Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-19

management of Anisty and Wentworth,
Limited. you will promise to attend?'
"Will it be too early if 1 call one for
today?'
"Why ="
Say at 2 o'clock this afternoon, at Eu-
genes. You know the place."
II have lunched there
"Then you shall again today. You won't
disappoint me?
| Il will be there. I" I" shall be glad
to come. Now-please!"
You've promised Don't forget.
| He stepped back and stood in a sort of
| dreamy daze, while. with one final won
derful smile at parting, the girl assumed
control of the machine and swung 1t out
| from the curb Maitland watched 1t forge
| slowly up the avenue and vanish round
the 36th street corner; then turned his
| face southwark, signing with WEAKNESS
| and discomfort.
| At 34th street a policeman, lounging be-
meath the corrugated iron awning of
corner saloon, faced about with low
whistle, to stare after him. Maitland eX
| perienced chill sense of criminal guilt;
| he was painfully conscious of those two
shrewd eyes. boring gimletlike into his
| back. overlooking no detail of the wreck
of his evening clothes. ~Involuntariy he
| glanced down at his legs and they moved
mechanically beneath the edge of his
| overcoat, like twin animated columns of
mud and dust, openly advertising his mis-
adventures. He felt in his soul that they
| shrieked aloud. that they would presently
succeed in dinning all the town awake
so that the startled populace would come
to the windows to stare in wonder as he
passed by. And inwardly he groaned and
! quaked.
| AS for the policeman. after some re-
| luctant hesitation, he overcame the in
/ herent indisposition to eXertion that af
| fects his kind and. swinging his stick,
/ stalked after Maitland.
Happily (and with heartfelt thanksgiv-
iT1rrl thA
nolent and bedraggled hack at rest in the
stenciled shadows of the Sd avenue ele-
waited structure. It's pilot was snoring
Justify the sleep of the belated. on the
| box. With some difficulty he was awak-
! ened. and Maitland lodged into the musty,
| dusty body Of the vehicle, grateful to es-
| cape the unprecedented stare of the guard
| ian of the peace, who in another moment
| would have overtaken him and, doubtless,
| subjected him to embarrassing inquisi-
| ton.
AS the ancient four-wheeler ratified
| nos!ly over the cobbles some of the shops
were taking down their shutters, the sur
| face cars were beginning to run with in
creasing frequency and the sidewalks
| We're becoming Sparsely populated Fa
| miliar as the sights were, they were yet
| somehow strangely unreal to the young
man. In a night the face of the world
| had changed for him; its features doomed
weirdly blurred and contorted through the
| mystical gray-gold atmosphere of the
| land of romance, wherein he really lived
and moved and had his being. The bla-
tant day was altogether preposterous: to-
| day was a dream. something nightmare
| ish: last night he had been awake last
night for the first time In twenty-odd
| years of existence he had lived. -
| He slipped unthinkingly one hand into
| his coat pocket, seeking instinctively his
| cigarette case and his fingers brushed the
| coarse-grained surface of canvas bag
| He jumped as If electrified. He had man
| aged altogether to forget them. yet in his
! keeping were the jewels. Maitland heir
| looms-the swag and booty. the loot and
plumber of the nights adventure. And he
| smiled happily to think that his interest
| in them was 80 per cent deprecated in
twenty-four hours; now he owned only
half. : =
him.