The Colfax chronicle., 1903-07-04

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1 am sitting beside her and 1 ask
her if we were not old schoolmates.
| expected cordial remembrance.
Indeed, feel somewhat disappointed
that she has not already recognized
me.
"Schoolmates? she says. "Possi.
bly, so. / went to the public schools
when l was quite child, and every.
body that was nobody went there
l deserve it, but | gnash my teeth
| figuratively, and essay another ven
ture.
But surely you remember me-
Dick Eagleton?" / insist.
Its odd but / can remember only
the nobodies," evades Philippa. Zone
young policeman, several grocery de-
liverymen and a street car conduc.
tor call me Miss Archer and l have
vague memory of having gone tc
school with them"
1 cover my repulse by talking in
glittering generalities. They do not
prevent my covertly studying her.
My memory harks back to the days
when she looked like Sara Crewe,
and / marvel at her beautiful hair,
her good, clear color and her sunny
face. Perhaps one hypercritical
might not call her beautiful, but !
suddenly cease being hypercritical.
After a bit she is inconsistent
enough to ask me if l remember
Daisy Tyler. BY way of retaliation
l swear that / do not, and surprise
succeeds mischief in the clear gray
eyes-honest eyes that are always
frank.
OF course / call; l am a persistent
fellow and am undaunted by the re-
buff she has given me. In time we be-
come quite good friends, but further
than that it seems impossible for
me to advance. In my salad days
/ am 25 now, but beside me the pyra-
mids are imature,-I fancied my self
real lion among ladies'" but re-
Gently 1 have been sadly disillusioned.
To the straw of the little incident
in her childhood and mine ! cling
like drowning man. / have kept
its memory alive for ten years. Has
she? Does it prejudice or aid me in
this my sore strait? If l but knew!
She knows that love her, and that
much I'll swear, though / have never
told her. When / try she adroitly
wards me off, reducing me to a state
of chaotic idiocy.
"Do you read Henly?" 1 ask her
one evening.
NO." she replies with questioning
eyes.
Then DON'T" / continue. "But
there are some lines of his tucked
away in the midst of something that
well, need not have been written
which peculiarly appeal to me-"
"Oh, you are going to try again!"
flash the honest gray eyes.
II don't like the Decadents," she
interrupts.
But l refuse to be stopped and be-
gin my quotation.
''The pride trampled them
And you boast that you are not
sentimental" she laughs, cutting my
quotation short.
Il am not" l say. my affiiction is
sentiment; my neighbor's is senti-
mentality"
"Encorel" she cries. How cpl
grammatic!"
Some day l shan't let you change
the subject" l say grimly
''As you warned me a moment ago.
I'll reciprocate. Don't try it,"
Just then we are joined by Miles
Stanford. Him, l dread as the Miles
intervening between me and-Heaven.
l return to first principles and have
an acute attack of the same black
despair that engulfed me the day 1
saw the college boys chatting with
Daisy Tyler of ancient history. I
think that my mask of gayety con-
ceals it until Philippa passes me q
card on which she has contrived to
scribble: You are perfectly hor-
rid
For one happy moment the world is
AAii"~' '''N siS hVo iCSdIu llc dS ner |
own she would never have taken the
liberty. / feel genuinely sorry for
Stanford, who. despite his wealth, is
not a bad fellow after all.
But after / take my leave l sue
ceed in demonstrating to myself that
| am a limitless fool. Of course Phil |
ippa will not marry for money, but
Stanford without penny is a thou
sand times better than Dick Eagle.
ton. So reason it out through the
still watches of the night.
Yet the very next afternoon con.
coct fraudulently transparent
scheme to see Philippa again.
And what is this important mat.
Ter that won't waltz" she demands.
do you remember the quotation
you would not let me finish?" 7
begin.
rs that all? Either nv memorx
S treacherous, or else you quote so
much"
"Nonsense!" 1 interrupt. "The
asst line is:
For you love. yet you refrain.'r
'Is it true?" / asked.
Though her lips answered notbinp
Ter eyes told me that it was. and /
'aught her in my arms.
you'll forgive me for being such
, hrufe when 7 xuos A., Iox.o,,