The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-29
THE SKY-MAN
BY
HENRY MITCHELL WEBSTER
Apthor ,,eaA Samuel MerJcin) Of Calumet e.
Copyright 1910 by The Century Company.

I was simply one of escape. As she
had said. the relation between them
/ had always been taken for granted;
; had always been matter-of-fact. Long
Sefore her fathers departure on that
las, voyage OF his, ever since she could
remember. in fact. she had taken her
association with Tom. her affection
for him and his FOR her. completely
as matter Of course. They could not
have felt any differently toward each
other If they had, indeed. been brother
ana sister
Sha was three or four years
yoanger than he but her girltsh pre-
cocity had gone far To- hriuge the dis
parity in their ages. and now that
Doth hau grown TO maturity, II had
com pietely ceased to exist. Indeed.
since the time when her first party
had given her the status OF an I'M
den!ao,e grown-ap. she had felt like
an elder sister OF hts. rather than Ia
younger one. she had stayed at home.
Tor one thing. while Tom had been
away at school and there in the init
macy Of comradeship TO which her
father had admitted her her mind
had matured unusually rapidly She
T tlhN NluEI acquaintance Win inc
world of ideas, at least, at twenty
two than Tom had at twenty SIX
She had leased him out OF his
/ youthful absurdlties, been proud Of
! aim. laughed at him. quarrelled with
4 him, only to make up the quarrel with
some cool little. fugitive caress, with
/ out one single self-conscious moment
regarding him; without a misgiving
/ whether. after all. this relationship
| that seemed so firmly esta lished,
might prove impossible as a per-
/ manent one,
For the first few moments after his
avowal she had felt no emotion other
( than that OF establishment and in
credulity. Even when he asked her il
she could not marry him, anyway,
! though the question revoited her. she
told the truth In saying that she was
I not angry.
/ The anger came later, but il burned
! into flame that was all the hotter
for Its hardness in kindling.- 1t must
have an outlet somewhere, and as
such, the promenade up and down the
other side of the deck was altogether
/ insufficient.
The sight OF a small boat at the foot
! OF the accommodation ladder seemed
/ 10 offer something better So. pulling
/ on pair of fur gauntlets, she drop
r..
( ped the pair of light oars it contained.
and rowed away without any thought
/ of her destination---of any destination
whatever; without, even, a very clear
| Idea of what she was doing. She must
| do something: that was all she knew.
Certainly she pulled away from the
yachts side with no idea that she was
running into any possible danger.
She had believed Cayleys story
a he nyztt
who had believed II fully. Yet the
belief did not translate itself into any
| bar to her actions.
profound as was the impression
Cay1ey had made upon her. she had
not. as yet, articulated him at all into
ner real world. He was very vivid
very thrilling. he set her imagination
on fire when she saw him and heard
MS voice But when he took wing
again, he left a strange feeling OF I'M
reality behind him, That sense of un-
reality was all the stronger now that
almost the realiest thing in her uni
verse-namely, her relation with Tom
Fanshaw-was absorbing the full
power both of her mind and of her
emotions
1t was half a mile. perhaps. from
the yacht to the particular bit of
shelving beach toward which she I'M
consciously propelled the boat. She
rowed steadily without so much as
glance over her shoulder, until she
felt the CRATE OF the shingle beneath
the bow
She became aware. not only that she
had unconsciousiy come ashore hut
also that the yacht was nowhere to be
seen A bank OF fog had come rolling
in from the eastward, so heavy as 10
render an object one hundred PAGES
away totally invisible. The ciump of
empty buildings here on the beach
could hardly be half that distance. as
she remem hered. vet looking round
from her seat in the row boat she
could make out no more than their
blurred masses against the white ice
and sand which surrounded them.
She shtTered at first with an In
stinctive. half formed fear This was
solitude indeed. But she braced her
self and dismissed her fear. Solitude |
was what she had left the Yacht for.
and. then. 1t was a condition she could |
terminate at will. Through the still |
air and across that quiet water her !
voice would carry easily TO Toms ears, |
She had only to hail and she would !
hear his voice in answer
For "a moment she thought she /
would do it. Then she decided the /
other way. II Tom should miss her. |
he would certainly call aloud. and she
could answer. and use his voice to
guide her back TO the Yacht Ii was
OF course, ifnpractcable to attempt to !
row back without some suoh assist /
ance. She had only vague idea in
what quarter the yacht lay and the
chance Of missing II and getting really /
lost indeed was too great 10 be taken
Ito he continued