Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-12-01
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class cay 1n d Nu4tN SON Il "ii'' " 'iN'' that to his manly indi>criminatlon look ed as gui,eeSs as a sheaf of pOppies nodding above the pale yellow haf that had the sheen of corn SILK lad been q vision that stirred i'll him he- roic promptings. He had no difficulty in securing an introduction. She was q connection of the Wetmofes, as was he. though through opposite sides of the house. In tie few minutes talk that followed he had the disconcertinS sensation of being talked down to. There was the indulgent tolerance of the woman of the world to the nice boy" about this amazing young wom- an. who might have been eighteen. Hamilton had repudiated the very sug- gestion of being mice boy But he felt himself blushing. groping for words. saying stupid things, supplying every requisite of the mice boy as if he were acting the part.
 Later, when he ran the gamut of some friends, they had chaffed him on his hardihood. By love, he had nerve to look at her! Didn't he know she was ''the' Miss Colebrooke? Now, Hamil- ton was absolutely ignorant of Miss Colebrooke's right of way to the defi- nite article, but it was characteristic of him to make no inquiries. On the whole. he found the situation meeting with a greater number of the artistic requirements than such situations usu- ally presented. He was still dallyiny with this pleasant vagueness of sensa- ton when he picked up copy of magazine, and the name Katherine Colebrooke caught his eye and held it like the flight of a comet. Her contri- button was a sonnet entitled "The Mir acle." As q naive emotional confession "The N1iracle' interested him. As a sonnet he rent it unmercifully.
 Peter was to learn, however. that this sonnet was but a solitary flake in poetic fall of more or less magnitude. He rather conspeuously avoided ref erence to her poetry when they met again To him it was the very least of her gifts. Her hair, that had the tender yellow of ripening corn, was worthy of a cycle of sonnets, but pray leave the making of them to some one else!
 When Hamilton knew her better he did not like to think that he had thought her eighteen at their first meet ing. It impugned his judgment as q man of the world. Young ladies of eighteen could not possibly be con i tributors of several years standing to the various magazines. An unusual situation was abhorrent to him. That he should marry an older woman, one. moreover, who had gained her public in field to which he had not gained admission, was doubly distasteful by reason of his deference to the conven- tional If she had flrted with him, his midsummer madness would have evaporated into thin air. but she kept him at arms length. ostensibly took him seriously, and the boy proposed
 Her rejection of him was q matter of such consuEmate skill that Hamilton did not realize the keenness of his disappointment till he was swinging westward over the prairies. She had confided to him that her work claimed her and that she must renounce those sweet responsibilities that made the happiness of other women.
 This had all happened seven years ago In the meantime he had adjusted his disappointment to the new life of the west. To say that he had fallen in love with the situation would be to misrepresent him, but the role of lone ly COW punchcr loyalty welded to the thought of his first love was not with out charm to Peter. How long his constancy would have survived the test of propinquity to woman of Jul dith Rodney's compelling personality. other things being equal, it would be difficult to hazard a guess. The com ing of Judith from the convent ill., creased the perspective into which Kitty was retreatng. With the vivi,; pliinswoman ill the foreground. the pale h,tired writer of verse dwindle@. s.!mDst to reniniscence. But the rev olence for the usual. that made up u.t underlying motive for so much of IIula- i.ton $ conduct, presented barrier, 1.ongsise of which his previous quan
 .iiy regarding Miss CO:ebrooke's se: oritT shgink to iH: en4icance. H. night marry woman oaer than hi9
 eff and swallow the grinaee of t
 ;it b. no conceivable system of ars,,:
 .:eat could he persuade himself ;..>l'iy into d family like that of tlt
 ,ineys-:he gtri herself. for all h.
 ir,iuty an,i rare wo'n.:niiness. q quar .r Indian; her father the synonym
 Jr ob,3QGy. her brother a cattle thief Naen Pete" went cast he had expect.
 ii U tilli Kitty worn by the pIrsEit f e!,thets, haunted by the phantom of cartet, resigne>. to the slings and ar-
 a>,s Of re-! Jrseful spinsteri!ood. Aa ".r.ous regret or, Ut feast. res: :gnatioi.
 =. erred ,.t.i remembrance. was t,.a :, .ent he anticipated at the hands 0, ,.,tv. But a:it& for S;inctu.lries b,!
 refuge wounded pride. He foun.
 tt,' lac pivot of An adoring coter:a L. lH2 ga2iao, t.oWag with the mi T! honey of i:ar verse and S:le lo1N ,4,r vaI-Drer if mss .hlo tbcp wbnn Inc