. guess Jim did? He
didn't wait for the starer to leave the
library, but went right up to him and
laid a heavy hand on his shoulder.
MY: how all the girls and I, too,
would nave given our little fingers to
have heard what was said then; but both
men spoke in awfully low tones.
LOOK here, SIR began Jim, what do
you mean by coming here day after: day
and staring at that red-headed girl over
there! She's my cousin, and this thing
has got to stop
ct can't help it, stammered the
stranger, with a bewildered but not
frightened look. I'm sorry if I've an.