The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-07-29

hnancier like a combination lock. He
had never thought much of women be-
fore, and names had never been as
ISOLATED in his mind with people. only
with corporations. 1t now occurred TO
him as he lay there on his sofa alone,
looking out upon the interminable
blackness fringed with electric glare,
that Alice was the most beautiful name
in the world. For time was hanging
heavily on his hands, and IN that un
accustomed ennui sentiment took pos
session of a soul that had never har-
bored her before.
Her father is sick in the stateroom,
sir" repeated Buster, as he put his
patient to bed, land the young lady
has no friends and eats alone in the
dining ROOM
AT what table,"
The Durser's, sir
ASK the purser if 1 cannot be placed
next to her at breakfast tomorrow"
AS Peleg Potter dressed the next
morning, he felt life stirring within
him. How fatuous the existence, how
ignOble the struggle that he had left
behind. To spend ones best thought
in scheming how to ruin your friend
legally did not seem as admirable as
it had. AS the steamer sped on, the
street, the exchange, the ticket, and
all that these instruments of joy ana
woe represented, receded and thinned
These few days of seclusion from men,
from the excitement of internecine war
fare in which rumor was the disap
pearing gun, and a chance drought. the
smokeless rifle and the eVer-ready lie
the hammerless reVolVer-this respite
had brought Potter on speaking terms
with higher values. Solitude always
does that. And then that girl. so love
ly, so restful, so beautiful and self
contained, was unconsciously training
the gambler into an inexplicable (to
him) disgust for the bawling pit where,
as the toss turns, a plunger may be-
come a millionaire or a suicide when
the clock strikes g.
Now. for the first time, Potter I'M
derstood the charms of a newsless life
The thought of a morning paper or
of a stock quotation nauseated him.
Perhaps the ocean performs as many
miracles as owe or reiigion-Who
knows? At any rate, here were the
dregs of life beginning to be turned
into strong wine. and Peleg Potter was
assisting at the transsubstantiation
without a suspicion that he was al
ready changed man.
So when he started downstairs lit
tie after 8 that morning for the din
ing room he thrust out his chest, drank
the air deeply, so that his waxen cheeks
tinged with a healthy red, and blassed
his partner.
AS he entered the huge dining room,
followed by his mournful valet, he
heard a f1utter of paper that annoyed
him. Everyone seemed TO be reading.
No person noticed him as he ap-
preached his seat AS he slipped into
his chair he noticed that the lady Of
his hopes sat on his left, with an
empty seat beyond. Her calm face
was flushed, and bent almost motion
less over her plate. Before him lay
a gray sheet about the size of maya
zine. with four pages of printed mat
ter. The name arose as If upon
stills:
THE TRANSATLANTIC HERALD,
MORNING EDITION"
And on the upper part Of the first
column in large italics there appeared
the following announcement:
THE Victoria Regina is in constant
communication with land. Messages
can be sent to the United States or
England by the Marconi system at
any time of day or night. Important
news and quotations are Marconi-
New York and European offices"
Astounded, daZed, troubled, outraged
Peleg Potter pushed the sheet away
from him. God! Must the subtle poi
son of daily news inoculate his sys-
tenn again? He felt as If his very
manhood were on trial. If he sue
cumbed now to quotations he knew he
would be bound In tape for the rest
of his life. He was at the parting of
the ways. Indignant that in mid
ocean, of all places. where a man
should be most protected and least
disturbed, he should be pursued by
north, east, west, south-coined into
that fateful word, 'news'-he was
about 10 thrust the sheet under the
table, when the following headlines
leaped at him and shared him un-
awares: