Pocahontas star herald., 1908-09-25

OF his tan extending to the roots OF MS
hair, which wss cut close to ooncea,
a wave In the gold Of IT, 1t occurred
to me at once that his face had lost
much of It's boyishness and he l0o:ea
every inch a man. But II tool ne
some time to realize that the girl " .
sat with him was none other than ia
secretary.
At frst ! could not tell what 1t was
that had so changed her, whether "
was her shimmering white evening
gown, or the cleaning bracelets, up u
at last it came to me in a flash that II
was nothing more nor less than | 2
glory Of her hair that had wrought tie
transformation. had never seen tIe
secretary with her hair done any way
but plainly and unbeComingly, put
now it was dressed as knew 1t should
have been dressed long ago. She wore
1t low on her long, slender neck, rolled
at the sides and ripping loosely back
from her forehead, in shining waves
and little willful rings held in place
with big shell combs.
And when at last it dawned upon
me that it was really the secretary
who was Vincents companion, so
breathless was | with amaze that at
first | hardly realized that | could
hear perfectly what they were saying.
And when | did realize 1t, | wanted to
rise and let them know that | was
there, but on second thought | saw
that | must have been there for so long
that they would never believe that /
had not heard the whole of their con-
versation. Furthermore, it occurred
to me that it might be well if | stayed
to hear what Miss Marsh had to say
for herself.
And so calmly took the dress and
put 1t on, just to amuse myself"
heard the secretary saying, "and did
my hair the way the others do theirs
you know. And 1t was so late | thought
no one would find me here"
And If hadn't left my pipe on the
table no one would have found you,
and think what | should have
missed" Vlncent's voice was elo-
quent.
OF course, 1t was very vain of me,
very vain," she went on; "but you
know when a girl has to earn her own
living she gets little tired of all
work and no'plsy, and sometimes the
Impulse to pretend she's fortunate and
happy and-and pretty"-the secretary
flushed under Vincent's gaze as she
faltered the last word, and hurried on
-"and like the others-is so strong
that 1t tempts her to deck herself out
In borrowed plumes and sit in an
empty drawing room at 12 o'clock at
night enjoying the Illusion for a brief
hour"
NO" said Vincent, softly, 81 don't
think II was vain; think 1t was the
most natural thing in the world, and
and I'm glad you did IT," he ended,
rather lamely.
The secretary laughed, and l won
dered what there was about the sound
that made Vincent rave over 1t. Then,
as his eyes wandered to her hair, he
sighed.
why slightest thou, oh, furnace"
she smiled at him.
II was just thinking abost some
thing"
About what?"
you don't want to hear?"
"Ah! But dol"
"Al right then" He turned on her
swiftly. Il was jast looking" he said,
at your hair. I'll bet the angels have
halos liAs that"
The secretary blushed. ITS horrid
hair" she said, giving II vindictive
little pull that only brought 1t to a
more charming disarray 81 hate the
color of 1t. Why, when was a child
never could bear to have the heroines
Of the fairy tales have shining head
Of golden hair, and used to think
mine was gold, and one day when |
said so and was told, No, your hair is
red, not gold, cried for days after
ward"
you poor little thing!" he said, his
face as full of sympathy as If those
tears had Just been shed. And for the
life of her the secretary couldn't help
her lip trembling, though she knew it
was absurd and was very much
ashamed of herself Vincent broke the
silence first. 1--WE might do little
on the Dead Barons of Wyckhoff, d"
he suggested. 1t was evident that our
affair of last night was uppermost in
his mind, for his air was very alb
stracted.
mo, thank you, my lord This is
my evening off. am no longer Miss
Marsh, the secretary, but Miss Marsh,
the lady of leisure"
Il didn't think of it as work, and
thought perhaps you didn't, either,
when we did it together"
Little boys shouldn't think; It's a
bad habit" she said severely; "be.
sides, you talk like 7 in the Dolly Dia-
logues.'"
At this Vincents face grew desper-
ate, and l saw that she had goaded
him into asking her the question that
had been on his mind all day, and
nearly fell of the sofa in my efforts
to hear without being seen.
Continued next week.