Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-04-02
FACE IN
THE
CROWD
BY Keith Gordon
Copyright. 1915. by r. e. Mcclure
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,

Alter HWlllP size tttilt w loth Itt
him when the train stopped ut the
Fifty-third street station In the morn
ing-the tall. broad shouldercd man
with the aggressive chin and deter
mined mouth. She felt vaguely dis
appointed when she did not see him.
InsenSibly he became the touch OF
romance i'm the dreary monotony Of
her days. five and a half ont of seven
OF which were spent in Wall street.
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 il was as dreamy as
the humming of bees nj MONDAY.
droned softly i'm her ears a sort of liv
thVurhhS
office hours and went far afield in a
fantastic search for the reality about
him among :he crowd of possibilities
Over and over she gave him a 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 il became deeper as time went on.
Curiously enough. IL was what might
be termed the nonessentials that baf-
fed her. About the man himself-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 n law
yer. though precisely why she thought
SO she could not have told. Then one
day she saw him with child. girl
OF ten. who bore certain fieeting re-
semblance TO him.
He was married. then. An almost
imperceptible sigh escaped her. Then,
as the absurdity of the matter dawned
upon her. she laughed softly to her
self What difference? Josephine and
affection for Napoleon. She even be-
gan TO feel a mild interest in the lady.
Sometimes. for two or three weeks
at n stretch. they would not encounter
each other. II was after one of these
breaks that. watching him as he en-
tered the car. her interest and salts
faction at seeing him again shone all
unconsciously in her face. and his
glance was arrested by it.
As the faint color touched her cheeks
under his gaze he looked casually
away. For a moment lie had thought
her some half forgotten acquaintance
from the welcome that he had sur
noyance as she returned 10 her reading
forbade that idea.
She did not look toward him again,
but mere than once his keen. blue eyes
rested upon her as she sat there. slim
and straight. with masses of pale
brown hair piled upon her small head.
After this he. too. began TO watch of a
morning. A habit is very easily form
ed,
Then for weeks he disappeared. The
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. for
he had become. in whimsical way.
part Of her life. He had become as
near and dear as only ideals can be.
When he did appear one morning.
towering above a crowd OF lesser men
like a god. there was n new gravity in
his face which held her attention even
before she noticed that he was in
mourning
That. then. was what these weeks
OF absence from business meant. Sick
ness and suffering and death. His
wife undoubtedly. from the sorrow and
oppression that he showed The quick
sympathy that she felt lowered in her
soft. wide eyes as they rested briefly
uHoH HIS ldct Anu te, Teiuln5 tnat
look. felt curious thrill.
Long since he had begun 10 regard
her with II sort of tacit. silent friend
ship. The little girl with her soul in
her face" as he once described her TO a
friend. shaking his head deprecatingly
at the thought of woman like her
having to wrestle with the world. She
seemed TO him too exquisite for the
ups and downs of such "A life.
He watched her surrcptitiously now,
wondering idly who she was and
whether he should ever meet her.
There was a wayne might follow her
and bestow quarter on the elevator
boy. and the thing would be done But
the coarseness OF such methods re-
PEELED him. She seemed the sort Of a
woman who would resent that kind Of
thing
Moreover. In his heart of hearts and
in spite of his bigness and woridliness,
he was a fatalist. If it were written
from the beginning il would occur,