The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-12-02


new cement sidewalks from a .
little below the Square TO Upper
Main street. where NAPLES lined the
thoroughfare and the mansions OF the
a1iuent stood among pleasant lawns
and strawberries. IL was late, for this
had been a communion Sunday. and
those far in adva nee. vino had already
reached the pretty and shady part of
the street. we're members of the
churches where the services had been
shortest though few in the long pa
rade looked as if they had been at
tending anything very short, and many
heads % families were crisp IN their
replies q the theological inquiries OF
their offspring. The men impaired
largely a gloom to the itinerant con-
course, most OF them wearing hot, long
black coats and having wiited their
collars, the ladies relieving this gloom
somewhat by the lighter tInts of their
garments; the spick-and- span little
girls Relieving IL greatly by their
white dresses and their faces, the latter
bright with the hope OF Sunday ice
cream; while the boys, experiencing
some soiace in that they we're finally
out where person could scratch HIM
selt II be he'd 10. yet oppressed by the
decorous necessities Of the day, march
ed along, furtively planning, behind
imperturbably secretive countenances.
various means for the later dispersal OF
an odious nonotony
Usually the conversation OF this long
string Of the homeward- bound was nor
too frivolous or worldly; nay, 1t prop
erly inclined to discussion of the ser
mon; that Is, praise OF the sermon, with
here ana there a mild "I-dtdnJ- like
his-sayfng or so; and fits lighter as
poets were apt to concern the next
social" or various pleasure BILE
schemes for the raising OF funds TO
help the heather, the quite worthy
poor or the church.
This was the serious and seenlly pa
rsde, the propriety OF whose behavior
was today almost disintegrated when
the lady OF the bridge walked up the
street in the shadow If 9 lacy, lavender.
parasoi carried by Joseph Louden The
congregation OF the church across the
square, that to which Joe's stepaunt
had. been late, was Just debouchinr. AL
most IN naasE, upon Main street, when
these two went by. 1t is not quite the
truth 20 say that ell except the children.
came 10 dead halt, but il is not very
FOR from II. The air was thick with
s2ooued e&clsnations and vhisperines
here is no mystery. Joe was proba-
Dly the only person OF respectable
derivation In Canaan who had not
known for weeks that Ariel Tabor was
on her way home. And the news that
she had arrived the night before had
been widely disseminated on tho way
20 church, entering church, In church
teven SOD. and coming from church.
An account Of her house In the Ave-
niue Henri Martin. and OF her portrait
IN the salons mysterious business
TO many, and not lacking in grand
eur for that.--had occupied two
columns in the Tocsin on a day some
months before, when joe had found
himself inimicsliy headlined on the
he
without reading further. Ariers name
had been in the mouth OF Canaan for
q long time: unfortunately for Joe.
however. not in the mouth Of that Ca
naan which held converse with him
Joe had not known her. The women
recognized her infaiiibiy at first glance,
even those who had quite forgotten her.
And the women told their men. Hence
the un-Sunday-Nke deucanor OF the
procession. for few toms hold II more
unseefniy 70 stand and stare at passers-
BY, especially on the Ssbbatll--but Ariel
Tabor returned-snd walking with
with Joe Lopden,
low but increasing murmur fol-
lowed the two rs they proceeded. II ran
Up the street ahead OF them; people
turned TO look back and paused SO that
they had TO walk around one or two
groups. They had also to walk round
Norbert F'litcroft, which was very Ike
walking round q group. ne was one
OF the few Che was waddline home
alone) who did not identify Miss Tabor.
and her effect upon him was extraor-
binary. His mouth opened and he gazed
stodgily, his widening eyes like sun
dogs coming out OF fog. He did not
recognize her escort; did not sec him at
all until they had passed, after which
Mr.. tlitcroft experienced d few mo-
nents OF trance. came out OF It stricken
-. H-NN
his tie. resoiutely feli in behind the
heeling nlongrel and followed, at q dis
lance of some forty PAGES. determined
10 learn what household this heavenly
visitor honored and thrilling with the
intention 20 please that same household
with his own presence as soon and IS
often as possible.
Ariel flushed little when she per-
ceived the extent Of their conspicuous
ness, but it was not the blush that Joe
remembered had Redeemed the tanned
skin Of old, for her BROWNIES had gone
long ago. though il had not left her
merely pink and white. This was a DEL
icate rosiness rising from her cheeks
20 her temples as the earliest dawn
rises. If there had been many words
left in Joe he would have called 1t
divine blush. II fascinated him, and
II anything could have deepened the
glamour about her il would have been
THIS OlDSh. lie did not understand IL,
but when he saw 1t he stumbled.
Those who gaped and stared were
for him only biurs in the background
Truly he saw men as trees walking"
and when it became necessary TO step
out 20 the curb in passing some clunp
of people IL was to him as IL Ariel and
he, enchantedly alone, were working
their way through underbrush in the
woods
He kept trying to realize that this
lady wonder was Ariel Tabor but he
could not; he could not connect the
shabby Ariel. whom he had treated as
one boy treats another, with this young
woman OF the world. He had always
been embarrassed himself and ashamed
OF her when anything she aid made him
remember that. after ALL she was e
girl; as, on the day he ran away, when
she kissed a lock or his hair escaping
from the bandage. With that recol-
lection even his ears grew red: 1t did
not seem probable that il would over
happen again. The next instant he
heard himself calling her Miss Tabor"
At this she seemed amused. You
ought TO have called me that years