The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-02-03

what a trout is for-to kill and be
killed"
She smiled, then sighed. The taking
of life and the giving Of It were mys.
teries to her. She had never Willingly
killed anything.
'Do you say that It doesn't hurt the
troutr she asked.
muscles Of trout Hair as his rod
twitched and swerved under water and
his reel sang again.
And again she watched the perform
ance and once more turned her back.
Let me try" she said when the
coup de grace had been administered
to a lusty, brilliant tinted bull trout.
And, rod in hand, she bent breathless
and intent over the bushes, cautiously
thrusting the tip through a thicket Of
mint
She lost two fish, then hooked a
third, small one, but when she lifted
It gasping into the sunlight she shiv-
cred and called to Selwyn:
"Unhook 1t and throw it back! IL
simply can't stand thatv'
Splash! went the astonished trout,
and she sighed her relief.
There's no doubt about It," she said,
you and certainly do belong to diff
ferent species of the same genus. Men
and women are separate species. Do
you deny it?'
II should hate to lose you that way"
he returned teasingly.
"Well. you can't avoid 1t. gladly ad-
NIT that woman is not too closely re-
lated to man. We don't like to kill
things. It's an ingrained distaste, not
merely q matter Of ethical philosophy.
You like to kill, and it's trait common
also to children and other predatory
animals, which fact" she added airily.
''convinces me Of woman's higher civ
ilization."
TT would convince me, too" he said,
''if woman didn't eat the things thSt
man kills for her."
II know. Isn't It horrid7 Oh, dear,
we're neither Of N very high in the
scale yet-particularly you"
"Well, I've advanced some since the
good old days when a man went WOO
ing with a club" he suggested.
"You may have. But, anyway, you
don't 30 wooing. AS for man collec-
lively, he has not progressed so very
far" she added demurely. "As an ex-
ample that dreadful Draymore man ac-
tually hurt my wrist"
Seiwyn looked up quickly, shade of
frank annoyance on his face and a
vision Of the fat sybarite before his
eyes. He turned again to his fishing,
but his shrug was more Of shudder
than appeared to be complimentary to
Percy Draymore.
She had OWNED somehow that 1t an
noyed Selwyn to know that men had
importuned her. She had told him of
her experience as innocently as she
had told Nina, and with even less en-
barrassment. But that had been long
ago, and now. without any specific rea-
son, she was not certain that she had
acted wisely, although 1t always
amused her to see Selwyn's undisguised
impatience whenever mention was
made Of such incidents.
So, to torment him, she said, "Of
course it is somewhat exciting to be
asked to marry people-rather agree
able than otherwise
What.
Waist deep in bay bushes he turned
toward her where she sat on the trunk
Of an oak which had fallen across the
stream. Her arms balanced her body;
her ankles were interlOcked. She
swung her slim, russell shod feet above
the brook and looked at him with a
touch of coQuetry new to her and to
him.
"Of course it's amusing to be told
you are the only woman in the world"
she said, particularly when a girl has
q secret fear that men don't consider
her quite grown up"
"You once said," he began impatient
ly, that the idiotic opportunities of
those men annoyed you"
"Why do you call them idiotic?" with
pretense of hurt surprise. "a girl is
honored"-
"Oh, bosh!'
Captain Selwyn!'
II beg your pardon" he said sulkily
and fumbled with his reel.
She surveyed him, head a trifle ON
one side, the very incarnation Of youth
full malice in process of satisfying o.
desire for tormenting.
when l pretended 1 was annoyed
nv what mon said TO me | was OnlV q
yearling." she observed. "Now I'm a
epAg| " gEgl TNHI IhNIp7S W@