Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-03-09

CsOsOsOeOeOeSOs
After awhile she came to look for
him when the train stopped at the
Fifty.third street station in the morn
ing-the tail. broad shouldered man
with the aggressive chin and deter
mined mouth. She felt vaguely dis
appointed when she did not see him.
Insensibiy he became the touch OF
romance In the dreary mouotony OF
her days, five and half out of seven
of which were spent in Wall street, n
place where the advantages Of being
a woman are not glaringly apparent
Often during the tagging afternoons
of summer, when business was dull
and the hands Of the clock approach
ed ) but slowly. she would sit resting
her face on her hands and wondering
about him. Who was he? What was
he? Was he married or single?
The noise of the street blow, dulled
by distance until 1t was as dreamy as
the humming of bees at MONDAY,
droned softly in her ears sort of hv'
ing melody, and her thoughts dehed
office hours and went far afield In
fantastic search for the reality about
him among the crowd of possibilities.
Over and over she gave him local
habitation and name, but these
changed always with her mood. No
name that she could hit upon seemed
to express his personality. and she
finally discarded them all and thought
OF him only as The Man.
The weeks melted into months, but
| her interest in him did not flag. Rath.
er it became deeper as time went on
| Curiously enough. II was what might
| be termed the noncssentials that BAT
| fed her. About the man hlmself-his
| character and what he would do In
| any given emergency - she felt the
same assurance that she did about her
| self.
She had decided that he was law
| yer. though precisely why she thought
so she could not have told. Then one
| day she saw him with n child, a girl
| of ten, who bore n certain feeting re-.
semblance to him.
He was married. then! An almost
! imperceptible sigh escaped her. Then
! ms the ahsurdity of the matter dawued
upon her, she laughed softly to her
! self. What difference? Josephine and
Marie Louise had never dampened hei
affection for Napoleon. She even be
gan to feel mild interest in the lady.
Sometimes. for two or three weeks
at a stretch. they would not encounter
| each other II was after one of theS,
breaks that, watching him as he en-
tered the car, her interest and salts
faction at seeing him again shone al
unconsciously in her face, and his
glance was arrested by Ii.
As the faint color touched her cheeks
under his gaze he looked casually
| away. For II moment he had though
her some half forgotten acquaintance
from the welcome that he had sur
| prised in her eyes, but her quick an
noyance as she returned to her readin.
forbade that idea.
She did not look toward him again
but more than once his keen. blue eye
rested upon her as she sat there, slim
and straight, with masses of pal,
brown hair piled upon her small head
After this he, too. began to watch of {
morning A habit is very easily form
ed,
Then for weeks he disappeared. Tn,
girl wondered anxiously what had be
come of him. Had he gone abroad
Mayhap he was ill-or dead. At the
thought she shrank like one hurt foi
he had become. in a whimsical way
a part of her life. lie had become a,
near and dear as only ideals can be-
When he did appear one morning
towering above a crowd Of lesser meT
like a god. there was a new gravity IL
his face which held her attention ever
before she noticed that he was ir
mourning.
That, then. was what these week.
of absence from business meant. Sick
ness and suffering and death Hi
wife undoubtedly, from the sorrow ant
oppression that he showed The qulcl
sympathy that she felt lowered in hei
soft wide eyes as they rested briefly
upon his face And he, reading tina
look, felt q curious thrill.
Long since he had begun TO regart
her with a sort of taeit. silent friend
ship. The little girl with her soul IL
her face" as he anee described her to !,
friend, shaking his head deprecatingl,
at the thought of woman like hei
having to wrestle with the world. Sh,
seemed TO him too exquisite for the
ups and downs of such a life.
He watched her surreptitiously now
wondering idly who she was ant
whether he should ever meet her
| There was a wav-he might foIlo1v he,