The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-10-31


cific, the wild curve Of the shore, the
tall palms silhouetted against the star
strewn sky. / shall feel again the soft
touch Of the tropic breeze on my cheek,
hear the long roar of the breakers tum-
bling over the coral reef. And there
will arise within me, as there does now,
the old, wild longing to go back to it
all, to feel again the mystery of the
land, to listen to its legends.
And l shall see once more the woman,
erouehed on the beach, letting grains
of sand slip softly through her fingers,
speaking in that quiet, emotionless
voice of emotions beyond all eompre-
hensiou. 1t was carnations she Wore
that night.
When | first knew her, she was one
of those retiring little girls, painfully
modest, self-eonscious to the degree OF
wretehedness, pretty in a quiet, sub
dued sort of way. Her mother was
big, ford woman with ideas, an ag-
gressive air and the frequently voiced
belief that she was most devoted
mother. She watched Annis as if she
thought the girl were not to be trusted,
and Annis showed all the symptoms of
having too much mother. She was
never given the opportunity to think
or act for herself Just the kind of
girl. Won know, who is handed over to
some materially chosen hrsband, and
finishes out her existence in the same
spiritless, dependent way she began it.
/ suppose Annis would have fulfilled
r IL. l. In ,oa+
Jack Holloway. Jack had away with
him. You know the kind-big, hearty,
a good mixer with the men, and i'm
mensely indie endent, but withal very
deferential and respectful toward the
women. Even those who had most
cause to hate him could not but feel
the charm of his manner.
And there were plenty of women who
had cause to hate him. Some way,
though, they never did. Jack could
forget easily enough. They cou1dn t.
Jack had n record behind nina
pretty bad one. He was one of the
kind that the boys are always glad to
see and be with, but whom they don t
care about introducing to their sisters.
How he ever came to fall in love
with Annis Rayner has always been a
mystery to me. When I first saw him
beginning to take some notice of her |
thought il was an internal shame. I
was rather minded to go to him and ap-
peal to his. sense Of the eternal fitness
of things for him to keep away from
her. But that is one of the things a
man is pretty reluctant to do.
And besides, there was something in
his attitude toward her, I don t know
exactly what, that seemed different
from the way he treated most girls.
There was certain air of protection in
the way he used to hover about her, es-
peeiaiiy when he did not think he was
being observed. And once or twice I
caught a look in his eyes as he glanced
at her that impressed me peculiarly
1t seemed to be rather compound of
tenderness and pain, strange, half
puzzled look, as if he had discovered
something, in her or in himself, |
couldn t make out which, that he could
npt understand. n
Just why it was I don't know yet,
but there was something that made me
leave matters to adjust themselves.
And then Jack disappeared.
He didn t say much about it to any
of the boys Just came around one
night and told some of us he was going
away next morning. Didn t say where,
any more than that it was on one of the
periodic wanderings that he had been
in the habit of going on for years.
But / had hardly thought of his 60
ing off in that way just then. thought
that perhaps, after all, he and Annls-
well, anyway, he went.
I didn It see Annis for some time
after Jack went away. When L did
see her, | was startled. There was
some strange, new look about her that
1 didn t like. Some way she seemed
to have lost her air of dependence,
helplessness, the habit of waiting for
someone to tell her what to do.
Not that she did anything different
from what she used to do. Her mother
still treated her in the way she always
had, as if the girl were a being of a
lower order of intelligence than her
self. And Annis still moved as heI
masterful mother directed. But some
way there d:a not seem to be that peeu
liar air of meekness, of lack of volition
She moved as she was directed. but the
movement seemed to come from within
as if she herself were the directing
spirit.
There WASH t anything that the most
exaeting could have taken exception
to, Probably no one else noticed any
change But / had been watching th,
girl pretty closely for some time, be
cause I had become interested in tn,
outcome Of the affair. And 1 didn :
like the change. l had that strangt
feeling that one has sometimes just be
fore a thunderstorm sort of nervous
feeling, a presentiment that something
is going to happen.
Something did happen. Annis dis
appeared.
She didn t say anything to anybod,
and she didn't leave any trace. Sh
just dropped ont of existence, appar
emily. Ne word ever came back to tn
town from her or about her. He
mother was almost insane-for a weel
or two. She got over it soon, though
got ideas about new things and bu'sie
herself trying to impress them on othe
people.
| had my suspicious for a while Ru
when Jack Holloway returned fror
somewhere over in Asia-Thibet O
Persia or Turkestan. don't remembe
just where-and heard about Annis, i