The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-02-19
The Knot in the Pearls,
lts> 80 < I - ~ ..s,ssHsT

she was young and remarkably pref
~, with the prettiness that is quite I'M
mlstakable and generally acknowledg-
ed, that can even triumph over frock
that is not quite fresh or a style of hair
dreSSlng that is not altogether suitable
But then, in her Gaze, it was such
charming hair, so bright and so curly,
that he told himself fashionable dress
Ing, which would have reduced her
mead TO the level of repetition of all the
other heads in the room, would have
Oeen a mistake, piece of vandalism.
AND as for the dress, that was, at any
rate, simple-although of the kind that
is not expensive, or even particularly
tasteful-and he managed to overlook
d. Yet that was something of feat
to his credit or not, as you looked at
the matter-for he had the reputation
OF being one of the most fastidious
men in London. Moreover, the child
She was only a child, as he admitted
had absolutely no conversation.
And she was eighteen and badly
dressed, while he owned to thirty-fve,
and was we'll known as an accomplish
ed man of the most sensitive, most eX
quisite taste.
The woman wasn't born, his friends
had been in the habit of saying, who
could entirely reach up to his stand
ard of perfection; among themselves
they, had often pictured her, the near
est thing possible, the woman he
would surrender to, and she was Gull
tured and witty, delicately sympathetic,
daintily beautiful, and certainly beau
tlfully dressed to the last little detail.
And it must be admitted that he had
always SO pictured her himself.
s. After ALL" they said. $50, after all,
the usual thing attracts him! Of
course, she's sweetly pretty, and he'll
choose her frocks!" They didn't feel
any less pleasure in their idol because,
at last, they had discovered his feet of
clay; they were. indeed, enthusiast
cally inclined to applaud their newer
and more homely view of him, and
they let the girl with the heaven
searching eyes absorb him, while they
looked on in an attitude distinctively
suggestive of hand-clapping.
after ALL" they would chorus, and
someone would invariably add, well,
he'll know how to spend the money!"
Yet it was common knowledge that
he was not overburdened with money,
having been, apparently, too overbur-
dened with brains to acquire it in any
quantity.
And all the time he was with her
he thought only of her eyes and his
own power to waylay them from
heaven. But when he was not with
her, many of his thoughts circled round
the cheap row of pearls she invariably
wore, and his mind, attuned to great
subjects, took to itself holiday and
spent it in wondering why she tied
knot in them.
Was it of set design or did she really
think they looked better knotted?
There had come into his mind the first
time he saw her, an old saying, long
forgotten, that girl knots her pearls
when she wants love letter. NOW dld
this girl of the innocent eyes In THIS
manner deliberately advertise want?
And was it simply a love letter that
she wanted, as one might covet, a rare
curio, or, say, first edition?&a Tie
said. a first edition) Or was. it not,
perhaps. a letter from particular per-
son she had set her heart on? Some
one who might see the. touching little
indication of readiness to receive a ten
DERBY worded epistle; someone who, 1t
was hoped, would be, ready. would be
eager to comply? Although this last
possibility undoubtedly put the girl in
the better light, it is noteworthy that
II was not the idea he honestly favored.
He followed the. little story further
For II the knot was the result of any
thing more than merest accident, or
other than a clumsy device for Keeping
the row tightly around her white
throat. then, since, as far as he knew
Inc knot was never united, also, as far
as ne knew, she did not get her letter.
THE blue eyes were sometimes pa
thetic: in time It grew 10 hurting him
that she should even possibly want
what he could have SO easily supplied
The whole question, as childish as she
vee and as strangely engrosslng,
haunted and disturbed his leisure, and
one night, having just left her. he So
down and wrote her the letter.