Evening star., 1909-02-14
A MIRAGE OF THE PLAINS

brush came in on the night wind. There was
much luxury in the nearness to the outside!
The walls of the room, the chairs and tables
the linen. silver and glass, these things she saw
only vaguely: they belonged to the life she
had yielded. The only reality for her was her
expectation and the waiting night outside.
Her fellow traveller, who was at near table
began to be uncertain whether the face, with
its clear cut features. its definite lines about
the lips. was not after all the face of a dreamer
instead of an enthusiast. Masses of hair cast
shadow her eyes which looked black
the heavy eyebrows and lashes that had
seemed to him before to prove power and
strength deepened the repose that was upon
her.
Just as the waiter put :; salad before her.
she heard a voice outside the window which
stopped her heart. 1t his voice! 1t was
the voice that had called her into a new life
the voice that had wakened the primeval
woman in her and had seemed more to her
than the music of applause or the sound of an
orchestra. There was the same power in it
that she had felt before.
To the surprise of the waiter she started to
rise from the table. But the words reached
her,-words of question; and the answer
came in woman's low love laugh. a laugh
with truth in it. of surprised contentment md
belief. She might have doubted the question.
the laugh with the girliSh note in it. that she
could not doubt And all the long time when
she was trying to eat her salad she had to hear
his voice from behind the gently moving
the color of the walls, the carving on the
chairs, the fineness of the linen. The night
outside receded slowly from her consciousness
When the waiter came with her coffee, she
looked into his eyes. queer. dumb look it was,
that beied the richness of her voice. When
does the first train for the East leave?" she
asked. And where can | send a telegram"
The passenger watched her as she walked
the length of the dining room. Again he was
surprised that he had missed the whole feel
ing of her face. There was pride in it, power,
and something he could not understand. He
did not see her pause on the threshold for
moment of indecision and then turn to the
door that led to the piazza.
THE same strong impulse that had brought
her from New York to New Mexico forced
her to go direct to the thing that would hurt
her most.-to see the girl. 1t was dark out
there but she knew she could see. The mo-
ment favored her. The girl rose, saying she
was tired and must go to her room. She kissed
the man lightly and passed the Window
pretty. girlish. unspoiled face she had.
Then there were only the two of them and
the dark piazza, each one in deep shadow.
He lit cigar. and she leaned forward to see
his face. in the light of the match. She saw the
face She pictured it, strong featured, bronzed
with the desert sun. She was torturing her
self; but she could not go. Even as she felt
him there. she began to picture herself in her
old world. She could see herself unpacking
her things and arranging them; she could see
herself signing a contract: probably Duruy
would take advantage of her low spirits and
make the contract more to his own advantage.
Back there in a few days this hour in the
dark would seem just unreal as her visions
of her tent and her children, and of the wedding
in the sunset. She be-
gan to feel the loneliness
of the hours when she