Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1909-07-13
By Louis Joseph Vance
Copyright, 1908, by the Bobbs-Merrill Co.

iuly elnploycG with his cigar. he
slipped his coffee In time aware that
she had turned her attention else.
where, he looked up.
At first he was conscious of an eff.
feet of disappointment She was no.
body that he knew. even by repnta.
ton. She was simply young girl,
barely out of her teens-if as old as
that phrase would signify. He won
dered what she had found in him to
make her think him worth so long a
study and looked again. more keenly
curious.
With this second glance appreciation
stirred the artistic side of his nature,
shat was already grown impatient Of
his fretted mood. The slender and girl
ish figure, posed with such absolute
lack Of intrusion against a screen of
rose and gilt, moved him to critical
The tinted glow Of shaded
candles caught glis:ening OH the spun
gold Of her tair hair enhanced the fine
pallor of her young shoulders.
In the sheer youth of her The real.
ized) more than in aught else lay her
chiefest charm. She could he little
more than child, indeed, If he We're
to judge her by the purity of her shad-
owed eyes and the absence Of emotion
in the calm and direct look which
she turned upon him who
sat wondering at the level. penciled
darkness of her brows.
At length. aware that she had sur
prised his interest, Kirkwood glanced
aside coolly deliberate lest she should
detect in his attitude anything more
than impersonal approval.
A slow color burned his cheeks. In
his temples there rose curious pulls
ing.
After awhile she drew his gaze again
imperiously, herself all unaware of the
havoc she was wreaking on his tenn
permanent.
eighteen" he eighteen
or possibly nineteen dining ut the Pless
in a ravishing dinner gown and I'M
happy? Oh, hardly-not she!'
Yet the impression haunted him, and
ere long he was fain to seek conflrma-
ton or denial of it in the manner of
her escort.
The latter sat with back to Kirk
wood, cutting figure rs negative as
his snug evening clothes. One could
surmise little from fleshy thick neck,
a round glazed bald spot, a fringe of
grizzled hair and two bright red ears.
Calendar!
Somehow the fellow did suggest
Kirkwood's caller of the afternoon
The young man could not have said
precisely how, for he was unfamiliar
with the aspect of that gentleman's
back. None the less. the suggestion
persisted.
BY now few of the guests, theatel
bound for the most part, were leaving
Here and there a table stood vacant
that had been filled, cloth furnished
chairs disarranged, in another moment
to be transformed into its pristine bril-
lance under the def attentions of the
servitors.
Down an aisle, past the table al
which the girl was sitting, came two
making toward the lobby, the man, q
slight and meager young personality
in the lead. Their party had attracted
Kirkwood's notice rs they entered
why, he did not remember, but 1t was
in his mind that then they had beer
three. Instinctively he looked ut the
table they had left, one placed at some
distance from the girl and hidden from
her by an angle in the wall. 1t ap
peared that the third member hat
chosen to daily a few moments owe
his tobacco and liqueur brandy
Kirkwood could see him plainly loung
ing in his chair and fumbling the sten
of a glass, heavy man of sombe
habit, his black and sullen brows low
ering and thoughtful above fac
boldly handsome.
| The woman Of the trio was worth,
Of closer attention. Some PAGES In tn
wake of her lackluster esquire sh
was making leisurely progress, trail
ing the skirts Of gown magnificen
beyond dispute, half concealed thoug
It was by the opera cloak whose sof
folds draped her shoulders. Slowly
carrying her head high, she approach
ed. insolent eyes reviewing the room
from beneath their heavy lids. meta
lie and mature type of dark beaut
sup-emely self confident and self pos
sessed.
Men turned invoiuntarily to look aft
err her, not altogether in undiluted &C
miration.
In the act Of passing behind the pr
tative Calendar she paused momentf
rlly, bending as If to gather up he
train. Presumably the action disturb
ed her balance. She swayed littl
and In the effort to recover rested til
tips of her gloved fingers upon th
edge Of the table. Simultaneous
Ilirkwood could have SWORN a sill
gle word left her lips, word eviden
ly pitched for the ear of the hypothe
ical Calendar alone. Then she sweI
on, imperturbable, assured.
To the perplexed observer 1t was II
dubitably evident that some comm
nication had passed from the womn
to the man. Kirkwood saw the fl
shoulders of the girls companion stiff
en- suddenly as the woman's hand res
ed mt his elbow. AS she moved ava
: little ripping SILVER was plainly vi
: ible in the muscles of his back beneat
his coat, mute token Of relaxing te
, sion. An instant later one plump ar
notified hand was carelessly place
. where the woman's had been al
was at once removed with flnge
closed.
To the girl, watching her face CO
: arflu Kirk WOod turned for clnW