Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-03-05

and white kid slippers on moonlight;
! nights.
: She picked a long spear of grass
from the turf before her. twisted IL
absently in her fingers. then turned tc
him slowly. Her lips parted as if to
speak. Then she turned away again
! Inc action was so odd. somehow. as
she did it. so adorable, and the pre.
served silence was such bond be-
tween them. that for his life he could
not have helped moving hals way up
the bench toward her.
What is it?' he asked. and he spoke
In whisper such as he might have
I used at the bedside of dying friend
lie would not have laughed if he had
known he did SO. She twisted the snea~
OF grass into little ball and Threw
at Il stone in the water before she an
swered:
! DO you know. Mr.. Harkless. yov
and 1 have not met have we? Didn't
we forget to be presented to each
other?"
Il beg your pardon Miss Sherwood
In the perturbation of comedy for
got.'
1T was melodrama, wasn't it?" she
said. He laughed. but she shook her
head
"Purest comedy" he said gayly. EEK
cept your part of II. You shouldn't have
done 1T. This evening was not arranged
In honor of visiting ladies' But you
mustn't think me II comedian. Truly.
didn't plan It My friend from Six
Crossroads must be given the credit of
devising the scene. though you OWNED
1t"
at was a little too picturesque. I
think. 1 know about Six Crossroads.
Please tell me what you mean to DO"
Nothing. What should -"
"You mean that you will keep on let
ting them shoot at you until they-until
YOU She struck the bench angrily
with her hand.
There's no summer theater In Six
Crossroads. There's not even a church.
Why shouldn't theyT' he asked grave
~. During the long and tedious even
tngs Ii cheers the poor Crossroader's
soul TO drop over here and take a shot
at me- 1t whites away dull care for
him, and he has the additional exercise
OF running all the way home"
"Ahr' she cried Indignantly. "They
told me you always answered like this"
well, you see. the Crossroads efforts
have proved so thoroughly hygienic for
me. AS patriot have sometimes felt
extreme modification that such bad
craftsmanship should exist In the coun-
ty, but l console myself with the
thought that their best shots are un-
happily. in the penitentiary."
There are many left. Can't you un-
derstand that they will organize again
and come in body, as they did before
you broke them up? And then. IL they
come on night when they know you
are wandering out of town.
"You have not had the advantage of
an intimate study of the most exclusive
! people OF the Crossroads. Miss Sher-
wood. There are about thirty gentle
men who remain In that neighborhood
while their relatives sojourn under dis
cipline. II you had the entree over
there, you would understand that these
thirty could not gather themselves into
a company and march the seven miles
without physical debate I'm the ranks.
They are not precisely amiable people,
even among themselves. They would
! quarrel and shoot one another to pieces
long before they got here"
But they worked in a company
once"
Never for seven miles. Four miles
was their radius. Five would see them
all dead"
She struck the bench again. "Oh. you
laugh at me! You make joke Of your
own life and death and laugh at every
thing. Have five years of Plattville
taught you to do thatT'
al laugh only at taking the poor
Crossroaders too seriously. don't laugh
at your running into fire to help q fol
low mortal"
II knew there wasn't any risk.
knew he had to stop to load before he
shot again"
HE did shoot again. If had known
you before tonight, r. His tone
changed, and he spoke gravely. 81 am
at your feet in worship OF your divine
philanthropy. It's so much finer to risk
your life for a stranger than for a
friend"
THAT is mans point OF view. isn't
itY
''You risked yours for a man you had
never seen before"
"Oh, no. l saw you at the lecture.
heard you introduce the Hon. Mr. Hal
! loway."
Then I don't understand your wish
| ing to save me-"
She smiled unwillingly and turned her
! gray eyes upon him with troubled sun
niness, and under the sweetness of her
| regard he set watch upon his lips.
though he knew it would not avail him
long. He had driveled along respect
ably so far, he thought, but he had the
sentimental longings of years. starved
Of expression, eliminating in his heart
She continued to look mt him wistful;y.
searchingly, gently. Then her eyes trav-
eied over his big frame. from his
! shoes Ga patch of moonlight fell on
/ them; they were dusty; he drew them
under the bench with a shudder) to his
hr-x. Oh. 4 oh,