Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1907-05-03


ton on a chase for a hooking bird,
meath the brook-fall in quest OF the
harp of moss and watercresses that
sends bubbling cadence into its
eddies and swirls Perhaps it was the
southern accent that nibbled off the
corners and edges of certain words
and languidly let others mist them
selves together, that gave it its
luscious penetration - however that
may be, it was the most no-yesterday
no-tomorrow voice l had ever heard.
Before / grew fully conscious of the
exquisite beauty of the girl, this voice
of hers spelled its way into my brain
like the breath of some bewitching
oriental essence. Nature, environ
msnt, the security of a perfect mar
riage have ever combined to consti-
tute me loyal to my chosen one, yet
as | stood silent, like one dumb, abb
sorbing the details of the loneliness Of
this young stranger who had so sud
denly swept into my office, it came
over me that here was a woman in
tended to enlighten men who could not
understand that shaft which in all
ages has without warning pierced
mems hearts and souls-love at first
sight. Had there not been Katherine
Blair, wife and mother-Katherine
Blair Randolph, who filled my love-
world as the MONDAY August sun fills
the oldfashioned well with nesting
xayo full CHI of y &c
interval, looking back at the past,
dare ask the question-who knows
but that l too might have drifted from
the secure anchorage of my slow Yam
kee blood and fioated into the deep
waters?
Beauty, the cynic's scott, is in tho
eye of the beholder, or in an angle OF
vision-mere product of lime-light.
point of view, desire-but Beulah
Sands was beauty beyond cavil, su-
perior to all analysis, as definite as
the evening star against the twilight
sky. In height medium, girlish, but
with a figure maturely modelled,
charmingly full and rounded, yet by
very perfection of proportion escaping
suggestion of ''plumpness." The head,
surrounded and crowned with wealth
of dark golden hair, rested on neck
that would have seemed short had its
slender column sprung less graciously
from the lovely lines of the breast and
shoulders beneath. 1t was on the
face, however, and finally on the eyes
that ones glances inevitably fingered
the face rose-tinted, with dimples in
either of the full cheeks, entering
laughing protest against the sad droop
that brought slightly down the corners
of mouth too large perhaps for
beauty, If the coral curve of the lips
had been less exquisitely perfect. The
straight, thin-nostriled nose, the broad
forehead, the square, full jaw almost
as low at the points where they come
beneath the ears as at the chin, sug-
gested dignity and high resolve cou-
pied with power of purpose, rare in
woman. The combination of forehead,
jaw, and nose was seldom seen. Had
it been possessed by man it would
surely have driven him to the tented
field for his profession. But the great
est glory of Beulah Sands was her
eyes-large, full, very gray, very blue,
vivid with all the glamour of her per-
sonality, full of smiles and tears and
spirituality and passion; one instant,
frankly innocent, they Illuminated the
face of blonde Madonna; the next,
seen through the extraordinary, long,
jet-black eyelashes underneath the
finely penciled black brows, they ca
ressed, coquetted, allured. I afterward
found much of this girls purely physi-
cal fascination lay in this strange
blending of English fairness with An
dalusian tints, though the abiding
quality of her charm was surely in an
exaltation of spirit of which she might
make the dullest conscious. AS she
stood looking at Bob in my Office that
long-ago noon, gracefully at ease in a
suit of gray, with gray-feathered
turban on her head. and tiny lace
bands at neck and wrist, she was very
exquisite, exceedingly dainty, and,
though southerner of southerners, very
unlike the typical brunette girl who
comes out of Dixie land.
This girl who came into our office
that July Saturday, just in time to in
terfere with the outing Bob BROMLEY
and L had laid out, and who was
destined to divert my chum's hereto
fore smooth-flowing river of existence
and turn it into an alienation of roar
ing rushes and deadly Gains, was truly
the most exquisite creature one could
conceive of. l know my thought must
have been Bob's, too, for his eyes were
riyeted on her face. She dropped the
black lashes like veil as she went
on:
Mr.. BROMLEY, l have just come
from Sands Landing. I am very anx-
ious to talk with you on a business
matter. have brought letter to you
from my father. If you have other
engagements l can wait until Monday,