Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1910-08-28
A FACE IN
the CROWD.
r -yz7
The Story of a Pretty Little Love
Romance.
BY KEITH GORDON.

6I NLts ~ a0hbOiNs
After awhile she came TO look for
him when the train stopped at the Fiji
ty-third street station In the morning
the tall, broad shouldered man with the
aggressive chin and determined mouth.
She felt vaguely disappointed when
she did not see him.
Insensibly he became the touch OF
romance In the dreary monotony OF her
days, five and half out OF seven of
which were spent In Wall street,
place where the advantages OF being
woman are not glaringly apparent.
Often during the tagging afternoons
Of summer. when business was dull
and the hands of the clock approached
3 but slowly. she would sit resting on
her face on her hands and wondering
about him. Who was he? What was
he? Was he married or single?
The noise Of the street below. dulled
by distance until II was as dreamy as
the humming of bees at MONDAY,
droned softly In her ears sort Of liv-
ing melody, and her thoughts de1ed
Office hours and went far afield In a
fantastic search for the reality about
him among the crowd of possibilities.
Over and over she gave him local
habitation and q name, but these
changed always with her mood. No
name that she could hit upon seemed
to express his personality, and she
finally discarded them all and thought
Of him only as The Man.
The weeks melted into months, but
her interest In him did not flag. Rath-
er It became deeper as time went on.
Curiously enough, 1t was what might
be termed the nonessentials that .baf-
fed her. About the man himself-his
character and what he would do in
any given emergency-she felt the
same assurance that she did about her
self
She had decided that he was law
yer, though precisely why she thought
so she could not have told. Then one
day she saw him with child, girl
of ten, who bore a certain fleeting re-
semblance to him.
He was married. then! An almost
imperceptible sigh escaped her. Then.
as the absurdity of the matter dawned
upon her, she laughed softly to her
self. What difference? Josephine and
Marie Louise had never dampened her
affection for Napoleon. She even be-
gan to feel a mild interest in the lady.
Sometimes, for two or three weeks
at a stretch. they would not encounter
each other. 1t was after one OF these
breaks that, watching him as he en-
tered the car, her interest and salts
faction at seeing him again shone all
unconsciously in her face. and his
glance was arrested by It.
AS the faint color touched her cheeks
under his gaze he looked casually
away. For a moment he had thought
her some half forgotten acquaintance
from the welcome that he had sur
prised In her eyes. but her quick an
Doyance as she returned TO her reading
forbade that idea
She did not look toward him again.
but more than once his keen blue eyes
rested upon her as she sat there. slim
and straight, with masses or pale
brown hair piled upon her small head.
After this he, too. began to watch OF
a morning. A habit is very easily
formed!
Then for weeks he disappeared. The
girl wondered anxiously what had be-
come Of him Had he gone abroad?
Mayhap he was ill-or deadl At the
thought she shrank like one hurt. for
he had become. in a whimsical way,
a part of her life. He had become as
near and dear as only Ideals can be-
When he did appear one morning,
towering above a crowd Of lesser men
like a god, there was new gravity In
bis face which held her attention even
before she noticed that he was In
mourning.
That. then, was what these weeks
of absence from business meant-sick-
ness and suffering and death His
wife undoubtedly. from the sorrow and
oppression that he showed The quick
sympathy that Sue A-'t ho'ei Al &c
soft, wide eyes as they rested briefly
upon his face And be, reading that
look. felt q curious thrill.
Long since he had begun to regard
her wifi sort Of tacit, silent friend
ship. "the little girl with her soul In
her facet as ne once described her to a
friend. shaking his head deprecstingiy
ut the thought Of woman like her
having to wrestle with the world She
seemed to him too exquisite for the
ups and downs of such a life
He watched her surrept.tiously now.
wondering idly who she was and
whether be should ever meet her
There was a wayne might follow her
aud bestow q quarter on the elevator