The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-11-01
BY WILL IRWIN.

room all through the visit and did most
of the talking. He learned in time that
solitude begets the habit of solitude;
that by kind of perverse etiquette
these exiles never troubled one another
except in time of necessity.
1t was, perhaps, January. and the
season had settled down over Fire
Island, when the hardest pain of soli-
tude came upon Woodford 1t began
as a longing which made him quiet and
moody, drove the law out of his head
as fast as he learned II. sent him on
long walks in which he bucked the At
lantic winds until the breath was out
of his lungs Hatred of the solitude
became an insanity. Burke used to
watch him sometimes of nights.
You're a-thinking too much said
Burke. One night he added:
ITS the girl idea you've got in your
head. I've had it, Just to stand on
Broadway or maybe even in Jamaica
or Babylon, and see women passing,
and think about somebody to take care
of you and tides on the backs of the
chairs and the helping hand when
you're sick. You amt twenty-four yet;
you're young for this kind of thing"
When he had chewed upon this and
convinced himself that Burke was
right. Woodford had done a sweetly
foolish thing. Although he was a
pleasing youth, with a fine clean face
code of honor square and true, if I'M
developed. and gentle manners, there
had never been any girl really in his
life He resolved to make a girl. to
create her out of thin air-his girl. Step
by step he built her up. She was tall
and dark. She had all a mans vir-
tues with all a woman's eomeliness and
sweetness. She liked all the things he
liked-books and sailing and out-of-
doors He decided to call her Helen,
because he liked that name. So every
night, and especially on the nights
when the longing was strong upon him.
he wrote to Helen. His fancies. born
of the bright winter air: how the as
pect OF the Atlantic changed day by
day; the ways and doings of Burke;
his own longings and aspirations and
hOpes-all these he set down for her
Now. winter and solitude We're before
him again. II would be his last winter
on Fire island-he consoled himself
with that. Would Helen tide him
through he wondered He looked up at
the compartment where he kept the
letters. She was growing a little dim
He could not seem to imagine her so
plainly as in the early DAYS of their
fairy intimacy. He dropped the law
book, however drew q packet of paper
toward him. and began:
Dear Helen"
Presently he looked I'D from his writ
ing and sat. pen in mouth. sensible that
there was something wrong in the reg
ular. rocking vibration of the tower
ut is as though some one were shak-
ing the door downstairs. he said aloud.
and his own voice came out of the soli-
tude with a ghostly queerness. ''Am
/ getting the bug again"
1t was a foolish idea. but ii stuck: so
that. shaking a shoulder inpatiently at
his own folly, he took his lantern,
slipped through the manhole. and plod-
ded down the spiral staircase that
wound perilously through the closed
tower.
AS he unbolted its single door he was
vaguely ashamed TO think that his
quite angry with himself, he threw II
violently open.
The lantern went out with the rush of
a mighty wind. As though blown be-
fore the gale. in tumbled dark body
that struck him full in the chest stag
gered him. and itself slipped and fell at
his feet. With the establishment he
was stin a moment. there in the dark
ness. He waited for the sound of a
gathering his nerve he forced the door
shut against the wind and lighted a
match.
The figure lay where it had fallen.
Just a bundle of wet rags. Before the
match had burned TO his fingers. he
made il out to be-a woman He lit
the lantern held il above her
Wonder held him only a moment. He
tore at the stiff furs. Her heart was
beating His first thought was to get
her to light and warmth. The fire in
his cabin was out, but he had fire
/ in the room above. He gathered her. a
dead weight. and up the shaking stair
/ he toiled. Twice the failure of his
/ breath made him stop and rest. He
| had left his lantern. but at the second
stop he felt her flutter She hung
closer to him. seemed to tighten in his
arms with returning life Collecting
the last strength in his body he pushed
omen the trap door of the manhole with
\ his head. reeled into his tower room
and dropped her on the sofa
AS he stood off regaining his brea III
and getting the feeling back in his
| arms he saw her eyelids open. She half
turned. put one hand to her face with a
pretty, feminine gesture. Wonder
| flowed in on him again. She was nc
/ daughter Of the beach whom he had
| found here on ice-locked Fire island
The ankle beneath her skirts where
one foot had fallen from the sofa. was
delicate and slender So were the wrists