Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-01-16

swiftly. wen have no talk like that.
I'll settle this for you myself. You
send word to Claudine that / want to
see her at my Office tomorrow morning,
and you-you stay away from the
Beach today. Give me your word"
Mr.. Fears expression softened. "All
right, joe he said. "IIl do what
ever you tell me to. Any Of us II do
that; we sure know who's our friend"
Keep out of trouble, Happy Joe
turned to go and they shook hands.
Good day, and-keep out of troublev'
When he had gone Mr.. Fears coun-
tenance again gloomed ominously, and,
shaking his head, he ruminatively en-
tered an adjacent bar through the al
ley door.
The Main street bridge was an old
fashioned wooden covered one, dust
colored and very narrow, squarely
framing the fair open country beyond,
for the, town had never crossed the
river Joe found the cool shadow In
the bridge gracious to his hot brow,
and through the slender chinks of the
worn flooring he caught bright glimpses
Of running water When he came out
of the other end he felt enough re-
freshed to light cigar.
s'Well, Eere I am he said, across
Main street bridge, and it must be
getting on toward noonl" He spoke
almost with the aspect of daring and
Immediately stood still listening IRE
MEMBER" he ventured to repeat,
again daring" remember! Across
Main street bridge at noonv" And
again he listened Then he chuckled
family with relief, for the voice did
not return THANK God, I've got rid
of thatr' he whispered. "And of the
circus band toor'
A dusty road turned to the right, fol
lowing the river and shaded by big
sycamores on the bank The mongrel,
intensely preoccupied with this road,
scampered away, his nose to the
ground. "Good enough" said the
master. Lead on and I'll come after
you"
But he had not far to follow. The
chase led him to a half hollow log
which lay on low grass grown levee
above the stream where the dogs in
terest- in the pursuit became vivid;
temporarily, however, for after few
minutes of agitated investigation he
was seized with Indifference to the
whole world, painted briefly, slept. Joe
sat upon the log, which was in the
shade, and smoked
For the first time it struck Joe that
it was beautiful day, and it came to
him that beautiful day was thing
which nothing except death, sickness or
Imprisonment could take from him, not
even the ban of Canaan Unforewarn-
ed music sounded in his ears again,
but he did not shrink from it now.
This was not the circus band he had
heard as he left the square, but mel
ody like a faraway serenade at night,
as of 'the horns of elf land family
blowing" and he closed his eyes with
the sweetness Of it.
go ahead" he whispered. do that
all you want to. If you'll keep it up
like this awhile, I'll follow with Little
Brown jug, How Love Theey 1t
seems to pay after ALP
The welcome strains, however, were
but the prelude to a harsher sound
which interrupted and annihilated
them-the courthouse bell changing out
H. ssAll right" said Joe. Its noon,
and I'm across Main street bridge"
He opened his eyes and looked about
him whimsically. Then he shook his
head again.
A lady had just emerged from the
bridge and was coming toward him.
1t would be hard to get at Joe's first
impressions of her. We can find con-
veyance for only the broadcast and
heaviest. Ancient and modern instances
multiply the case of the sleeper who
dreams out a long story in accurate
color and fine detail, a tale of years, in
the opening and shutting Of door. So
with Joseph in the brief space of the
lady's approach. And with him, as
with the sleeper, it must have been
in fact it was-in his recollections later
a blur of emotion.
He had little knowledge of the mil
linery arts, and he needed none to see
the armony-harmony like that of the
day he had discovered little while
ago. Her dress and hat and gloves and
parasol showed pale lavender over
tint like that which he had seen over
spreading the western slope. (After-
ward he discovered that the gloves she
wore that day were gray and that her
hat was for the most part whitley The
charm Of fabric and tint belonging to
what she wore was no shame to her.
not being of primal Importance beyond
herself. 1t was but the expression of
her daintiness and the adjunct of it..
She was tall, but if Joe could have
spoken or thought of her as slender
he would have been capable of calling
her lips .'red," in which case he would
not have been Joe and would have