Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-15
III.
"Handsome Dan"

Standing in the middle of the road,
watching the dust cloud that trailed the
fast-disappearing motor car. Mr. Matt
land cut figure sufficiently forlorn and
disconsolate to have distilled pity from
the least sympa thetic heart.
His hands were thrust stiffly at full
arms length into his trousers pockets: a
rumpled silk hat was set awry on the
back of his head: his shirt bosom was
sadly crumped: above the knees. to
casual glance. he presented the appear
ance of 4 man carefully attired in even
ing dress; below, his legs were sodden
and muddied. his shoes of patent leather
twin wrecks. Alas for jauntiness and
elegance, alack for ease and aplomb!
"Tricked,'' observed Maitland. casually.
and protruded his lower lip, thus adding
to the length of countenance naturally
long. .'Outwitted by a chit of a sirl
Dammit
But this was crude melodrama. Real;z-
failure.
Handsome Dan quoted he. and
cooking his head to one side eyed the
road inquirngly. Where in thunder
d'you suppose she got hold of that
name?
Bestowed upon him in callow college
days. it had stuck burrlike for many a
weary year. OF late. however it's use
had lapsed among his acquaintances: he
had begun to congratulate himself upon
resurrected. flung at him in sncerest
mockery by woman whom. to his hnoWl-
edge. he had never before laid eyes upon.
Odious appelation. hateful invention OF
an ingenious enemy!
Handsome Dam She must have
known me all the time-all the tina l
was making an exhibition Of myself.
Wentworth? l know no one of
that name. Who the dickens can she
be-"
Ii it had not been contrary to his code
of ethics he would gladly have raved,
CRASHED his teeth, footed the dance of
rage with his shadow. Indeed his re-
Straint was admirable. the circumstances
stand still for a matter Of five minutes,
vainly racking his memory for clue to
the identity of Miss Wentworth
AT length he gave ii up in DESPAIR and
abstractedly felt for his watch fob. Which
wasn't there. Neither investigation de-
veloped. was the watch. At which
crowning stroke of misfortune-the time
piece must have slipped from his pocket
into the water while he was tinkering
with that infamous carbureter-Maitland
turned eloquently red in the. face.
THE price" he meditated aloud. with
an effort to resume his pose. ''is a high
one to pay fer wave of gray glove
and the echo of a pretty laugh"
With which final fling at fortune he set
off again for Maitland Manor. trudging
heavily but AT a round pace through the
dust that soon settled upon the damp
cloth of his trousers legs and completed
their ruination. But Maitland was be-
yond being disturbed by such trif1eS. a
wounded vanity engaged his solicitude to
the exclusion of all other interests
At the end Of forty-ive minutes he had
covered the remaining distance between
Greenfieds station and Maitland Manor.
For five minutes more he strobe YEARLY
over the side pathN by the box hedge
which set aside his ancestral acres from
the public highway. At length. with an
exclamation he paused at the first open
ing In the living barrier--a wide entrance
from which a blue-store carriage drive
wound away to the house. invisible in the
waning light, situate in the shelter of the
grove of trees that studded the lawn
Gasoline. Brrr!'' said Maitland. shud
dering and shivering with the -combina-
ton of a nausaous odor and the night
cooness-the latter by now making itelf
as unpleasantly prominent the former.
Though he hated the smell with all his
heart. manfully inconsistent he raised his
head. shifting the air for further evidence.
and got his reward in a sickening gust.
Tank leaked" he commented with
brevty. Quart of the stuff must have
trickled out right here. Ugh, If it goes
on al this rate theral be another break
down before she gets home. And Serve
her right. too. he growled vindictive.
But for all his indignation he acknow
lodged a sneaking wish that he might be
at hand again. in such event. a second
time TO give gratuitous service to his
gray lady.
Analysing this frame of mind mot with
out surprise and some disdain of him
who weakly entertained it, he crossed the
drive and struck in over the lawn. shap-
ing his course direct for the front en-
trance OF the house.
BY dead reckoning the hour was two.
or something later. and chill was steal
ing in upon the land. waited gently
southwark from Long Island sound All
the world beside himself seemed to slum-
Der. breathless. inssnsate. Wraithlike.
gray shreds of mist drifted between the
serried boles of trees, or. rising. yelled.
the moons wan and pall!d face, that now
was low upon the. horizon. In silent
rivalry. long and velvet-hlack shadows
skulked across the ample hreadths of