Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-03-01
searchingly, gently. Then her eyes trav'

under the bench with shudder) to hii
broad shoulders Che shook the stoop ou
of them). She stretched her small white
hands toward him and looked at then
in contrast and broke into the most de
licious low laughter in the world. Al
this he knew the watch on bis lips wat
worthless. 1t was a question Of min
utes till he should present himself tt
her eyes as a sentimental and suscep'
tible imbecile. He knew 1t. He was ir
wild spirits.
"Could you realize that one OF your
dangers might be a shaking" she
cried. 'Ts your seriousness lost artT
Her laughter ceased suddenly. "Ah
no! understand Theirs said the
French laugh always in order not to
weep. haven't lived here five years
l should laugh, too, If were you"
"Look at the moon," he responded
"We Plattvillians own that with the
best Of metropolitans, and. for my part,
1 see more of it here. You do not ap-
preciate US. We have large landscapes
in the heart Of the city, and what other
capital has advantages like that? Next
winter the railway station is to have a
new stove for the waiting room. Heav-
en- itself is one of our suburbs-it is 80
close that all one has to do is to die.
You insist upon my being French, you
see, and I know you are fond Of non
sense. How did you happeL 10 put
The Walrus and the Carpenter at the
bottom Of page of Fisbee's notesf"
"Was 1t? How were you sure it was
IT
"In Carlow countyP
"He might have written 1t himself"
"Fisbee has never in his life read
anything lighter than cuneiform In
scriptions."
"Miss Briscoe"-
"She doesn't read Lewis Carroll, and
It was not her hand. What made you
write It on Fisbee's manuscript
"He was here this afternoon. I
teased him a little about your heading
in the Herald d-'Business and the Cra-
die, the Altar and the Grave isn't It?
and he said it had always troubled
him. but your predecessor had used it,
and you thought it good. So do I. He
asked me If l could think Of anything
that you might like better and put in
place Of it and l wrote The Time Has
Come because 1t was the only thing
I could think Of that was as appropri-
ate and as fetching as your headlines.
He was perfectly dear about 1t. He
was so serious. He said he feared 1t
wouldn't be acceptable. l didn't notice
that the paper he handed me to write
on was part Of his notes; nor did he, l
think. Afterward he put it back in bis
pocket. 1t wasn't a message"
"I'm not so sure he did not notice.
He Is very wise. Do you know. have
the impression that the old fellow
wanted me to meet you."
How dear and good Of him!' She
spoke earnestly. and her face was suf-
fused with warm light. There was
no doubt about her meaning what she
said.
1T was" John answered unsteadily.
"He knew how great was my need Of
q, few minutes companlonableness
with-with"-
"No." she interrupted. 81 meant dear
and good to me. l think he was think
ing of me. 1t was for my sake be
wanted us to meet"
It might have been hard to convince
q woman If she had overheard this
speech that Miss Sherwood's humility
was not the calculated affectation Of Il
coquette. Sometimes mans unsus-
picion is wiser. and Harkless knew
that she was not flirting with him. In
addition. he was not fatuous man;
he did not extend the implication Of
her words nearly so far as she would
have had him.
"But had met you" said he. "long
ago"
"Whatw she cried. and her eyes
danced. "You actually remember"
"Yes. Do you?" he answered. 81
stood in Jones field and heard you
singing, and | remembered. 1t was a
long time since had heard you sing:
1T was ruff1er Of Flanders
And fought for q florins hire.
You were the dame of my captain
And sang to my hearts desire.
"But that Is the balladist's notion.
The truth is that you were lady at
the court of Clovis, and | was heath
en- captive. heard you sing Chris
tan hymn and asked for baptism"
She did not seem overpleased with
his fancy, for. the surprise fading from
her face. "Oh. that was the way you
remembered" she said.
"Perhaps it was not that way alone.
You won't despise me for being mawk-
ish tonight?" he asked. 81 haven't had
the chance for so long,"
The night air wrapped them warmly,
and the balm of the little breezes that
stirred the foliage around them was
the smell of damask roses from the
garden. The creek splashed over the
pebbles at their feet, and drowsy
bird. half wakened by the moon. Groom
ed dangerously in the sycamores. The
girl looked out at the sparkling water
through downcast lashes. "Is it be-
cause it is so transient that beauty Is
pathetic" she said, because we can
never come back to it in quite the
same way? am sentimental girl.
If you are born so it Is never entirely
teased out of you. Is it? Besides, to-
night Is all dream. 1t isn't real, you
know. You couldn't be mawkish."