Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-07
N Thursdays Bargain Sale News Powerful Factor in Helping You
III to Save Money Practical Worthy Christmas Gifts
.Septinai1s
By WILLIAM J. LOCKE
Copyright. 1908. by the Phillips Publish.
Ing Company
Copyright. 1909. BY John Lane Company



Fora met his eyes for the millionth part
of q second and turned her head away,
deeply sorry for him. The woman's in
stinctive look dealt instantaneous death
10 his hopes. 1t was one more enactment
of the tragedy of the bald head and the
gray. beard He spoke with pathetic bit
terness.: Like Don Ruy Gomez da Silva
in Hermann" he gave her to understand
that now. when a young fellow passed
him In the street he would give UP all S
motor cars and all his colossal canned
salmon business for the young fellows
raven hair and bright eyes.
Then YOU would love me. l could make
pu.''
what is love after alI?" asked Fora.
The elderly senator looked wistfully
through the years over an infinite welter
of salmon tins seeing nothing else
Its the meaning of life, said he.
"Tve discovered 1t too late.
He went away sorrowful. and Fora saw
the vanity of great possessions.
On the homeward steamer she had as
a travelling companion young EHghSh-
man whom she had met. at Los Angeles
zone Anthony Dasent, an engineer of some
distinction. He was bronZed and healthy
and litfe-limbed. She liked him because
The had brains and looked her sauarely
lin the face On the. first. evening OF the
fIer to slip, and she would have fallen
lhad he not caught her by the arms For
ffhe first time she, realized how strong
man could be- 1t was a new sensation.
mot unp1easlirable, and in thanking him
she bIushed. He remained with her on
deck I an d., talked. of their California
frieifdstand. the Emitted States. The next
day ne established himself, by her side
and discouraged on the sea and the sky.
human aspirations. the discomforts of his
cabin and a belief in eternal punishment.
The day after that he told her of his
ambitions. and showed her photographs of
his mother and sisters. After that they
exchanged views on the discipline of lone
illness. His profession, he observed, took
him to- the waste places of the earth.
where there was never woman to cheer
him. and when he came back to England
he returned to a hearth equally uncon-
soled. Fora began to pity his forlorn con-
dition. To build strong bridges and lay
down railroads was "a glorious thing for
a man to do: to do ii without sweetheart
or wife was nothing less than heroic.
In the course Of time he told her that
she was the most beautiful woman he
had ever met. He expressed his admira-
ton of the gold neckS in her brown eyes
ard the CLEANS of gold in her hair when
il was caught by the sun. He also wished
that his sisters could have their skirts
cut like hers and could learn the art OF
tying a veil over a hat. Then he took to
scowling on inoffensive young men who
binoculars. He declared one of them to
be an unmitigated ass to throw whom
overheard would be TO insult the Atlantic.
And then Fora recognized that he was
stolidly in love with her after the man
ner of his stOlid kind She felt frightened
and accused herself of coquetry. Her
sympathy with his barren existence had
perhaps overstepped the boundaries OF po-
lite interest. She had raised false hopes
in a young and ingenious bosom. She
worked herself up to a virtuous pitch OF
self-reprobation and flagellated herself
soundly. taking the precaution. however.
Of wadding the knots of the scourge with
cottonwood. After all. was it her fault
that wholesome young .BritOn should
fall in love with her? She remembered
Rattenden's uncomfortable words on the
eve of her first pilgrimage: Beautiful
women like yourself, radiating feminine
magnetism, worry man exceedingly.
You don't let him go about in peace, so
why should he let you?"
So Fora came face TO face with the
eternal battle Of the sexes. She stamped
her foot in the privacy of her cabin. and
declared the principle to be horrid and
primeval and everything that was most
revolving to woman who had earnestly
set forth to discover the highest things of
life. For the remainder Of the voyage
she avoided Anthony Dasent's company
rs much as possible, and, lest he should
add jealousy to the gloom In which he
enveloped himself, sought exciting joys
discoursed playfully on the foraminifera
OF the Pacific slope
One day Dasent came on her alone and
burst out. wrathfully:
why are YOU treating me like this
Like WHAT?
You are making fool of me. I'm not
going to stand 1t.
Then she realized that when the aver
age man does not get what he wants eX-
actly when he wants it he loses his tenn
per. She soothed him according to the
better instincts OF her sex, but resolved
TO play no more with elementary young
Britons. One-eyed biologists were safer
companions. The former pitched their
hearts into her lap; the latter. like Paw
kins, the geologist of the Pacific slope,
gave her boxes of fossils. She preferred
the fossils. You could do what you liked
with them-throw them overheard when
the donor was not looking. or leave them
behind in a railway carriage, or take
them home and present them to the vicar,
who collected butterflies. beetles. ammon-
ties and tobacco shoppers. But an odd
assortment of hearts to q woman who
does not want them is really a confound-
ed nuisance. Fora was very much re-
Heved when Dasent. after eating an enor-
nous breakfast. babe her a tragic fare
well At Gibraltar.
It was a cdoudless afternoon when she
steamed into Marseille. The barren rock
islands on the east rose blue-gray from
blue sea. To the west lay the Isles OF
Frfoul and the Island Of the Chateau dIf. |
with its prison lying grim and long on |
the crest: in front the busy port, the
white noble city crowned by the church |
OF Notre Dame de Ia Garde standing SEN |
tine1 against the clear sky. |
Fora stood on the crowded deck watch |
Ing the scene. touched as she always was |
by natural beauty. but sad at heart. Mar
pealle. within four-and-twenty hours of |
JIondon, meant homo Although she in |
feR6Ad nd