The San Francisco call., 1910-10-23

fancy, on his own
"Hammy." she murmured, are you
mixed with the grand jury L neeliu
something today"
'Yes?' he asked 1azily; and then with
kind interest: Mel. Wouldnt get
the habit Of repeating anything Harry
or the police commissioners say lou
know how you stand.
.R,,t heard vour name-I was In
terested. Harry and that other com
missioner. the little Dutch one. sald
you'd have TO testify to somethlng
YOU were the only man who could nN
things right. You're cutting IN deep
with the push.f aren't you?
He studied her shrewd inStant-thsv
red brown hair wOndrOusly distlnctlNe'
the good humored face. r0uged over her
freckles: her heavy 1idded eyes. DARK
blue Always the careless Slpsy, lole.
with a dozen little Yomanly tricks at
odds with her restless SOphistlcation.
She was obsessed by her clothes, clesn'
rich overefective. She was SELL
conscious from this dressing. THROWING
back her furs with a deprecating shTuS
that set the pearl butterfly at me-
throat aglean. and gave pretty. olrG
like twist to her white neck Nella dlN
NOT belong in Sedainfs tawdry cafe. out
She came over the hin because the CROWD
"made her laugh and because Ram
Arnold treated her differently IRON any
man she ever knew. Besides, mere q
her prettiness suffered no comparison
nor were her gowns eclipsed.
Mel" Arnold smiled with rriendlN
abstraction. I'm out OF politics. I've
cut out the queer work. I'm going 20
be married.
He saw her surprised eyes fit to the
girl from the country at the other end
OF the table. THAT little girl In olae
Nella murmured. Look here you
wouldn't let Eddie Ledyard and me be
friends. but you--you go marry good
girl Amt I just as good as YOU
Hammy?"
Wei. YOU know Eddie's mother-his
family He looked into her eyes. the
mute Judgment the immemorial wrongs
OF women faced him. "She loves me-
Nel--you see it's different"
Nella Free stared at him with COM
pIex intent that he had never seen IN
her restless, variable eyes. May9e ne
loved me too she rnurmured: ''playbe
I had a soul too But it's different.
she added mechanically, and tolio~eu
the Jew girl to the door He saw her
a moment In the gloom or the nan
leading to the lodgings above, watching
his sweetheart in a curious aostractloh'
then she slipped into the rainy Night
leaving him an evanescent suggestion
of an oriental perfume exhaled, it
seemed from the bfrdlike twists of her
small. white neck
The young man rose and went 70 MS
bride TO be. who was still talking inter-
estediy with Mary Melody; they had
discovered a surprising friendship
Louis Ferreri and Walters were leaV-
ing
"Arent you going to the fight!
asked the slot machine agent Md
Brannan1l never get this little Chl-
cago guy in 20 round so. and lI
Slavin can land his left, It's dreamland
for the native SON"
I'm not going" responded Arnold
Sorry, Louis. but"
The slot machine man stared. That
Arnold should miss the $4,000 cham-
pionship battle was incredible. Ihen
his eyes wandered to the girl at the
other end OF the table
Girl he murmured. "girlt
yes" retorted Arnold. I'm going 20
be married-you fellows may as well
know it now!'
His friends eyes opened. his Jaw
dropped .'Married?" he laughed. Ham
always was "joshing" one way or an
other. This pretty girl was the latest
Ell? The muddle headed Italian Amer
lean departed. winking al the impassiVe
rag" composeF-who was the new
dame" that Arnold had picked up2
The sentimentally vacant 'Wally'
didn't care: he still hummed the spring
Song." which wrought itself into vague
variations Of his own improvising-
When Arnold went back to the table
he found his sweetheart sitting up very
straight, her cheeks flushed. her eyes
bright. indignantly regarding Mr.
Jarbo.
"But I don't drink! I never, never
tasted itt'' cried She
"Wen. don't get mad" retorted the
poet Il don't either I got weak
heart so nixy on the salieylic for me.
"a
stuff. Yes, sir; look at the Kind OF
stuff they turned out as long as we
had two bottle and four bottle men in
the business, Look at Shakespeare and
Byron and Burns and Poe They'd get
a souse and go home, light candle
in the garret and turn out stun that's
now immortali Yes" continued the
poet belIfgerently. Immortal; and here
I've got the cardiac thumps and have
to stick to ginger ale"
"Ohr gasped the little mountain
bride
'sYes, sir-stay away from the booze.
Here you come down from the country
peaceful and pure and lofty and re-
fined, but you're no genius"
Sylvia blinked her dismay She put
out a hand to her lover. Drink?
The city had been a vast surging or
lights through gray rains, shouts, hur-
ryings. the changing OF money, the
smell OF wine and garlic-a DRAWING
hungry life that cackled and jeered,
and here red headed poet was seold-
ing her about drink, She shivered and
Arnold put his arm about her
Come on" said he; every one
rather crazy. but Sammy's the worst
The young man waved his hand as
the pock faced proprietor looked ex-
pectantly up; Sedainf growled and
scratched on his tabs. He looked at
Mr.. John Hamilton Arnolds account
and sighed again; 1t was, indeed, over
long.
MARY Melody and the poet were now
the only occupants OF the cafe. From
the kitchen Henri and the cook bawled
in Gallo-Roman and clattered the
dishes Mary looked back at Sammy,
now in process Of another divine SELF
ure. diving about in his pockets for
clean piece OF paper. Amt you COM
ing up?" she called softly, and then
seeing the well known symptoms. she
stole away
The poet gIared into the array OF
dirty dishes around him and he blew
kepacco smoke about; his eyes fell az
a paper on the floor. II was the MAJ
riage license OF Sylvia Spring and John
Arnold and on IL were cat tracks OF