The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29

cause they had nothing to say, the one 1 or the other
 l Curiously enough it was Vida's eyes which rested on those of Phil, and those 1 Of the young man that fled her regard.
 About the girls lips appeared and van ished alternately a faint smile, which seemed to radiate from the ghost of l dimple. Apparently, here in the gar l den of the Nunsbys, Vida had forgotten l her cares and was thinking pleasant l thoughts.
 l Phil" she said presently, speaking
 in low voice to the youth, who col l ored and started at the mere sound of her voice, you are in lovei You must
 be in love! Do you know that you
 have been neglecting me-me-th ese l last weeks Come. out with it. I am | dying to be told. I shan't say anything
 to Rose unless you give me permission! | Therew ! q neglect your Phil still dared not l to look at her. Instead he examined l the finely combed locks of cirrus clouds
 up in the zenith as if his excuse was 1 somehow to be found there. | Yes indeed" said Vida, and shame lessly. I thought you were a friend of | mine-you used to be, at least. We | liked the same sort of coffee for years l You taught me how to spin top, after l fighting Ali Fowler because he wanted
 to teach me also--you have forgotten all-all that?"
 The least echo of sigh escaped Vida.
 You come to the Cottage. it is true l but never till Dick is at home, and
 then you talk till midnight about the
 things In the mine. I believe 1t is Mir Morris who has spoilt me-my Phil. 1 owe him grudge for that" | ofo I,A lad fd. Phil Calmont's face. He half rose to l his feet, and then sank back again into l the green shelter. A stronger instinct 1 of loyalty had grasped him. He would
 not be disloya1 to his chief. He went
 to the cottage as Vic's representative,
 and. as Vida truly said, he had indeed l confined himself to such directions as | Vic had told him to give to old Dick 1 that he might spread them abroad l among the men.
 l He knew that Vic, in the interest of 1 the safety of all those working in the
 mines, was moving for a governmental ] inquiry into the state and safety of the
 Incubus properties.
 Of this. however, no whisper must
 reach the owners or managers. He
 alone was in the secret, and it was this
 sense of being trusted by a great man for he held the young engineer to 1 be-which paralyzed his tongue. With swift divination Vida caught
 the reason of his silence. But, I suppose, you are like the l rest. You only speak when MT. Morris l gives you permission and instructs you | what to say. You are not bit our 1 old Phil at all the boy who used to l stay behind after all the Healthy Fam 1 fly had taken wing, Just to- eat tea | cakes and currant-buns with two girls. l You had better go over to the Valley Manse and ask your master if 1t Is right for you to be here at all in broad /, daylight, and unprotected" MT Norris" Phil answered stffly,
 has nothing to do with my actions
 after hours of work are over."
 "So!" said Vida, mockingly, "my compliments!"
 Something like a flash of summer lightning glimmered in the eyes of Phil Calmont-just glttered like drawn | sword and was gone. Vida, quick to 1 notice differences of mood, felt the ! masculine harshness overpower the ] sympa thetic and feminine element in i Phil. She could not say that she liked | him less with tn at danger signal in ,his | eyes, Even the possibilities of it were l interesting. But at any rate he put 1 her on her guard. She was at aims | to lead the conversation speedily back l into its old safe channel. MT. Norris" she said, with quite 1 false submissiveness, at once noted by Phil, lis truly remarkable man-l felt as much from the first!" Somehow this made Phil indignant l all the more so that he quite realized l the hopelessness of his own love for 1 the girl beside him. He was glad to find her untouched by Vic Morrls's strenuous manfulness. Yet somehow
 he felt indignant, too. He resented 1t as a slight on his chief, as loyal ser l want feels a slur on the good name oi 1 his firm
 "Ludovic Morris is indeed great man." said Phil. with emphasis, great CT and better than you or me-or any of usr'
 Vida laughed little moclSing laugh. q daresay he finds us a little tedious
 sometimes"
 Instantly. by his feminine insight,
 Phil understood her inuendo, and with an equally feminine paraleipsis he an
 swered, He Is not tedious. It is only
 we who cannot understand him-rise to
 his level"
 Vida breathed long, unmistakable
 sigh
 q am glad to hear you say, we, | she cried; "it sounds just like old l times! Before the days of 1ogarithms, | mean when you still wrote sonnets. l | have quite a plle ol tHcu' uo SOu
 know? I wonder what they will fetch when you are the greatest engineer | on earth decorated and peeraged, no
 doubt and I an old woman doddering 1 on a stick from garret to cellar. l 1 daresay you will give me something handsome for them then-at least | enough to keep the wolf from the door, l and assure my pussy his daily skewer- | ful from the cats-meat man." | Now at this very time Phil had other sonnets in his pocket. He could feel the paper cracking (they were all Writ | ten on thick Venetian hand d-'nade paper. tinted with the local sunsets) but he dared not produce them in the face Of
 the raillery with which they would have been greeted.
 That Is. I believe. what they call | blackmail,'" she went on. T have read about 1t in the papers. The only cure
 Is for you to become too rich or too celebrated"
 What in the world are you two
 quarreling about? called out little Miss Nunsby coming across the lawn, why, you are frightening the cows in the
 doctors field and in the hedge above black bird is scolding his mate out of sheer sympa thy. You ought even in your evil tempers, to consider the happiness of the lower animals-poor dumb things"
 "They are not dumb. that is just l the trouble" said Vida; "it is Phil who 1 has become dumb. l was only pointing l out the evil influence of MT Morris over bi,,, Why in tha old days. he used