Evening journal., 1907-03-11

cemen the showy, outside life of theatre restaurant
hotel the champagne atmosphere of the modern cara
vansary 1t was IN public restaurant that he had hrst
met her five years agoa dinner at Sherrys where he
had FIRST listened TO those mutinous red lips, FIRST been
dazzled by the coppcry CLINT of her hair first looked
into those wide gray eyes, and answered their appeal
for fattcry She little than child in years
he had realized that at the timc-just tall. slim
thing with a face that robbed him of his sleep He
could smile grmly, remembering how he had
fought against the pquant spell of her prccociy her
nasccnt grace of womanhood Il was not normal, he
had told himself, for young girl in the butterfly days
of life TO care seriously for shy reserved man like
himself already verging upon forty and settling down
to staid bachelor habits But Noras family had smiled
approval upon the junior member OF the established
house of Marvin Mellish and cevcrly maneuvred to
make his oourtship easy He had not been blind to
their diplomacy He had simply allowed himself to
be cajocd dcludcd hypnotzed into the belief that,
through some modern miracle some special dispcnsa-
ton, Nora really loved him Even now, after five
years, there fecting hours, halcyon days, when
such belief ceased 20 absurd Yet almost from
the first, the discrepancy in had ranked in him,
which he was slow TO guess the meaning Then one
day he realized, with of self-contcmpt that he
eaous-he, Mellish in his sober middle age ieal-
ous of caow youths, with the bloom of undergraduate
concet fresh upon them, the argon of football in their
speech jealous OF every compliment murmured in her
ear jealous of every strangers aiterng glance That
the burden that he carried secretly the incubus
of am underlined unjustifcd jealousy At times more
dehnte' images. ugly thoughts with ugly names. had
threatened to crystalline But he had never quite put
them into words, beneath his breath never mar
rowcd down his fears 10 specific accusation. Above
all, he had sought 10 hide his burden from Nora her
self one hides a physical deformity
Before the solid unpretentious building the cor
ner landmark of fashion and conviviality 20 an earlier
generation NciHsh nauscd uncariauly pecring blind
ishy with sighted eyes, wondering whether some
where behind that broad cxpanse of spoess window
Nora still there; wondering, indeed If she had
been there al ALL
The warm. bright summer afternoon was passing,
and still Mciish fingered staring Intellectually az the
doorway through which he had already ceased to eX-
pect heg 20 appear Suddenly q beyy OF women came
their faces irom The street Mrs. taver-
sham miah be there or she might not: but the lizard
green moire was unms;alahle, even his poor eyes
showed chat lie made reckless plunge IN front OF
delivery wagon and narrowly stunned an automobile
because his thoughts like his gaze, were fastened on
uat group on women across ihe way nam hugeh oe
bind hanson cab Nora had told the truth after all
he thought with gladness that was almost PAIN But
as Che automobile moved out OF his PATH he saw her
10 his amazemert. step into The waiting hausom A
sprang in after her. slender man, of medium
height whose face he could no see The other women
had dispersed melted vanished IN thin ar- scarcely
mattcred where. they not after an, Mrs Faycr-
shams luncheon party Tie arrived beside the cab;
soft waicry simmer of the green MORE; one more
step and he could have reached out his hand and
touched har arm ne driver sH1ng n3 lons hsNloe pig.
LASH hat snapped lke 'piieiul cracker within an
inch OF MclIish ear The horse. n yellow roam, with
gaunt unganly legs started ncrvously sorambng tor
foothold the slippery asphalt then lurched sud-
denly forward and swept the woman and her COM
panion from his astounded gaze around he corner and
down Fifth Avenue.
partially before him. Mr. Meish would have held that
man who tried TO follow on foot a rapidly retreating
hanson cab through the crowded maze of New lork
streets, during the busy rush of Saturday afternoon
was in serious condition, bordering upon lunacy In
the present crisis he did not pause 20 consider but
simply gathered himself together and sprnted nimby
down the avcnue forgetting for once to be scltcon-
scious his long thin legs flashing like the long thin
spokes of rapidly turning wheel his glasses threaten
ing to slip from the bridge If his long thin nose; his
nearsightcd ewes straning helpessy after the yellow
ROAM that fitted like thing Of evil in and out through
the endless Of landaus, motor cars, omnbuse'
and business wagons At Tweuty-hfth Street The
mounted police stationed there TO regulate traffic
waved the south-bound stream Of vehicles westward
towards Broadway through the tag end of City block
that forms the base of the Worth Monument triangle
AS they swung in single file first right then left again
electric for moment blocked the procession
Mellishs first lucid thought 70 spring into ont
of the many vacant hansows that waited along th
time threatened seriously 10 cludc him. lc waved @
one spasmodically with his long arm. Then as
promptly responded, he waved it awav again. TT
realized suddenly that he could not bring himself &
take stranger, even an unknown cab driver IA
into his confidence 20 bid him follow that othC
hanson. No. he could not cxnosc his jealousy 20
cab driver already he pictured the ronica curiost
( in The fellows ewes Instead, he swung himself
Broadway open car that for blocks shot souli
s. ~ uDon the fuUitivcs when az Iwcntv-third Street
suddenly lost sight Of them altogether He fro
the seat he had just taken in bewildcrment of he'll
e less indecision. But the had started once mo-
before he could decide to get of and the minu
* TN