The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-10-03

| leaned back. waving MS hands iinpa
tiently at the moving crowd thai
eireIed and hummed under the lights
"There is something devilish about al
this,'' he muttered. "Why do we ex
euse things down here that we would
strongly reprobate at home9 I am very
near to belief in what a shocked Britor
said last night about there not being
any God in these latitudes.'
''Manners are different" I paltered
Harper breathed out strong "Pahi
Right is right! Society ought to pun
| ish--'
The Oldest Journalist in the South
Seas raised his eyes. cit s not al
together society's business he said.
"You and [ can punish only after
hearing all the evidence; society
sometimes-has to yield to Fate, or
! God. if you prefer that title. And l
have come to think that God knows
best and Furnishes most severely. And
it is more merciful to leave it to Him;
for when He Furnishes He pardons, too.
You and I never pardon. we mss
the kernel of the law
sfNonsense, Harper put in brusquely.
ssFYou see people going free every day.
If society doesn t exact her penalties
and execute her laws there issno pun
ishment at all. I iudge--''
IN not so sure that we-you have
a right to Judge went on the old man
thoughtfully. "Now, I was just think
ing about Honoria Mclean and Kindi-
lini. "
neWho was she?' we demanded.
fsShe was the woman that Henry
Plicott ran away with twenty-five
wears ago. Tt was all before your time.
But it shows that when a man and a
woman have evaded society, they are
face to face with-with destiny, or
God: or is it themselves?
cit was, as I've said" the Oldest
Journalist went on, something more
or less than twenty-five years ago.
Henry Plicott came from the States to
sell machinery to the sugar7planters.
I recall him as spare, solemn fellow,
with hungry brown eyes. He had the
usual vice, believe; he also cherished,
at times when business did not prosper,
whimsical, almost comic faint OF
philosophy. AS I understood it, it was
a childish belief that ssome good wo-
man would be the making of him some
dav.' That's probably definite enough.
You we heard wastrels mouth it before.
Plicott was not offensive about 1t,
though. He merely offered it to you,
over an intimate cigar, much as man
may admit to friend that he hopes
to make a winning on the next turn
of the market.
sfPlieott had been on the islands
wear when he met Honoria Mclean.
So was the wife of Alexander Nc
Lean. head of a small commission
house. Old esidents-kamaainas like
mvself-rememher Honoria. She was
a big. splendid, red-haired woman
thirty years old; full of exuberant
vitality that a humid climate and
broiling sun seemed unable to weaken.
Mclean had married her in Scotland
two years before, going back to fetch
her after he had made little fortune
here. She was waiting for him. We
understood that they had been sweet
hearts since he was young fellow and
she a kiddie. Alexander was short,
wore neat, dry beard, and took snuff;
a stiff man, starched with the rules OF
virtuous conduct, and ever ready for
bargain or an argument.
sFPlicott and Honoria met at the
Palace, as everybody did then. Ii
YOU d go up and look in the register
of the royal receptions and levees of
those days. you d find Honoria's gen
t-
the signatures of ENJOYS, attaches, and
visiting admirals. But is was a full
wear after they met that some one said
one night, "Plicott is making love to
Honoria.
.tOf course that opened the eyes of
us all. We looked across the lawn, and
saw Honoria s fine figure shining like
a white statue of marble under the
trees. and Plicott standing before her
with his hands clasped behind his back,
and his big hungry eyes fixed on her.
Later / We been swimming at Waikiki,
and heard a steady, powerful beat of
arms Just behind me, and swerved aside
to let Plieott ana Honoria plunge by,
round white arm and lean brown arm
reaching out overland with the regul-
AIttA VI pSI1CCL anu dSSOAU-oo
they drove in from the reef. Again
one would see Alexander in brown
study in a parlor, snuff-box in hand,
gazing under bent brows at some in
visible object, while the constant talk
of his wife with Plicott must have
poured into his ears. 1t just missed
being q scandal.
ttLater we observed that Honoria
and Henry weren t seen together as
formerly, and when they met they
seemed to look at each other silently,
Pheott with grave perplexity in his
eyes. At such seasons / we caught a..
glance of Honoria s that expressed a.
profound bewilderment, a searching
sorrow that was feeling round in her
heart for something to feed on; very
subtle glance that avoided us. Plicott
most of all, like an involuntary sob
that must find no one IS ear.
"Then there came the day when we
heard that the barque Golden Gate
would leave Honolulu for Panama,
whence one could catch the steamship
for New York and Liverpool What
plans we made! I myself thought of
the folks in Maine, and decided to go.
! Others grew hilarious at hope of reach
ing home without all the delays of the
trip to the Coast ana overland from
San Francisco. Inside a week every
90 hin +ba Ea17on Gotta 4oG