The Jewish herald. (Houston, Tex.) 1908-1914, 1910-12-22

to cause any woman suffering. Even while l
was making this deduction, / knew within my
SELF that it not true, that the hold she
had me of entirely different char
acter. / went out to lunch, attended to the
usual business routine, but was ever unable to
get her out of my thoughts. All through the
afternoon and far into the night, the appeal
in her beautiful brown eyes was ever before
me- l awaited her return the next day with
the utmost Impotence l had received an
swer from her brother as | had expected 1t
lay before me, as she knocked timidly on my
office door. When she entered and | had
greeted her in my most cordial manner, | mo-
Toned her to the easy chair beside me-
passed her the letter almost Immediately After
she had read it, l said cheerfuly,s Now, Mrs.
Winthrop, don't you see how hopefully he
writes. This is Thursday, and he says he will
be in the Saturday afternoon train. That
is fortunate. The week end is rather dull down
here. BY the time Simon arrives everybody
will be gone, that we will have the field
all to ourselves. We can then talk everything
over with him at our leisure, and if all goes
WELL he may return Monday morning, as If
nothing had occurred.
This encouragement seemed to cheer her con-
siderably, and L was relieved TO see the cloud
lift as l talked merrily. d | am sure that
from coy appearance, mo- one would have
guessed the Importance OF our contact-whlch
involved the adjustment of Il theft.
All at once, as if struck by sudden thought,
she looked up and said in timd solicitude, :. Mr.
Clemens, please don't let me detain you from
your lunch. You must get quite hungry
sitting her worrying over my troubles If you
have anything further to say to me on this
subject, ! will wait here till you return.
Man of the world that | am, and surtelted
to the full with the Alterations and inslncer-
ity of society women, was inexpresslbiy touch
ed by this naivette l fully appreciated the
weight of obligation and fear that still rested
on her frightened Imagination | therefore felt
that this considerate suggestion was prompted
out of sheer goodness of heart, for she spoke
but little matter how adroitly L tired 10
draw her out. w
So 1 replied, as gently. as possible, mo,
indeed, you not OBTAINING me at all, Mrs.
Winthrop This is the hour when / am sup
posed to keep Shop all by myself, contin-
ued smiling at her. Even were this not so,
] feel | could not eat with a good grace did
know that you here alone awaiting my
return. l see some of the men are back from
lunch already | am now free to GO. had
risen and bending over her Il would feel
highly honored We're you to ,a accompany me
and be my guest at dinner The hotel, you
know, is not far distant.
l said this as persuasively as possible, What
prompted me to invite her to come with me,
/ can't tell, when ! was fully aware OF tne
great difference in our positions and the pub
licity of my proposition, were she to accept;
/ knew all the commission men around hao
seen her when she was bookkeeper down here.
But | threw discretion to the winds and really
pressed her to come with me.
But she answered in confusion, on thank
you ever and ever so much, Mr.. Clemens, but
really l cannot accept your kind invitation
/ have left my babies with mama, and # you
really through with me, must hurry
lblushes and she made wonderfully soul sat
isfying picture as she now stood before me.
My face must have shown her how keenly
was disappointed for she hastened TO say On
Mr. Clemens please don't take my refusal amiss.
I am very sensible of the honor. But really
there are many reasons winch make IL I'M
possible for me to come to dinner with you.
Maybe she feared her husband How could
tell
well then, some other time, maybe, At
present / will not detan yous longer. / had
fnru fha hohi They
course. Yes, we are through for today AS
Simon will be in on the 80 train, it may
be best for you to come little before he does
I said this without remembering that full
day still interviewed. as this was only Thursday
babe her. good-by, and she left hurriedly
The next dag at noon realized for the first
time the mistake had made, and how | missed
her The vacant chair before me seemed to
yawn in sympathy for her form / had for
gotten the next day was Friday and was
not to see her till Saturday afternoon, Al
most unconsciousy opened the telephone book
and looked her up. Yes, there was the name
with her address and number. ] did not doubt
but that she was home, looking after those
babies who seemed to occupy so much OF her
attention
drew the phone TO me and toyed with It;
mentally resolving on what pretext l could call
her up. / might inquire after the state OF
her mothers health, also about herself and
the children. AT first these seemed sufficient
and sensible excuses, but after few moments
thought II felt they would not do, The bust
ness had assumed no personal aspect, and u
was not just the proper course for me to
communicate with her at her bone. So
pushed The telephone from me and sat think
ing OF her.
CHAPTER vi.
Saturday afternoon came and brought her
to the Office little before her brother was
expected We decided that she was to conceal
herself while ] was receiving her brothers
report could see the front door from my
office When ] saw Simon approaching | had
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