Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-29

and sat down on crumbling wall.
And what do the papers say? 1 have not
dared to ask for one"
Stoke shrugged his square shoulders.
What does it matter what they say?"
answered the man, who had never seen his
own name in the newspapers Perhaps he
faned to understand Dixon's point of view.
Have you seen Mary?" asked the cap
tain.
Yes
Then they sat in silence for some minutes
There was heavy sea running and the
rocks round the Lands End were black in
a bed of pure white. The Longships light
house stood up, gray shadow in gray
scene.
Come" said Stoke, be a man and
face it,"
sat staring across the dashed waters to
the west, his square chin thrust forward
his resolute lips close pressed, his eyes
impressive. There was obviously only one
course through life for this samantha
straight one.
IF it is only for Mary's sake he added
at length.
Keeping the Gull lightship E. S E. and
having the South Foreland w. by N, you
should find six fathoms of water at a neap
tide" muttered Captain Dixon in a low
monotone His eyes were fixed and far
away. He was unconscious of his COM
panion's presence and spoke like one talk
ing 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
hXed 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 long letter to Mary Dixon
that afternoon. He took lodgings in a
cottage outside St. Just, on the tableland
that overlooks the sea. He told the cap
tain of the coastguarls 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
London. They changed their name to
that which Mary had borne before her
marriage. French Canadian name Bail
lere. great London specialist held out
dim hope of ultimate recovery.
1t was brought on by some great shock"
he suggested.
Yes" answered Stoke, "by a great
shock"
"A bereavement"
Yes" answered Stoke slowly
1t Is years since the loss of the Grand
raven and her story was long ago super
seeded and forgotten And the London spe-
cialiSt wrong.
The Bailleres live now in the cottage
westward of st. Just toward the sea. where
Stoke took lodgings. 1t was the captains
wish to return to this remote spot. When
ever Captain Stoke returns to 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, whereon 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
report that Mary always gives to Stoke
wien she meets him in the town square,
where the PenZance omnibus, the only link
with the outer world, deposits its rare pas
Sengers.
And you?" Stoke once asked her In
moment of unusual expansion, his deep
voice half muffled with suppressed sus-
pense.
She glanced at him with that waiting
look which he knows to be there, but never
meets. For he is hard man-hard to
her harder to himself
IT, she said in low voice, II sit beside
him.
And who shall gauge a woman's dream?