Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-01

SATURDAY, SEPTEMF
on her hat she went out to meet him.
She saw at once, before she could clear
ly see his face, but by certain age and
| ing, but here. too. it seemed to her that
she could help him better by cheerful-
ness, however vapid. than by sympathy.
| Dear old boy" she called to him before
idea that 1t is ha1f-past eight, and I've
got such sinking inside, Thurso, that
don't suppose there was ever such a sink
I ing known. vote we don't dress. SO we
can dine at once. I'm sure dinner is ready
| because I distinctly smelled soup and
something like roast and baked apples all
| dows I nearly burst into tears because I
wanted them all so much. And how has
the day gone?'
He stopped. David's first strain had not
ooh, Maud. 1t Is too awful" he said.
"Ten fresh cases today. don't know
what to do. And when my head is like
this I am perfectly useless. I caia,t think;
can't face things" Maud took his arm.
You poor old thing" she said. Has it
been bad all day."
mo, 1t was all right in the morning, but
1t came on again worse than ever after
lunch. Well, not exactly after lunch. be-
cause I didn't have any. but after lunch
| time
Maud gave a little exclamation OF impa-
| tience.
You know perfectly we'll that II you 60
without food too long you always get one
I of these headaches. And it's no use your
saying there wasn't any time for you to
have lunch because lunch takes ten min
utes, whereas a headache takes hours 1t
Is foolish of you, because you suffer, and
| it's wicked of you, dear, because it makes
you of absolutely no use in the world"
He smiled at her; the infection Of her
energy gave a little life to him.
well, forgot about lunch till the pain
| came on he said. land after that i
couldn't eat"
IF that is meant to mean that you are
not going to have any dinner ether" she
said, you make a mistake You are go
ing to have soup and meat and roast APP
pies. And II you attempt to deny 1t,
| shall instantly add toasted cheese"
Thurso was silent a moment.
"Ah, these poor, wretched people" he
began. But Maud stopped him, still with
art.
'Tm not going to hear one word about
them till you have finished dinner" she
said. "Afterward, because you will be
better then, we will talk. Don't you re-
! member how, II one wasn't quite WE'LL
| nurse always said one would be better af-
ter dinner? And one always was. 1 won
gestion from higher power that did 1t. !"
Dinner said he promptly. "Oh. d-n
my head!' he added in a sudden burst OF
tired irritability and pain.
Eyes, with pleasure, II that will help.
| But 1 wonder If 1t was entirely dinner.
You know there is something in suggestion.
| though l prefer experimenting suggestion
/ with something practical as well. Who are
those people who are always quite well be-
! cause they believe they are?'
II should think they are FOOLS he re-
marked. by the way
"Well?"
Maud withdrew her arm from his with
dignity.
'That Is extremely ill-bred," she said
Mind, I don't want to know what you
| were going to say, but having begun you
| ought, with decent manners, to go on
Thurso laughed.
You do want to know" he said.
well. yes, do. Please tell me-"
II shan't. Maud, 1 think I had better
| change. as 1 have been in and out Of those
| houses all day. But you needn't"
Maud was slightly ruff1ed.
THAT is kind of you," she said.
Thurso went upstairs accordingly, while
| Maud waited for him below. There was
| indeed no mystery or reason for secrecy
| in that which he had stopped himself tell
| ing her; merely he was not quite sure
| whether he wanted to do that which he
| had been on the point of proposing, which
| in itself was of an absolutely simple and
unexciting nature. The bare dull facts
| indeed were these: He had let the salmon
fishing of the river here until the end Of
| July to American, whose name this
moment he could not remember, and this
afternoon as he came out of one Of the
cottages he had passed one of his own
gilhes walking with a young man. OF
clearly transatlantic origin, who he felt sure
must be the American In question. The
remark then that he had not made to Maud
| was that 1t might be neighborly to invite
| him to dinner. But as he made his hurried
| toilet, so as not to keep his sister waiting,
| he found himself debating the pros and
| coins of this with perfectly unwarrantable
| earnestness, as II the decision, this way or
| that, was one that could conceivably be OF
| importance. On the one side the reasons
against asking him were that the hospital
| ity that he could offer was of the very
toughest and most plain-cook kind, and
| better dinner at the Inn where he was
| staying; also he had feeling that II he
| himself had come up to Scotland to fish
| he would much rather not be asked out to
dinner by his landlord, since such hospital
! ity II accepted would mean a curtailment
| Of the cream of the evening rise. So, per-
| haps. the truer hospitality would be not to
| burden his tenant with the necessity to
| Walter Cochran flashed into his mind In
any case. he concluded, 1t would be kinder
not to ask Mr.. Walter Cochran to come
| three miles in order to eat Scotch broth
| with tired landlord.
I But, on the other hand, he felt a per-
| fectly unaccountable desire to see him. He
had just met and passed him in the village
street, after coming out from one of those
cottages where a strong young stalker of
his was lying, it was feared, at the point
| of death. He himself, too, was racked with
| this hideous unnerving pain, and at the
moment he was feeling utterly dispirited
and beaten and hopeless. Their eyes-his
and Mr.. Cochran's-had met for moment,
and just for that moment, by chance no
doubt. or perhaps by that subtle intuition
which some people possess, Thurso had felt
suddenly soothed and quieted. There was
nothing particularly remarkable about the
other. He was rather TALL young, clean
shaver, with pleasant boyish face, which
had something Of the prairie and the open
sir about it. Yet at that moment Thurso
| had felt almost irresistibly inclined to
speak to him and thank him, to tell him
how his head ached and how miserable and
dispirited he felt, to tell him also that he
had made him feel better for the moment.
That impulse had been quite ridiculously
| strong, but in another second they had
passed each other going their respective
II -