Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1906-10-17
While They
Waited A.
By Virginia Leila Wentz
Copyright, 1908, by @. II. Sutclifre
By Virginia Leila Wentz

He jumped out of the little countr
9 rig, leaving it in the hands of freckl
: faced boy, and rushed up to the tlckt
office just as his train was pulling OF
} from the station.
, "PshawW he exclaimed irascibly, an
J then to the sleepy looking, contente
ticket agent, when does the mex
train leave for New York;"
1.-Two hours" replied that indlvidua
laconically.
Maverick Oliver wasn't man to or,
over spilled milk. He sat hlmsel
philosophically down In a shady recess
Of the waiting room and extracted 1
notebook. He would look over some
memoranda he had Jotted down for hi
solicited article for the Review ant
then take a stroll along the country
hedges. There seemed to be a rather
attractive bit of woodland just beyond
"How long must l wait for connec
tons for Rosecliff"
Something In the woman's voice, haif
contralto, half alto, made the man with
the notebook suddenly start. He'd
been so engrossedly coming his mem
oranda that he had scarcely noticed
the incoming train, with all its attend
ant hustle. Now, however, single
woman's voice made him start and
caused the Review article to be as far
from his thoughts as the military ar
fairs Of nations B. @.
The woman's back was turned to-
ward Oliver, but he knew it was Flea
nor. Who else In all the world had
that queenly carriage, that soft slope
of shoulder, that bewitching mass of
coiled chestnut hair?
"For RosecllffT came the ticket
agents mOnotonous voice as he caress-
ed his wrinkled forehead with the
back Of his hand. "a half hour,
ma'am. Trains sixteen minutes late"
The woman turned impatiently away
from the window.
1t was then they came face to face.
Your cried Oliver, springing up.
She stood there in the barren waiting
room, filling its emptiness with the
richness of her charm. To the mans
hungry eyes she was food Of the most
satisfying as well as Of the most dell
cate sort
She did not hold out her hand. Never
theless she encountered him not In her
old imperious fashion, but with smile
including him in some mood too large
to be wholly personal.
How you have changed, Eleanor
he cried involuntarily.
"Are you, too, waiting for a train7"
she answered softly in return. "In
which direction do you goT'
"South-to New York." said Oliver.
"And your
ITO Rosecliffe, fourteen miles east"
Oliver took her umbrella and tiny
suit case from her, and then they
walked slowly up and down the plat
form together, man and woman, in |
stead Of husband and wife, held apart |
by some strange fat they had both &C
cepted.
In the fields, all around, the butter |
cups were golden and the wild carrot |
was in white, lacelIke flower. Over
IN the woods beyond some song birds,
waking from their summer slesta, were
beginning to MARBLE. A group of trav-
cling men was lounging on the railing
1T the far end of the platform, ex-
coplously to punctuate the
points in their stories.
Oliver busted the platform steps at
he other end Of the walk with his
and the woman sat Sc
enely down. her delicate profile out
lned against the clear blue of the sky
Ike some exquisite cameo. She had
lways been beautiful, though. Il
wasn't that which made the man eX-
lain again irrepressibly:
you've changed so, Eleanorr' 1t was
rue. 1t was no mere fancy of his
writer's eye that dlscov-
red new meanings in the face before
i'm. 1t had undergone a vague but
cry gracious transformation.
"Changed?' repeated she, with a
uriOus tenderness. 1--WE tried to
do you understand?
ince last winter. when we agreed to ,
eparate, I've been trying-so hard,
Iaverick-to take control of my own
united nature, turn 1t where 1t
vists"-
Dear" broke in Oliver, with q bit
r humility, I'VE were both to blame
9TH, do you hear? And I'm afraid
ou've been cleverer than II you've
things where they failed to
the pattern. I've not changed much,
N afraid"
Under her black lashes the woman
niled at him with q reverence he ]
light have translated chad he been c
gh plumeD as some loyal acquies- /
nee In his former state. What Oil '
n felt now, however, was curiosity in P
s young wife, not in himself. So {
'"Tell me-" he burst forth, what has t
anged you SOP
She rolled up her absurd little hand o
,rchlef into a string and, throwing it {
er her knee, pulled it unconsciously V
: both ends, gazing steadfastly into e
e blue distance above divers head. V
II don't know whether 1 ought to I
Il you" she began. 81
Oliver recalled that delicious little "
bit she used to have of tempting the a
ties shyly. of hesitating when she n
cant to be right down outrageous. W
'Of course you ought" he urged. W
'ou always do in the end, you know, CO
d 1t will save time" Under her
ayfulness be had allowed himself to
ow light hearted. p.
We'll, them she began. but her y ;,
Ice trailed off vaguely. Her c;'eo'' =
ok on a pinker bloom; she fcrev. =,
and finished her - :,
Ith mature dignity that became her a,
.e the armor of her sex 9,
0Y1r liffIo how Movoriol -o,,r IiffLo