The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-10-20

Their Eyes Met.
tAo liable between them. Their ewes
met. but Lady Maud could not detect
the slightest look of recognition in his.
Van Torp introduced him, and also
watched his face narrowly, but there
was not the least change of express.
s1on, nor any quick glance of surprise.
let Kralinsky possibly did not know
mat Lady Maud was on the yacht.
Tor No had not been told previously
that she was to be of the party, and in
the short conversation which had pre-.
ceded her appearance, no one had
actually mentioned the fact. She her.
self had come to dinner late with the
express purpose of presenting herself
before him suddenly, but she had to
admit that the intended surprise did
not take place.
f.She was not astonished, however.
Ahe had more than once seen her
91eAd placed in very difficult stu
l[oM which he had generally
tt h1Rself by his amazing
poNegR ng, the truth. Being
seated n3a{2y Q131te to him, it was
not easy ID featnres without
seeming eithSr - ~ him rudely
or to be bestowfn3 h attention on
him than on any ofscIt oth&rs II er
eyes were very good, and h6eznIRn1ory
for details was fair, and sif sRe did
not look often at his face, she Wsr6haS
his hands and listened to the fztu1in-
tions of HIS voice, and her convf6
that he was Leven grew during d.
ner. Yet there was still a shadow of
doubt, though she could not have told
exactly where it lay.
She longed to lead him into a tran
by asking some question to which If
he were Leven, he would know the an.
swer, though not If he were any one
else. a question to which he would not
hesitate to reply unsuspectingly If the
answer were known to him. But Lady
Maud was not ingenious in such cox
versational tricks, ant could not think
of anything that would do.
The outward difference of apnear.
apce between him and the man she
had married was so small that she
could assuredly not have sworn in ev.
idence that Kralinsky was not her
husband. There was the beard, and
she had not seen Leven with a beard
since the first months of her mar
rage four years ago when he had cut
1t on for some reason known only to
himself. Of course a recollection. al.
ready four years old, could not be
trusted like one that dated only as far
back as three months: for he had left
her not long before his supposed
death.
There were the hands, and there
was the left hand especially. That
might be the seat of the doubt. Pos.
sibly she had never noticed that
Leven had way of keeping his left
little finger almost constantly crooked
and turned inward as if it were lame.
But she was not sure even of that.
for she was not one of those people
who study the hands of every one they
know. and can recognize them at a
o"NASN' IhS Hdu never
watched her husbands as closely as
she was watching Kralinsky's now.
Margaret was in the best of spirits.
and talked more than usual, not stop.
ping to think how Van Torp's mere
presence would have chilled and ST.
fenced her three or four months
earlier.
On the whole it was a gay dinner.
and Mrs. Rushmore and Kralinsky
knew that it. was very good one. and
told each other so atterward as thew
walked slowly up and down the great
promenade deck in the starlight. For
people who are very fond of good eat.
ing can chatter pleasantly about their
food for hours, recalling the recent de,
lights of perfect chaud-froid or a
faultless sauce: and it was soon ev1.
dent that there was nothing connect.
ed with such subjects which Kralin.
sky did not understand and appreci-
ate, from a Chinese bird 's-nest soup to
the rules of the great Marie-Antoine
Careme and Brillat-Savarin's ,Physi-
ology of Taste" Kralinsky also knew
everybody. Between gastronomy and
society. he appeared to Mrs Rush
more to know everything there was
to be known.
LADY Maud caught snatches of the