The Tomahawk., 1903-04-09
dents and said it must be very dull hero

q
mire blond lady going past them.
Jane once more felt the pangs OF dis
appointment. Alas! his romantic eX-
terror belied him. He was only rude
and silly. She looked sadly thin. lie
was leaning back with dropping eyes.
"Beg pardon, but I have such head
ACHE" he murmured.
II am very sorry" said Jane.
"Jove, what a smile!" said the young
man; ''it's enough to make fellow
well again.
Jane rose. "There is my next part
ner," she said, stifly, and led the way
across the room. Never, never again
would Jane make mistake about dash
ing Young men with shadows under
their eyes.
So Jane had to begin her search
again. There came upon her horizon
an 1s-year-old schoolboy by the name
of Robert Smith-a tremendous young
giant, with blue eyes, yellow hair and
face devoid of expression. Jane con-
versationally sounded him. He was
sweet tempered and polite, but seemed
quite colorless in mind and heart.
Could not Jane tincture him to suit
| herself-convert this raw material into
| a hero? She would try. Robert soon
got into the habit of seeking Jane to
dance because she did all the talking.
Then he began to take her rowing IN
| the afternoons James heart began to
warm to Robert. It was better to have
a man say nothing than to let him spoil
things with commonplace remarks.
She made him row her to shady hooks,
where she would take little volume OF
Lord Tennyson and read it to him. She
would gaze at him silently and mysterl-
ously. Robert began to be listless and
pale. The silence and poetry and ad-
| oration of Jane were enervating him.
| But whenever he made an attempt to
take anyone else out rowing James
eyes would give him to understand that
he had stabbed her to the heart; SO
| poor, huge, sweet-tempered Robert
| was finally bound hand and foot. He
followed Jane all day long, let himself
be read to, quarreled with, admired,
and often showed sparks of real emo
tion. Still Jane was conscious OF
! sense of disappointment. 1twas heavy
work-this dragging of Robert through
! the proper PAGES.
At last her home made hero was
| obliged to leave. Jane frightened up.
Here was an opportunity for touch
| ing farewell. That afternoon she and
| Robert rowed to beautiful little IS
land where, on a moss grown bank
above the lake, they watched the set
ting sun s'for the last time," as Jane
said.
"Robert, let's carve P. L. on this log"
| she cried, enthusiastically.
"P. L.?'' said Robert, in solemn as
| tonishment.
eyes, for Paradise Lost!"
"What's the joke?"he asked.
Jane felt it would be useless to ex-
plain.
The next morning as Robert depart
ed on the little steamer Jane watched
until she could no longer see shining
| on her hero's coat the silver heart she
made him swear to keep for her sake
always. Then she gave a little sigh of
relief. Robert, indeed, was heavy
| work.
Jane now felt that she was either
one of those to whom real love never
comes, or that since romance was dead
she would not continue to be its sole
upholder. She began to join the other
girls in singing coon songs in the even
ings, and to play tennis with shaggy,
red-haired college boy. She often
made attempts to go to the Lost Para
disc and mourn in pensive solitude,
but this red-haired boy was always
getting up party to fish or dig for
worms, and dragged her with them.
The red-haired boy was ugly, head
strong and had no ear for Tennyson,
but he had smile like those for which
medians on the stage have been
known to receive large salaries.
One day the hotel guests hired the
| little steamer and toured the lakes fo1
| a picnic. The red-haired boy sat by
Jane on the back deck and made puns.
At luncheon he beat boy over the
| head with chicken bone because he
didn't pass the cakes to Jane. When
it began to rain, as it always does at
picnics, he seized Jane by the hand
and made her run along the road un-
| til she begged for mercy. Reaching
the steamer, he pushed her into his
overcoat, wrapped her feet in potato
sack and composed himself beside her
to play the banjo all the way home.
| It wasn't at all romantic, but very
pleasant in its way. Jane wished she
had not wasted so much time looking
| for a heroic hero.
'How long do you stay here?" she
asked.
"Till tomorrow" he answered.
"Only tomorrow" she cried.
The red-haired boy stopped singing
and smiled at her. He wasn't such
very ugly boy. "Sure; on the $3.50
boat Wave your hand as we go past,
he said.
In the early morning following Jane
was walked by toot from the steam