The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-12-02
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CHAPTER I.

VVH Denver with all the air of q
martyr. He had travelled
pretty much all over the world, and he
was not without resources, but the
prospect of n $500 mile journey alone
filled him with dismay. The country
he knew; the scenery had long since
lost Its attractions for him. And so 1t
was that he gloomily motioned the
porter to his boxes and mounted the
steps with WEAKNESS.
AS it happened, Mr.. Grenfall Lorry
did not have q dull moment after the
train started. He stumbled on n figure
that leaned toward the window in the
dark pnssageway. With reluctant civil
ity he a~pologized. A lady stood up to let
him pass, and for an instant in the half
light their eyes met, and that is why
the miles rushed by with incredible
speed.
Mr.. Lorry had been dawdling away
the months in Mexico and California.
For years he had felt, together with
many other people, that q sen voyage
was the essential beginning Of every
journey. He had started round the
world soon after leaving Cambridge;
he had fshed through Norway and
hunted In India, and shot everything
from grouse on the Scottish moors to
the rapids above Assouan. He had
run In and out of countless towns and
countries on the coast OF South Amer
lea. He had lone Russia and the
Rhone valley and Brittany and Damas-
Gus. He had seen them all, but not
until thnn did ~ ocnir To him that fhnr,o
might be something Of interest nearer
home. True, he had thought Of joining
some Englishmen on q hunting tour in
the Rockies, but that had fallen
through. When the idea of Mexico
did occur to him, he gave orders to
pack his things, purchased intermina-
BILE green tickets, dined unusually well
ut his club and was off in no time to
the unknown west.
There was a theory in his family
that 1t would have been n decenter
thing for him to stop running about
and settle down to work. But his
thoughtful father had given him n
wealthy mother, and as earning n liv-
ing was not n necessity he failed to
see why it was a duty. "Work is be-
coming to some men," he once declared,
like whiskers or red ties, but it does
not follow that all men can stand it."
After that the family found him "hope-
less" and the argument dropped.
He was just under thirty years, as
good looking as most men, with no one
dependent upon him and an income
that had withstood both the Maison
Doree and a dahabeah on the Nile.
He never tired of seeing things and
peoples and places. There's game to
be found anywhere" he said, "only it's
sometimes out OF season. If / had my
way and millions - should run a
newspaper. Then all the excitements
would come to me. AS it is, I'm poor,
and so l have to go all over the world
after them"
This agreeable theory OF life had
worked well. He was q little bored ut
times, not because he had seen too
much, but because there were not more
things left to see. He had managed
somehow to keep his enthusiasms
through everything, and they made
life worth living. He felt, too, n GER
tain %elation, like n spirited horse, ut
turning toward home, but Washington
had not much to offer him, and the
thrill did not last. His big bag and
his hatboX, pasted over with foolish
labels from continental hotels, were
piled in the corner Of his compartment,
and he settled back in his seat with a
pleasurable sense of expectancy. The
presence In the next room of n very
smart appearing young woman was
prominent in his consciousness. 1t gave
him an uneasiness which was the be-
ginning of delight. He had seen her
for only a second In the passageway,
but that second had made him hold
himself n little straighter. "Why is
it," he wondered, that some girls
make you stand like q footman the mo-
ment you see themT' GrenfaIl had
been In love too many times to think Of
marriage. His habit Of mind was still
general, and he classified women broad
ly. At the same time he had a feeling
apply we'll. There was something about
the girl that made him hesitate at la
beling her "Class A or b or w." What
1t was he did not know, but u%naccount-
ably she filed him with an affected
formality. He felt like bowling to her
with q grand air and much dignity.
And yet he realized that his successes
had come from confidence.
AT luncheon he saw her in the din.
ing car. Her companions were elderly
persons, presumably her parents. They
talked mostly I'm French, occasionally
using q German word or phrase. The
old gentleman was stately and austere,
with an air of Difference to the young
woman which Grenfall did not under
stand. His appearance was very strik-
ing, his face pale and heavily lined,
mustache and imperial gray, the eye
brows large and busby and the jaw
and chin square and firm. The white
haired lady carried her head high with
u~nmistakable gentility. They were all
dressed i'm travelling suits which sug-
gested something foreign, but not Wen.
ma nor Paris; smart, but far from
American tastes.
Lorry watched the trio with great
interest. Twice during luncheon the
young woman glanced toward him
carelessly and left an annoying impress
sion that she had not seen Linn. As
they left the table and passed into the
observation cur he stared at her with
some defiance. But she was smiling,
and her dlmples showed, and Grenfall
was ashamed. For some moments lie
sat gazing from the car window, for
U~aftinO bta Iunnhenn drnnminV