Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-05-18
CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER T. N
ouaintance Opens a New Account With
Fate at the Night and Day Bank
On a mellow afternoon in late fall.
Ouaintance stood in Madison square, New
York, looking on the enlivening scene for
the first time after long. weary years OF
exile. conscious that nowhere in all his
wanderings had he found place so
thoroughly TO his liking The surface
cars clanked through the maelstrom with
ronrs Changing. motors and cabs and
carriages accumulated in deep ranks or
spurted on their way. while anxious-eyed
pedestrians. risking life and limb amongst
them. progressed from point TO point by
reckless rushes. The hoarse honk-konk
OF motor horns blended with the shr1H
bells OF swift electric cOupes. The cease
less hum of human voices was like
vast hive Of restless bees
The tin-pan tinkle Of a street piano.
attempting Dixie" came thinly through
the tramp Of feet The watchers melody.
and the deep breath he drew was one
Of such contentment as he had been
stranger TO for long.
He could still count the days which
had elapsed since his release from the
stalk. deathIike silences and gloom Of
that gray, jungleland wherein all he had
been lay buried.
Only an hour ago he had stepped ashore
from an African steamer, and even on the
voyage across he had not, somehow, man
AGED to shake of the consciousness OF
isolation from his kind But now, at last,
he could realize that the past had been
but a dreary nightmare, out Of which he
had awakened 10 a new day, among his
home folk. sane. safe and sound And
-. -N-s .-rsseN ~Fnn
brisk. busting thrOng about him were be-
yond words comforting to him.
He smiled TO think OF the dark fears
which had oppressed him, and turned
slowly northward-
The Night and Day bank will probably
serve my turn" he opined and laid a
hand on one waistcOat pocket to ascertain
that its contents were still secure.
He felt much like a Rip Van Wrinkle,
and as il happened. that did not displease
him He was above all things DESTROYS
TO go about his own business unrecogniz-
ed. and since no one but himself knew
that he was still alive. had no ambition
OF undecefving the ignorant.
At thought OF his absolute indepen-
dence he smiled again, and so openly
that two Or three OF the passersbv turn
ed TO look back at him over their shOul-
ders.
Stephen Quaintance was good TO look
at. a tail. brOad-shouldered young man.
well set MP. Of easy carriage. An air
Of QUIET seIf-confidence sat well upon
him. Women as we'll as men would have
trusted themselves implicitly to the safe
keeping Of an intangible something in
his direct and level regard
Thin as he was he filled 10 perfection
his well cut suit Of blue serge, and he
- - 20
maiden cast careless-curiOusly in his d.
rection as he strOIled slowly uptown.
Had he been told that his own stead
fast eyes, slightly melancholy. were Of
the most magnetic. that he was OF per-
sonality too distinctive 10 escape alto
gether such flattering attentions ~
} these. he would have laughed amusedly
and thought his informant a fool. His
lines had fallen chiefly in places where a
mans eyes attract no particular notice
except when in close connection with the
sights OF a loaded gun. where nimble
trigger finger Is Of far greater account
than appearance. So while each pretty
face he passed met with his warmest ap-
prevail it's interest was impersOnal and
mingled with many others In his sight
they were coll tive and not individual.
No one OF them had the power 10 hasten
bis hearts beat by so much as a single
throb.
He was notwithstanding. sufficiently
grateful 10 such OF them as favored him
with their shy regard II awoke in his
mind some vague. haS-humOrOus specu-
lation as TO whether he should not one
Of these DAYS open a new account with
fate, and. drawing on that. start out in
quest OF his own ideal.
He was free 20 do so. He might per-
haps find the living embodiment OF that
dear dream-maiden. Quaintance was no
idle sentimentalist, but. like most men
who have led lonely lives. he had at his
leisure. fashioned for himself an idol and
much mote angelic than human.
But what had ne. a hardened adventur-
err 20 do with these dainty. delicate
damsels. whose happy lives had been
such an obvious contrast 20 his. In front
OF the Night and Day bank his errant
glance was arrested and held. for a mo-
ment. by a face which had come out
through the doorway. and passed him al
speed. to be swallowed up in the dense
moving mass OF humanity on the broad
sidewalk
The deuce!" said Quaintance. and
stopped short.
THE deuce!' he said. and turned, as
speedily as he might in the press pro-
digiousIy anxious to find out which way
she had gone. But she was gone
"ConfOund itP' he raped out wrathful-
". II must be wrong in the head.
don't know why should be staring after
a strange Sirl Ike a pumpkin when
ought TO be at the bank"
IL was surely absurd 10 allow any such