The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-12-19
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+ NOEL CLAYTON'S CHR|STMASS


and nervous-looking, were as well kept
as those of woman.
He was thirty, and a splash of gray
ON either temple, a strand or two Of
white in his mustache, made him look
older.
He was broad-chested and muscular
by all rules-he should have been SOL
dier-he looked an "open air. man, but
for five years he had been writing short
stories, novelties and serials for the
weekly press.
1t was good, nervous work. His name
was becoming known, for he had the
happy knack of blending pathos with hui
NOR. He had travelled widely, and an
Australian bush idyl at the beginning of
the week would be followed again by a
story of rustic life in the dear West
Country that he loved so well.
He lived quite alone, worked-and
smOked-frOm morning to night, loved
his profession, and had practically drop
ped all his friends-mae and female
and when a fit of the not infrequent
blues got him by the throat, threw his
pen into the CRATE and ordered up his
landlady's children, and pandemonium
reigned for an hour.
Sometimes he gave them pennies, but
not always-small coin Of the realm is
not always available to authOrs-but the
romps were huge, and he enjoyed them.
OF course there was woman at the
bottom of the tangle Of the mans life.
and women complicate things sometimes
he would have said always
On one particular evening he was alone
and writing, when Jim Courtenay was
shown in-and Jim was an old and tried
friend-about the only friend the lonely.
self-absorbed man had, and so the in
conner sat down and lighted his pipe, and
did not bother the author for quite a
quarter of an hour, and then Noel rose
and stretched himself.
"What is it this time, Noel?'
ooh, the usual thing-love; and can
didly l am getting so sick of writing
love stories"
'Ah! you feel like that?"
'Man alive. this is Christmas Eve, and
eomehow-somehow- thoughts went
back with a jump, and remembered one
Christmas Eve when"
Your pipes out, Noelv'
aye. so it is. Well. there was one
Christmas Eve when"
'My dear boy, are you worrying about
her still?'
EYES," and then a long pause
1t is the privilege Of chums to sit 81
lent for a spell.
"And all this happened four or five
years ago. l never heard the rights or
wrongs of the story"
Noel crossed the room, and digging
both hands into his pockets, looked at
his chum.
''There is nothing to know. After the
four happy years of married life, trouble
came between us, lies came between us;
and-and-here l am and it's Christmas
Eve. or course our baby was only a
mite-a wee, blue-eyed, golden-haired
mite; couldn't walk crawled, you know;
but we were awful chums, and when she
went and took our mite-well," and the
mans laugh hurt his own ears. "Well,
then l took to writing love stories-love,
old chap, with happy ending-bishops,
bridesmaids, bouquets and blessings,
and"-his temporary excitement had left
him-he added dryly:
"And it pays! Now 90, old chap. l
nust get my stuff done for the early
post" and Chum went out while Noel
turned again to his interrupted work.
Between each line on every page
quaint turns of expression, quaint
thoughts haunted him, dead past spoke
to him.
The girl-wife had been very sweet.
very lovable, very beautiful-and had
marred two lives.
There should be a special place of tor
ment for the person who deliberately
comes between two people who love each
other and smilingly warps two lives.
Pearl Clayton was as easily led as
a child, a soft, emotional, weak little
woman, and when Noel returned from a
few days holiday he found the house
closed and Pearl and Baby had depart
ed.
Noel drifted for little bit, the shock
unnamed him terribly, but his pen was
his sole source Of income, and it had to
be piled il body and soul were to be kept
together. and in a very few weeks he
Dad, to some extent, regained his mental
balance, and his work improved.
The eve of Christmas and the day
itself appeals to most hearts, and on this
particular eve Noel kept thinking back
and thinking back while he wrote.
How well he remembered the extra.
azed stocking he induced the nurse to
't. and how bulky it looked and fell On