Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-23

| CHAPTER XIII-Continued.
mo; it was freight and the crew es
capped. 1t was a rather narrow escape
though. for the engineer and fireman.
You were putting it back on the
track?" she asked.
There isn't much Of It left to pu,
back. as YOU may have observed" said
Lidgerwood. Then he told her of the ex-
plosion and the fire..
She was silent for a few moments bu,
afterward she went on, half gropingly
he thought.
us that part of your work-to get the
trains on the track when they run OFF,
He laughed. II suppose it is-or at
| least, in a certain sense, I'm responsible
for it. But I am lucky enough to have a
| wrecking boss--two Of them, i'm fact, and
| both good ones
| She looked up quickly. and he was sure
| that he surprised something more than a
passing interest in the serious eyes-a
trouble depth. he would have called it.
| had their talk been anything more than
the ordinary conventional table exchange.
| I'VE saw you go down to speak to two
| OF your men-One who wore his hat pulled
down over his eyes and made dreadful
! faces at YOU as he talked
| THAT was McCloskey our trainmaster,'
| he cut in.
| "And the other
| Was wrecking boss No. o. he told
| her. my latest apprentice. aud a very
| promising young subject. This was his
first time out under my administration.
| and he put McCloskey and me out of
the running at once
what did he do?' she asked, and
again he saw the cropping usefulness in
| her eyes and wondered at it.
Il couldn't explain 1t without being I'M
pardonably technical. But perhaps it can
best be summed up in saving that he is
| hne mechanical engineer, with the add
| ed gift of knowing how to handle men,
You are generous, Mr.. Lidgerwood. to
| to subordinate. He ought to be very
loyal to you
He is. And 1 don't think of him as a
| subordinate-I shouldn't even if he were
on my pay roll instead Of on that OF the
| motive-power department. I am glad to
be able to call him my friend Miss Hol-
cOmbe.''
Again a few moments of silence. during
which Lidgerwood was staring gloomily
across at Miss Brewster and Van Lew.
Then another curiOusly abrupt question
| from the young woman at his side.
His college, Mr.. Lidgerwood: do you
chance to know where he was gradu-
ated?'
At another moment Lidgerwood might
| have wondered at the young woman s
persistence. But now Benson's story of
Dawson's terrible misfortune was crowd
ihS all purely speculative lnOuSntS out
of his mind.
He took his engineering course in Car
negie, but l believe he did not stay
through the four years. he said gravely.
Miss Holcombe was looking down the
table, down and across to where her
| father was sitting. at Mr.. Brewster S
right. When she spoke again the per-
sonal note was gone: and after that the
| talk what there was of it. was of the
sort that is meant to bridge discomfort
| ing gaps.
| In the dispersal after the meal Lidger-
wood attached himself to Miss Doty; this
| In sheer self-defense. The desert pas
sage was still in its earlier stages, and
Miss Carolyn's volubiity promised to be
| the less Of two evils, the greater being
the possibility that Eleanor Brewster
| might seek to reopen a certain spring of
bitterness at which he had been con-
strained to drink deeply and miserably
In the past.
| The self-defensive expedient served its
| purpose admirably. For the better part
| OF the desert run the president slept in
his stateroom, Mrs. Brewster and the
judge dozed in their respective easy
| chairs, and Jefferis and Miriam Hol-
| combe after roaming for an uneasy half
hour from the rear platform to the cook S
galley forward. went up ahead. at one of
the stops. TO ride-by the SUPERINTENDENT s
permission in the engine cab with Will
| lams. Miss Brewster and Van Lew were
absorbed in book of plays and their
corner of the large. open compartment
| was the one farthest removed from the
! double divan which Lidgerwood had
| chosen for Miss Carolyn and himself
Later, Van Lew rolled cigar ette and
| went to the smoking compartment, which
| was In the forward end of the car: and
| eyehold upon him. Miss brewster had
| also disappeared-intO her stateroom AS
| he supposed. Taking this as a. sign of
his release, lie gently broke the thread
OF Miss Carolyn's inquisitiveness and
went out to the rear platform for A
breath of fresh air and eurcease from
the fashery of a neatly balanced tongue.
| When it was quite too late 10 retreat
| he found the deep-recessed observation
| platform of the Nadia occupied. Miss
Brewster was not i'm her stateroom. as he
| had mistakenly persuaded himself. She
was sitting in one of the Two platform
| camp chairs. and she alone.
| II thought YOU would come if [ only
| gave you time enough. she said quite
coolly. Did you find Carolyn very per
| suasive?"
| He ignored the query about Miss Doty.
replying only to the first part of her
| speech.
| II thought YOU had gone to your state
room. l hadn't the slightest idea that
you were out here
otherwise YOU would not have come
| How nlagnifcently churish YOU can be,
| upon occasion HoWard!'
| 1T doesn't deserve so hard a name"
he rejoined, patiently. For the moment
am your fathers guest. and when he
asked me to go to Angels with him.
| He didn't tell you that mamma, and
! Judge Holcombe. and Carolyn. and Mir
lam, and Herbert. and Geof Jeffers and
| l were along" she cut in. maiiciously.
| Howard. don't you know YOU are posi-
| lively spiteful, at times
| No he denied.
| Don't contradict me and don't be
| sillyA She pushed the other chair to-
ward him. ''Sit down and tell me how
you've been enduring the interval 1t is
| more than year. isn't it,
| Yes. A year. three months and eleven
| days. He had taken the chair beside
her because there seemed to be nothing
| else to do.
| How mathematically exact you are!"
she gibed. Tomorrow it will be a year,
| three months and twelve days; and the
| day after tomorrow-n1ercy me. / should
go mad if had TO think back and count
up that way every day. But l asked you
! what you had been doing
| He spread his hands. Existing. one
way and another. There has always been
my work"