The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-10-31
THE SKY
HENRY MITCHELL WEBSTER
4tbnv f.,ts Sa,nuetM -rial Of Cau9t. *
Cosyrrht 1910 by The Century Company.

nousiy IL had slipped away wonderful
; " fast She had not theeh Bored nor
melancholy, indeed. she and taNieS
had both been too busy for that fof-
lorn Indulgence. There was an IN
credible number Of things to do. thing
which would make such difference
tn their comfort and security. that
what the, had To resist was a fever
lsh haste and an attempt to get every :
thing done at once. And she was
generally So tired when II came time
10 call GALLEY al midnight FOR the
beginning Of MS watch. that she slept
like child until eight O'Clock the
neNt morning. when another day
Work began.
There was always something dell
riaus about that part of the day. The
fast that she and t'aNtey were tog ether
only far those eight hours made 1t
possible L. condsuse their eompan~
icnshtp II a rather higher tension
than ~ ordinarily possible fer people
who are always In each others COM
panT
Bu; still. sne said To her self. as
she, tay there on the bear skin, gaz-
ing uu, laziix. at the soaring creature
that seemed so unrelated to the ma
who was the subject pf her thoughts.
i but still companionshir was the word
for it He had not made love to her,
i he had never repeated the declaration
/ that he had made to her that morn
] ing on the beach when she had dis
F covered that the yacht. was gone aud
what its absence meant. Once in a
! while he had used some caressing lit
! tie word 81 endearment in speaking
/ to her. and. more rarely still--much
| more rarcly-had offered her the ca
] ress OF his hands or OF an arm across
/ her shoulders.
/ But that had happened almost nev-
! err at all lately. 1t rather noticeahiS
! had not happened Her own express
sions OF affection were rather impnl-
! sively denonstrative, and she had mo-
ticed. once or twice, that he hao
seemed to shrink away from them.
That Was the way she reviewed the
situation in her own mind So lar. a
least. there was no reason for guar
| reling with the designation com
rade But she knew perfectly wei
that she had only reviewed one std'
of It.
ON the other side. to begin with
was The erea, luminous fact that here
pom this frozen Arctic land alone
and worse thau alone, amid priSatlon
she would once have thought intot
cradle. and in daily peril of death
sts. and Gayley had been unfetgn.dl
and delightediy happS~--she ana ia
man whom she never saw until t#'
daSs before that amazing eon1unthoi
Of circumstances that had throw
! Them thns together, They TWO. stran
gers as tn. world rec kons such mat
tiers had been living for weeks With
, in The confines OF an enforced int
. macy. which would have become lrk
2 some with any other person, her ia
{ Their excepted perhaps that she ha
I ever known Hut II was not irksom
to them They began the eight hour
=. they called their day. together. wit
the high spirits OF a pair of children
and they ended them with reluctance
tempered only by the anticipation q
, ! another tomorrow.
! There was more than comradeshi
i in that. certainly she and Tom Fan
shaw had been comrades, and. as sh
t had told him. she loved him yer
much. but at the thought of spendin
an Arctic winter with him, she smile
, rather wryly,
Was she quite honest. after all, i
telling herself that CayleN had no
made low. TO her lie had put moth
I ing of the sort into words To be SURE
and he had sought none, not even IN
most easily granted. or lovers priv
lrges. had even. as she had no'lee'
: shrunk AWAY little from those sh
r had half-nn consciously offered MIN
] Jeanne was woman. b1A she wa
' Siill enough Of girl to wonder III
tie why he did that.
tTo be continueu.l