The Irish standard., 1908-10-03

She nodded alertly, instantaneously
mistress of self; and let her gaze,
serious yet half smiling, linger upon
his the exact fractional shade of an in
stant longer than had been, perhaps,
discreet. Then lashes dropped long
upon her cheeks, and her color deep.
ened all but imperceptibly.
The mans breath halted, then came
trace more rapidly than before. He
bent forward impulsively. The
girl sighed, ever so gently.
Il was thoughtful. :. It's all
80 strange, you know"
His attitude was an eager question.
I mean our meeting-that way, last
night" She held his gaze again, mo-
mentarily, and
Damn the waiter!" quoth savagely
Mr.. Anisty to his inner man, sitting
back to facilitate the service of their
meal.
The girl placated him with an insig-
n:hcant remark which led both into a
maze of meaningless but infinitely di-
verting inconsequences; diverting, at
least, to Anisty, who held up his head,
giving her back look for look, jest for
Jest, platitude for platitude (when the
waiter was within hearing distance);
altogether, he felt, acquitting himself
very creditably.
AS for the girl, in the course of the
next half or three-quarters of an hour
she demonstrated herself conclusively
person of amazing resource, de-
veloping with admirable ingenuity a
campaign planned on the spur of a
chance observation. The gentle man.
nered and self-sufficient crook was
taken captive before he realized it,
however willing he may have been.
Enmeshed in a hundred uncompre.
hended subtleties, he basked, purring,
the while she insinuated herself be-
meath his guard and stripped him of
his entire armament of cunning, vigi-
lance, invention, suspicion, and dis.
trust.
He relinquished them without a
sigh, barely conscious of the spolia.
tion. After all, she was of his trade,
herself mired with guilt; she would
never dare betray him, the conse-
quences to herself would be so dire.
Besides, patently-almost too much
6o-she admired him. He was her
hero. Had she not more than hinted
that such was the case, that his ex-
ample, his exploits, had fired her to
emulation-however weakly feminine?
He saw her before him, dainty,
alluring, yielding, yet leading him on
altogether desirable. And so long had
he, Anisty, starved for affection!
II am sure you must be dying for q
smoke"
BEG pardon!" He awoke abruptly,
to find himself twirling the sharp.
ribbed stem of his empty glass. Alb.
stractedly he stared into this, as
though seeking there clue to what
they had been talking about. Hazily
he understood that they had been
drifting close upon the perilous shoals
Of intimate personalities. What had
he told her? What had he not?
No matter. 1t was clearly to be seen
that her regard for him had waxed
rather than waned as result Of their
conversation. One had but to look
into her eyes to be reassured as to
that. One did look. breathing heavily.
What an ingenious child it
was, to show him her heart so freely!
He wondered that this should be so,
feeling it none the less just and
graceful tribute to his Vaccinations.
She repeated her arch query. She
was sure he wanted to smoke.
Indeed he did-if she would permit?
And forthwith Maitland's cigarette
case was produced, with flourish.
What beautiful case!"
In an instant it was in her hands.
Beautiful" she iterated, inspecting
the delicate tracery of the monogram
engraver's art-head bended forward,
face shaded by the broadrbrimmed hat.