Amador ledger., 1905-02-03
ADAM
By KEITH GORDON
"
Copyright. 1904. BY Frances Wilson.
By KEITH GORDON

The girl in the hammock laid her
book face downward beside her,
faint, skeptical smile visible about her
mouth.
'How do you go about it2" was the
question that her eyes asked of the ra-
diant landscape. ITS all very well to
say that a woman, if she have not
hump upon her back, may marry whom
she will, but how would she go about
itf"
The scratching of match broke the
summer stiffness, and her meditations
were suddenly precipitated from the
general to the concrete. She glanced
where a mans form bulked In one of
the huge wicker chairs. With his hand
forming screen he was lighting a
fresh cigar, seemingly oblivious to ev-
erything In life except that and the
Engineering Journal, which lay in his
lap.
He was her brothers best friend,
1IIu 5rrc nuu KnOwH u111 TOT years, nut
with much satisfaction, it must be con-
fessed, since he was notoriously
mans man," living in a mans world
and regarding the rustic of feminine
skirts with something of the same feel
ing that he did the humming of a mos
quito.
But he was good to look upon-so
good that sudden, quick resentment
shot through her heart at his indiffer-
ence. 1t assumed the likeness of a per-
sonal affront, a sort of insult to her
SEX 1t would serve him right if some
girl would just make up her mind to
marry him and do it, too, before he
knew what he was about
Meanwhile he had tossed away the
match and picked up the Journal again
as imperturbably as If he were alone,
a pair of half indignant eyes watching
MIN with a combination of pique and
amusement
1t certainly would serve him right.
her thoughts ran on, If some lady
would just wind him round and round
her finger, make him fetch and carry
at her beck and call, reduce him to a
perfect mush of sentiment. Something
In her steady gaze caused him to move
uneasily, then lock up.
did you speakT'
He had the perfunctory manner of a
person who knows he must keep guard
over himself or he will be guilty of
some remiSSness. A heroic resolution
to do his duty was visible in his face.
mo-" she drawled, 81 didn't speak.
But If you don't mind very much 1
think 1 will. I'd like to ask you, for
instance, If you have ever had a la
dies dayT'
"a ladies' day?" he repeated help
lessly, shaking off his eyeglasses with
a characteristic movement, while his
tormentor watched him as If he had
been some sort Of a specimen that she
had tmpaled upon pin. Then a light
dawned upon him.
you mean such as they have at the
clubs-a day when the place is given
up to your sex and other matters go
to the wall? Well, no. 1 don't know
that ever have had"
Don't you think 1t is timer" she
ventured
Possibly" he admitted, but he still
held the Journal in a way that sug-
gested well nigh unconquerable de-
sire to return to it. She stretched out
her hand. Reluctantly he handed it
over
Did 1t ever occur to you," she asked
"that the creature who tempt
ed Adam so successfully, who is at
the bottom of everything, as it were,
must be as-as intricate as your old
engineering problemsP'
81 have always considered Adam
weak-very weak" was his evasive an
swer. Men aren't like that nova
days"
At these boastful words resolution
that had been taking form IN her mind
became full fedged. She was inspired
with the sense Of a mission. Her
neglected sex should find an avenger
in her.
''You think you wouldn't have eaten
of the apple, thenf"
There was new note in her voice.
1t was at the same time a challenge
and an appeal
AS If it were something absolutely
new it came to his mind that girls were
delicate, helpless creatures, and a wave
Of tenderness for the sex swept over
him. Still he was very positive that he
wouldn't have eaten the apple, and
something in the soft, babyish, yet de-
pendent way in which she looked at
him caused him to explain at great
length why.
HAS talked fifteen minutes by the
clock" she was thinking in high glee,
but outwardly she was all deferential,
honey sweet attention.
''Im sure he wouldn't have yielded
If he'd been like your was her earnest
comment when he finished speaking,
and at the words he was conscious of
d, pleasant expansiveness, caressing
sense of satisfaction as delightful as it
was unusual. 1t was as if he were
growing taller, broader and more Sc
yerely strong before her very eyes
go back to your reading. Pm not
going to bother you another minute"
She jumped up and, laying her hand Oh
his arm, finished ingenuously: You
don't mind my bothering you, do you?
a. girl gets SO tired of woman talk! A
chat like this is like plunge in cold
Stream" And she vanished into the
house and scurr1ed to her room, where
She threw a kiss to her image in the
mirror, with the remark, You're doing
Tvfs1t for otheoinnar NV Iovap