The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-01

ne sat QOW0 ana prepared 10 IIlSn
his letter to the Denvf schoolma am.
Through the open winbw came laugh
ter and the sound of dancing feet.
| Mamie r was there, he told himself
scornfully, pow-wowint on the Sab
| bath night He bent bis mind to the
written pages and trid to shut out
the thought of her, but the tune of the
fiddle came between hih and the COM
prehension of anything that was word
ed there. Never was sren's call as
Turing as those ftful trains, and he
stared at the letter depairingly, like
/ Ulysses on the mast.
Shultz seized his ped and dipped
/ into the ink.
'"Will you marry me?1 he wrote des-
| perately. For heavens sake, say
| yes'
| Then, looking in his samples $50
much of professional caution was left
! to him stilD he plunged bareheaded
! down into the street to mail it to the
| Denver schoolma am.
The letter-drop was blythe open door
of the ballroom where tn. light stream
! ed out. When the Letter fell he felt
anchored, saved. The haf-breed door
| keeper touched him on the arm
Ticket" he said exp6tantly. 1.-TWO
dolla'n half"
Shultz paid the money and went in
side. His moral fiber WIS weakened;
1t may have been that tho late struggle
for victory had thrown him off his
guard. Certainly it was not what he
had meant to do.
She was dancing with Walt Tevis,
the young boss of the nine. Shultz
woke up to the danger of his position
| by finding himself horribly Jealous. He
noted with savage feeling that his
rival was young and good looking, and
that his arm was around her waist
He decided that he woulA never buy
the fellows mine. Them he decided
that he would buy it, ana make him
get away. Then he ceased to think of
him at all
In the whole roomful he had eyes
for only her. He could not have told
what she wore, but he knew that she
looked lovely, and that the brilliants
were still in her hair.
The dance ended, and Shultz press
ed to her side.
Mamie R." he murmured. may
Mime" said Walt Tevis, agrees
sively. Her dances are all prom
ised.'
But she slipped her arm into the
arm of Shultz and they were on the
floor.
His dancing marked him a true son
of the Fatherland. He had music in
Ills oOAC0' anu pOSStSStu d TellklOn
pumps and wax But that night he
was not conscious of rough boards or
heavy boots, but only of the soft slim
thing his arm encircled. He noted,
with a sort of wonder how perfectly
her step glided into his. He thought
there was something divine and in
innate in it. something that belonged
to just those two. He did not know
that she had learned her art, with
much labor, at the high-class boarding
school.
The fiddle's strains seemed to him
like the music of the spheres, and the
glttering comb beneath his eyes like
a star-cluster from the galaxy, and the
part in her hair like the crescent moon
and the breath of it like the night
wind out of the fragrant dark He
wanted to say those things to her. 1t
seemed in a way that he was saying
them. But the close touch of her was
enough in itself for his stunned mind
to comprehend, and they were silent
to the DANCES close.
Her little head dropped listlessly on
his shoulder.
Take me home" she breathed. "I
am so tired"
But your other dances?"
II doan wan, to dance with that
Tevis. 1 doan like conceited men.
An anyhow, I'm tired"
Once in the GOODNESS of the street
she revived like flower and straight
ened up.
II doan like that Tevis. He named
his mine from me. Wasn't that con-
ceited?'
Perhaps I'll buy the mine of him,
and then I'll be glad he did
They walked few steps in silence.
Where were you all afte'noon?"
Out at the mine getting samples"
II looked for you," she confessed,
shyly
Shultz's heart beat faster, but he
steadied himself.
my time is so short. go to-
morrow"
He hoped it would startle her. 1t
did.
"Oh, why doan you waltz"
DO you want me to-" he whis-
pered
But why doan you-what do they
say?-assay it here?'
"Here?"
Dad has a little office. It would
| you say?-a buckin'board! Well be-
| gin tonight. 1 will help your
The little hand on his arm pressed
| eagerly, childishly, and Shultz laugh
ed and lifted 1t with boldness. The
idea of it grinding samples, that
slim, pale little thing with the round
ed wrists and polished finger nails!
How will you help me, Mamie r? ?"
| he murmured. will you make me CT
garettes, all that 1 can smoke? Will
your curl them up. and light them for
me, and sit where 1 can see you? Will
| you, Mamie RI"
His other hand closed over the cap
| tured one, that fluttered excitedly, like
| a little bird.
| Yes, Ill make you cigarettes and
| light them for you, an sing to you, an
| help you every way! Only-let go my
| ham"
He let it go, and she fitted away
with a laugh tossed back to him
| The memory of that evening was one
| that would stand forever alone in the
| pipe smokers mind with undiminisned
| vividness. 1t had never been caught be-
| fore in the airy fumes of the ciga arctic
He brought his samples down and
| ground them on the bucking- board
he didn't remember how. She didn't
| grind for him at all, or come near
where he worked. but sat making him
| cigarettes or smoking them herself
She was gay, laughing, daring. and
yet so infantile, the soft-cheeked little
thing. She rolled his cigarettes and
lit them from her own, and he smoked
while he toiled-hundreds of them, il
! might have been. Afterwards, when
| he went back to count the stumps
something had become of them though
the dusty Office had not been swept
He had only the burnt stump of the
last one she had kissed and given to
him-he had slipped it into his bosom.