The Washington times., 1905-09-10

uncertain what. Only an inarticulatc
sound escaped them. Then she bent
forward in sudden fear that he had
noticed. ana touched his hand.
He caught her fingers. Sweetheart.
what a perfect listener YOU make, She
withdrew her hand softly, and he niedi-
tatively refilled his pipe. He had the
air of a man who has settled down TO
the telling of a yarn. Visions of night
excursions in the Canadian forests, OF
lying round a fire in the vast solitude
while men talked or listened in the
easy freedom that the dark engenders,
floated round him in lazy peace. You
are as good a comrade as a man. he
said at length. Then he strussS a match.
AuIia's faculties were numbed, but her
fear was still astir. The throbbing OF
her heart frightened her by its irreg-
u,ar1y: the tingling sensation crept
fl ON her fingers TO her wrists. At last
panic seized her and she sat up.
Maurice she said. II am so curious.
Please go op-straight on TO the point
STROBE pulled gently at his newly-lit
pipe. r'Of course" he said. Its the
story OF woman
IL of oourse:?'
Because woman, is the big Jump over ,
Thich so many of us get smashed up.
He laughed. No, dearest, Seriously, 1t
Wtfs.the blankest case of callousness on
a woman's part the hardest breaking
UP of a decent life that I've met with.
Il shan't tell the tale as the poor beg
gar told il me. There We're too many
baIts and stops. I'll tell II straight,
clean through. as you'll understand it
best.
lit seems that his coming TO this
shop in the first instances savored Of
romance. He made a wild story Of a
wiIrtey night. a robbery. and a pursuing
CT ovid from which he was saved by the
daughter OF the house-a girl of sixteen.
The, rescue itself possessed unusual ele-
rents The picture was so sharply i'm
pressed on the poor chaps brain tina:
il even reused me to some enthusiasm
az TIE time But the enthusiasm evapo-
rated very soon. A woman who shows
rp fine in a dramatic moment and can
he meanly selfish on second thoughts
| is hardis- rare. You know the type?"
There was a pause.
yes / know the type" Anna an
| swered. DULY. Her eyes were on the
| red circle of the pipe.
We'll they took him in-the girl and
/ her father. an eccentric old Russian Jew
and for a bit things. went all right.
Then tine inevitable came. The life was
lonely The rescued man was keenly
susceptible. The girl had uncommon
charm. The inevitable came. He fell
desperately. lastingly in love"
y {"
Anna put up her hand and touched
her forehead; little tendrils of hair
chung damply TO it; her skin was rigid
w cold. Go on" she said again.
THE whole thing was pitiful-pit!fui
to the last degree. The way he talked
of that girl, worshiped her. sort of built
halo round her, was heart-rending.
/ never saw such blind devotion to a
human being. She was like the sum-
He repeated that over and over again.
She was like the SUM- She could do
nothing that was wrong"
"Weii2' Anna moistened her lips.
We'll. the end was the common one;
you've guessed it of course. The girl
got a glimpse of life, and. after the way
of her kind. it dazzled her. One morn
ing when he came downstairs she was
gone: he found an open door Just for
z. Il a
he said to himself. as IL life had snapped
In two: there was nothing anywhere
but empty space. He rushed out into
the street: then he stopped. Poor brute!
L can see him stop. He remembered the
father-the solitary old Russian who
had lost home and health and wife in
| the Jewish prosecutions and who was
lliving in a sort of patched-up after
peace among his books. can see him
stop. as the thought came TO him; twas
his portion to break the news TO the
father.
Strobe stopped and Anna sat quite
still.
He stopped, as I tell you; then he
turned and walked back into the shop
! The man admits to being a physical
coward-yet he turned and walked back
into the shop. / wouldn't have been In
his place for a thousand pounds" He
stopped again.
Anna clasped her hands. With the ag-
onies Of birth, the old life, the old OBJ
legations were goading themselves into
being; her breath caught In her throat
the silent oppression of the night hung
upon her, held her. pressed her down.
Some men sort OF live in dream, "
STROBE SAID. ms Olu fNuSsidn H1C Detfl
living in n dream. He escaped the perse-
cutions with his reason-just grazed the
narrow line that turns the brain. But
on that morning" His pipe had died
low again; he paused 10 pull it TO a
glow. ION that morning
A wave of expectancy, sick and dead
ly. shook Anna: her ringers dropped
nervelessly apart.
On that morning the extra line was
drawn. 1t seems that behind an indiT.
ferent exterior this one child was the
light of his eyes. 1t took a long time Il
make him understand: when he did un
, | derstand-
/ His brain gave way" With sweep
ing certainty the words left Annals lips
but so low. SO horror-stricken. that theil
, information was almost lost.
Exactly. The shock turned his brain
, He's quite harmless, I believe-quit'
like a child; but he'll never see hi,
T shop again. and he has forgotten how
10 read He sits all day talking to hi
, wife and child Strobe paused again
, and the silence hung palpably on tn,
air.
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