Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-16
CHAPTER II.
A Torn Telegram.

OxRx 1G1 IL.
A Torn Telegram.
lunched alone at the Gilmore house
and went back to the city at once. The
sun had lifted the mists. and a fresh
summer wind had cleared away the
smoke pail. The boulevard was fun of
cars flying countryward for the Saturday
half holiday. toward golf and tennis
green fields and babbling girls. gritted
my teeth and thought of Mcknight at
Richmond. visiting the lady with the
geographical name. And then. for the
first time. associated John Gilmore
granddaughter with the West that Nc
Knight had irritably flung at me.
1 still carried my travelling bag, for
Meningitis vision at the window OF the
empty house had not been without eff
feet I did not transfer the notes to my
pocket and. II had. II would not have
altered the situation later. Only the
other day Mcknight put this very thing
Il warned you" he reminded me. Il
told You there were queer things COM
ing and to be on your guard. You ought
to have taken your revolver"
1T would have been Of exactly as much
retorted. IF I had never closed my
eyes, or if 1 had kept ms finger on the
trigger Of a six-shooter (Which Is novel;
esque for revolver), the result would nave
been the same. And the next time you
want little excitement with every va
| riety of thrill thrown in. I can put you
by way of it. You begin by getting the
wrong berth in Pullman car, and
end"
"Oh. 1 know how it ends" he finished,
shortly Don't you suppose the whole
things written on my spinal marrow"
But am wandering again. That is the
difficulty with the unprOfessional story
teller-he yaws back and forth and can't
keep in the wind; he drops his characters
overheard when he hasn't any further
use for them and browns them: he for
gets the coffee pot and the frying pan
and all the other small essentials and.
If he carries a love affair, he mutters a
fervent allah be praised" when he lands
them, drenched with adventures. at the
| matrimonial dock at the end OF the final
| chapter.
I put in a thoroughly unsatisfactory
afternoon Time dragged eternally.
dropped in at summer vaudeville and
bought some ties at a haberdasher's.
was bored but unexpectant; / had no
premonition of what was to come. Moth
ing unusual had ever happened to me:
friends of mine had sometimes sailed the
high seas of adventure or skirted the
| coasts OF chance, but all Of the ship
wrecks had occurred after woman pas
senger had been taken on. Ergo" l had
to myself that evening almost savagely.
when 1 found my thoughts straying back
to the picture of John Gilmore's grand
daughter. 1 even argued as l ate my
solitary dinner at a downtown restau-
| rant.
Haven't you troubles enough" l re-
hected, without looking for more?
Hasn't Bad News gone lame. with a
Otherwise aren't you comfortable? Isn't
your house in order? Do you want to
sell pony in order to have the library
done over in mission or the drawing
room In gold? Do you want somebody to
count the empty cigarette boxes lying
around every morning."
Lay 1t to the long idle afternoon. to the
new environment to anything you like.
but began to think that perhaps l did.
! was confoundedly lonely. For the first
time in my life its even course began to
waver-the needle registered warning
marks on the matrimonial seismograph,
lines vague enough, but lines.
Ny alligator bag lay at t. my feet a.,s still
leaned back and surveyed the people in
curiously. There were the usual couples
intent on each other-my new state of
mind made me regard them with toler-
ance. But at the next table, where a
man and woman dined together. diff
ferent atmosphere prevailed My atten-
ton was first caught by the woman
face. She had been speaking earnestly
me. I had noticed casually her earnest
manner. her somber clothes and the great
mass of odd bronze-colored hair on her
neck. But suddenly she glanced toward
me and the utter hoplessness-almost
tragedy-of her expression struck me
with shock. She halt closed her eyes
and drew long breath. then she turned
again to the man across the table.
Neither one was eating. He sat low
in his chair, his chin on his chest, ugly
al nF
collar. He was probably fifty, bald. gro
tesque, sullen and yet not without sug-
gestion of power. But he had been
drinking; as 1 looked he raised an un-
steady hand and summoned waiter
with wine list.
The young woman bent across the table
and spoke again quickly. She had un-
consciously raised her voice. Not beauti-
full. in her earnestness and stress she
rather interested me. / had an idle In
clination to advise the waiter to remove
the bottled temptation from the table. l
wonder what would have happened IL 1
had? Suppose Harrington had not been
intoxicated when he entered the Pullman
car Ontario that night!
For they were about to make a journey,
/ gathered, and the young woman wished
to go alone. 1 drank three cups of cof-
fee, which accounted for my wakeful-
ness later, and shamelessly watched the
tableau before me. The woman's pro-
test evidently went for nOthing-across
the table the man .grunted monosyllabfc
replies and grew more and more lower
ing and sullen. Once. during a brief un-
expected pianssimO in the music. her
voice came to me sharply:
eff I could only see him in time. she
was saying "Oh, it's terrible!'
In spite of my interest l would have
forgotten the whole incident at once.
erased it from my mind as one does the
inessentials and gatherings of memory,
had I not met them again. later that
evening. in the Pennsylvania station.
The situation between them had not Wis
ibly altered-the same logged determine
ton showed In the mans face, but the
Young woman-daughter or wife? won
dered-had drawn down her veil and ]
could only suspect what white misery lay
beneath.
I bought my berth after waiting In a
line of some eight or ten people. When,
step by step, I had almost reached the
window, a tall woman whom 1 had not
noticed before spoke to me from my ell
bow She had ticket and money in her
hand.
...Win you try to get me a lower when
you buy yours?" she asked. Il have
Travelled for three nights In uppers.
/ consented, of course: beyond that /
hardly noticed the woman. l had
vague impression of height and a certain
amount of stateliness. but the crowd
was pushing behind me and some one
was standing on my foot. l got two
lowers easily. and. turning with the
change and berths. held out the tickets.
(Which will you have?" I asked.
Lower eleven or lower temp"