Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-19
LOS ANGELES +
ON THE PIER

He had never been on a yacht much
less handled one; but the cap was de
rigueur with the class of society in
which he moved. The strong sunlight
and the blue sea were around them.
She spoke first. Fancy meeting
you!' she said.
1T isn't fancy; it's a fact" he re-
piled.
Commonplaces of conversation be-
came epigrams in the light of the smile
in her eyes. They leaned together on
the pier railing.
Jolly place, Seoboro," he remarked
Isn't it?" she answered. Il like the
crowds on the sands, and the niggers"
DO you come here every year?" he
asked.
Never miss" she answered pleas
antly.
He was absorbed in watching a spot
of sunlight that had filtered through
the open straw of the brim of her hat,
and now played about her cheek. She
spoke again.
"How is your wife," she asked.
He started.
Good heaVens?" he said, what
made you think l was marr,ed?"
She opened wide a pair of lovely blue
eyes.
aren't you?" she asked. You know
you were engaged when we met last
"Oh, so l was!" he murmured. He
became silent, and cultivated a studi-
Gus gloom.
"Then you broke it OFF," she inquired
sympathetically.
"She broke it off," he corrected. II
suppose l ought to have expected it.
Girls are tickle"
The corners of her mouth twitched.
'I was young enough to believe IN
them" he remarked after pause.
'You were twenty-five, think?" she
said.
about that" he admitted grudging-
ly I'm older now"
1.-TWO years older" she commented.
"If you count by years." he adj
mitted, lin thought and feeling I'm
years and years older"
She said nothing. They fell silent
again. Below upon the sands the mig
gers sang a rbald song with matri-
mony as the subject.
"a thing like that changes a fellow"
he said suddenly.
For the better or the worse?" she
inquired demurey.
For the better" he said emphatic
ally. 1T teaches him the treachery of
women. He sees them from a detached
point of view. He has learned wisdom
and looks at them from the heights"
She broke into a little laugh.
How do they look from there?' she
asked.
he RIdIlCeu dSlue dI 1IulIl SLIuS-
gled with his gloom.
Some of them look very pretty he
admitted.
She laughed again.
But of course" he continued. "he
has learned his lesson. He recognizes
that prettiness Is merely another lure"
at must be nice to feel $3.50 safe?'
she murmured.
"It is" he answered gloomily. ITS
a little lonely, though. at times"
zone must pay price for wisdom
she said.
"And you?" he asted. changing the
subject. as your husband with You?"
She looked at him with swift surprise.
"Wha tever made you think 1 was
married?" she asked.
"Well you know, he said in his turn,
"you were engaged when l met you
last"
She drummed with her fingers on the
edge of the railing. Her cheeks had
flushed a delicate pink
so I was" she said deliberately.
'It didn't come to anything, them?
he asked; you broke it off
"He broIe it off" she answered His
parents didn't approve of his marry
ing"
1.-THE fool" he said.
"It taught me-" she said plaintively
"the fickleness of men,"
He had a moments discomfort
at taught me to lock at them from
the heights" she murmured with the
ghost of a smile.
"How do they look from there?" he
said unwillinglY, veXed at the impulse
that made him echo her.
She glanced aside, and the smile be-
came more pronounced.
IL