Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-05-28

blhHh IdCe must nave lOlu HlIu WndL
lack-brain was. he laughed as if it
were too funny Well, then, Julie,' he
said, i can't remember either We
both laughed 1t was too deliciGus
and too absurd now that we knew
we both remembered, to think we'd
both forgotten. But | knew there must
have been something wonderful in
that first meeting, and | wanted dearly
to know. The more Mac laughed at
me the more | made him help me try
TO remember. First we made joke of
it; then we made a game; that is,
Mac made it,"
You were the inspiration" her hus-
band spoke out of the shadows.
She sparkled to the tribute. We'll,
in the end it was L" she broke off,
but that came afterwards. We be-
gan stupidly by going over our visiting
lists; then through the alphabet; then
through the social events of the last
six seasons. At last we took to the
map. 1t was getting to be a mania
with us. We invented all sorts of sure
combinations by which we could run
down that place. But, oh! dear, we
never could find a spot where we
had both breathed the same air at the
same time; not one of those dear, ro-
mantle, right places where such a first
meeting as ours ought to have taken
place, and | was getting faint-hearted.
Then one night | put a pin into
Biarritz and looked at him defiantly.
i was there | said, in April, 1900
Why, then he said, L was there
too For a moment | believed him.
But then saw a smile You know that
smile.
"Oh, Mac I said, you know you
never
But he shook his head at me. 4
was, too 1t was there l met you
And then ! knew reality had ended.
Our game had begun" She leaned for
ward. Her checks were flushed. Her
eyes were brilliant. But Biarritz-
of course | showed him in a minute
that for such first meeting as ours
prosaic watering place like Biarritz
would never do. We found much bet
ter places than that.
There was Perugia during the cele-
bration of its patron saint. There
were carpets hanging from the bal
comics and red streamers over the
white door lintels, and little lunches
of flowers in all the windows, and
wreaths on the shrines in the street.
| was leaning out of the window of
the saints house. | looked down and
saw man passing beneath. He looked
up. And between the waving in and
cut of the saints banner | saw his
face and he saw mine" She caught
her breath with a little laugh. He
was wearing peasants hat, and had
piece of the saints colors in his
buttonhole."
And you" said Mac from the back
ground, you had little cameo pin
at your throat, a long curl blowing out
at your left ear, and a bunch of violets
in your bosom"
There was a moments silence, as
if all there sat breathless, waiting for
something. Then her looks changed.
Her smiling grew more serious, and
on her face fell a shade, a sort of deli
cate awe. But there was another
place of ours" she said 1--WE didn't
choose it, / don't know how it came
into my mind; but it waa at Lake
Maggiore, One day, one beautiful
day, walking On the lonely side of it,
| came to a great white rock whose
base was level with the water, and
whose top rose high above me and
overhung the lake. | knelt down at it's
foot, and, as | used when | was a
child, looked into the water to see
how much prettier the world seemed
upside down. And, suddenly the face
was looking up at me from out of the
water, a little shaken by the ripples,
but real, wonderful, all in light, like
the head of a god looking out of the
sky, | held my breath. | wouldn't
have looked up and broken the spell
for anything in the world"
She had been looking down dreamily
as if it were not the dark wood of the
floor she saw, but Lake Maggoires
blue. But now she raised her shining
eyes to Macs friend, That was the
real way we first met"
She rose. Now that she had told
all her great story her intenseness
had snapped like a taut string She
was laughing. And now since you've
been so good as to believe me, I'll
show you the very rock he looked
over. We photographed it last sum
mer."
She crossed the room, a delicate
golden splendor; passed between the
dark wings of the tapestries They
heard her subdued rustic up the stair.
The two sat without a word, as if
they feared to move lest they should
break spell.
Mac" his friend finally burst out,
did you ever really meet in such a
way?"
Mac raised his eyes. Eyes, we met"