The San Francisco call., 1904-03-27

the color off"
My father used TO say they were
like dogs" she answered, feeling un-
able to drop them and yet uneasy under
his uniinching gaze.
'They'reAthe color OF sherry-exactly
the same"
Il won't let you see them any more
II that's the best you can say Of them"
she said, dropping them.
/ could say they were the color of
beer" he answered. but 1 thought
sherry sounded better"
"Beer!" she exclaimed, averting not
only her eyes, but her face. That's an
insult"
We'll, then. I'll only say in the sim
plest way what 1 think. I'm not the
kind Of man who makes fine speeches
they're the most beautiful eyes in the
world"
That's the worst Of ALL" she an
swered, extremely confused and not
made more comfortable by the thought
that she had brought il on herself
Let's leave my eyes oct Of the ques-
ton"
"All right. I'll not speak of them
again. But I'll want to see them now
and then"
He saw her color mounting, and in
the Joy Of her close proximity. loiter
ing arm In arm up the sordid street,
said:
When a person owns something
that's rare and beautiful he oughtn't
to be mean about it."
Il suppose not" said the owner Of
the rare and beautiful possessions.
keeping them sternly out of sight.
He continued to look ardently at
heA not conscious of what he was do
ing. his step growing slower and
slower.
It's a long climb" he said at
length.
yes" she assented. rs that why
you're going so sIowly?"
Are we going so slowly?" he asked.
and as IL 10 demonstrate how slow had
been their progress, they both came
TO q stop like a piece Of rundown ma
chinery.
They looked at each other for
questioning moment, then burst into
simultaneous pe-ls of laughter.
one of the last and daintiest charms
that nature can give a woman is
lovely laugh II suggests unexplored
riches Of tenderness and sweetness,
unrevealed capacity for joy and pain.
as a harsh and unmusical laugh tells
OF an arid nature, hard, without juice.
devoid OF Imagination. mystery and
passion. Like her mother before her
Mariposa possessed this charm in its
highest form The ripple Of sound
that flowed from her lips was music,
and IL cast a spell over the man at
whose side she stood. as Lucy's laugh
twenty years before had cast one over
Dan Moreau-
Il never heard you laugh before,
he said in delight. What can L say
10 make you DO it again.
You didn't say anything that
time" said Mariposa- 80 I suppose
he best way is for you to be silent"
Barron took hef advice and sur
veyed her mutely with dancing eyes
For a moment her lips, puckered into
a tremulous pout, twitched with the
premonitory symptoms Of a second
outburst. But she controlled them,
moved by some perverse instinct of
coquetE, while the laughter welled
I'D in the eyes that were fixed on him.
I see I'll have to make a joke he
said, and I can't think Of any,"
Mrs. Garcia's got book full. You
might borrow it"
Couldn't you tell me one that's
made you laugh before and loan it to
me?"
But it mightn't work second
time. I might take it quite solemnly.
ff-ffa
thing"
L think the lady who's got it is
even more So" he said.
And then once again they laughed
in concert, foolishly and gayly and
without knowing why.
They had gained the top Of the hill,
and the blaze OF red that swept across
the west shone on their faces. They
were within a few minutes walk Of
the house now and they continued.
arm in arm, as was the custom Of the
day. and at the same lettering gait.
Didn't you tell me your people
came originally from Eldorado
County. somewhere up near Hang
town." he asked. I've just been up
hat way, and II rd known the place
1 might nave SlOppC0 NA~AS-
"Oh, you never could have found
IL" said Mariposa hastily. TT was
only a cabin miles back in the foot
hills. Ny mother often told me of II
Just a cabin by a stream. II has
probably disappeared now. Ny faith
r and mother met and were married
here among the mines, and-and-I
vas born there" she ended, stammer-
i ngly, hating the lies upon which her
-outhful traditions had been built
IF I'd known you had been born
/ here ia have gone on pilgrimage to
\ ind that cabin II It had taken
MONTH"
But / tell you il can't be standing
ct. I'm "a years old" she suddenly
ealized that this too, was part Of the
,ecessary web Of misstatement in
which she was caught The color
\ leepened on her face into a conscious
lush. She dropped her eyes, then
1 .aisinR them TO his with a curious de-
lance, said;
sNo-that's a mistake. Pm-I'm-
,ore than that, I'm %. nearly 2e.'
Barron, who saw nothing in the