Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-28

know my name"
Shultx caught her hands
What Is your name. I want to know
your namer'
Let me byi I'm Mamie Romero-they
call me Mamie R."
Yes, III let you by. But finish It up for
mel want 1t. the cigarette. must have
He was quite daft now. was Shultx, and
he placed himself in her way with the reck-
less look which some women witness often
been that the girl had known the look be-
fore She sighed little and moved again
give it to me! You win. won't you,
Mamie R?'
She gave it to him and passed out. And
Shultz, with quick indrawn breath, lifted
the cigarette and kissed it, again and again.
on the damp edge where her lips had
touched it.
And that afternoon because she did not
appear again, he broke into the habit OF
years and got his samples from the mine.
He had simply forgotten that 1t was Sun
day.
1t was late when he returned. He had
done deal of thinking, which he imagined
had profited him. But as he deposited the
canvas bags containing his samples his ear
caught the wall of lone violin across the
street and he knew that the dance was on.
He sat down and prepared to finish his let
ter to the Denver schoolma am. Through
the open window came laughter and the
sound of dancing feet. Mamie Rwas there,
he told himself scornfully, pow-wowtng on
the Sabbath night. He bent his mind to
the written pages and tried to shut out the
thought of her. but the tune of the fiddle
came between him and the comprehension
Of anything that was worded there. Never
SIRENS call as Turing as those htful
strains, and he stared at the letter de-
spairingly, like Ulysses on the mast.
Shultz seized his pen and dipped into the
ink.
Twill you marry me?" he wrote despe-
rately. For heavens sake say yes!'
Then, locking in his samples $50 much OF
professional caution was left to him Silly,
he plunged bareheaded down into the street
to mail it to the Denver schoolmaa am.
The letter-drop was by the open door OF
the ball room. where the light streamed
out. When the letter fell he felt anchored,
him on the arm.
'"Ticket?" he said expectantly. 1.-TWO
dolla'n half"
Shultz paid the money and went inside
His moral fiber was weakened; 1t may have
been that the late struggle or 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 mine. Shultz woke up
to the danger of his position by finding
himself horribly Jealous. He noted with a
savage feeling that his rival was young
and good looking, and that his arm was
around her waist He decided that he
would never buy the fellows mine Then
he decided that he would buy 1t and 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 pressed to
her side.
Mamie R." he murmured, may have
the next?"
Mime" said Walt Tevis. aegressiveyv
Her dances are all promised"
! 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 his soles and
possessed a religion for 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 sort of wonder how perfectly
her step glided into his. He thought there
was something divine and intimate in 1t,
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 f1ddle's strains seemed to him like the
music of the spheres, and the glittering
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 1t
like the night wind out Of the fragrant
dark. He wanted to say those things to her.
It seemed in 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 lstlessly on his
shoulder
Take me home" she breathed 81 am so
tired"
But your other dances7"
II doan wan to dance with that Tevis.
doan like conceited men. An anyhow, I'm
tired"
Once in the GOODNESS Of the street she re-
yived like flower and Strengthened up,
'I doan like that Teyis He named his
n1inn cd
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"
Il looked for you,' she confessed, shyly.
Shultzs heart beat faster but he stead
led himself.
my time Is so short. I go tomorrow"
He hoped 1t would startle her. 1t did.
''Oh, why doan you waltz"
DO you want me to-" he whispered.
But why doan you-what do they say
assay it here?''
'Here?"
dad has little office. It would save
you time. Dad has a-what DO you say?-
a buckin' board. Well begin tonight
will help you
The little hand on his arm pressed eager
ly, childishly. and Shultz laughed and lifted
it with ooldness: The Idea of 1t grinding
samples. that slim. pale little thing, with
the rounded wrists and polished finger
nails!
How Will you help me- Mamie Rf' he
murmured. "Win you make me cigarettes,
all that 1 can smoke? VIII you curl them
up and light them for me. and sit where
can see you? Will you, Mamie RI"
His other hand closed over the captured
one, that fiuttered excitedly, like little
bird.
Yes, I'll make you cigarettes and light
them for you, an sing to you; an help You
every way. Only-let go my han'!"
He let 1t go. and she fitted away. with q
laugh tossed back to him.
The memory Of that evening was one that
would stand forever alone in the pipe-smok-
er's mind with undiminished vividness. 1t
had never been caught before in the airy
fumes of the cigarette.
He brought his samples down and ground
them on the bucking -board-he didn't re-
member 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
tofled-hundreds Of them. 1t might have
been. Afterward 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 1t into his bosom. Poor,
sober, German-hearted Shultzi
She was wrapped in great striped shawl,
pale red and dull moss-green. It was bar
barbarous, bizarre, but when she nut II on