The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-05
THE EVENING STORY

(Clarissa Mackie.)

Bert Desmond's hand came down on
Archer's shoulder with a resounding
slap. Congratulate you, old man."
he exclaimed. heartily
Thanks said the other. with an
amused smile. "but what's all this row
about. anyway
Your engagement, of course! Blake
has just told me. She's the
Blake's a silly old chatterbox. I'm
not going to marry anybody-you
might congratulate me on that fact"
interrupted Archer.
Funny, isn't it, unused Desmond
perplexedly. Blake told me plain as
could be that Archer was engaged to
marry
Archer interrupted this time with
a laugh. "Oh, it must have been my
cousin, Tom Archer! Go and con-
mistake. he's always engaged to some
body. Going down to the club house?
No? Very well. SO long"
Bob Archer went grinning on his
way down to the yacht club while
Desmond pursued solitary walk
along the board walk that led to the
big hotel.
A girl seated in an automobile near
by looked toward the shop before
which she was waiting with a bored
air. Through the folds of the white
veil that swathed her face the color
in her cheeks burned like a stain. Her
hands were firmly clinched in her lap
and her whole attitude betrayed re-
strained Impotence.
Helen Dale had heard every word
of the conversation between the two
men. She knew that she was the
girl who had been reported engaged
linked with Bob Archer's had brought
her such a pang of exquisite pain
that she stood self-revealed on the in
slant.
So that was the reason she could
not fall in love with the dozen men
who had succumbed to her beauty and
charmi She had claimed for herself
GOODNESS, aloofness, Indifference to all
men-and 1t was merely because she
had given her heart. unasked, in the
keeping of Bob Archer.
Tt was well known that Bob Archer
did not care for women. Yachting,
tennis and golf and his Office satisfied
all his cravings. He lived at club
open, wherever there was good healthy
outdoor sport. Helen's tastes were
the same. but Archer's companions
were mostly men and she had met him
seldom. then when he had made one
of his infrequent appearances in the
ballroom.
And Helen had fallen in love with
him, unsought, undesired. A very
agony of shame came upon her. but
through it glowed a fierce joy that he
had declared himself a confirmed
bachelor. If he did not care for her
there was nobody else.
Then it wa sthat Helen DaIe's fir
tation with Tom Archer came to an
abrupt end.
A few days afterward Helen was
swimming far out beyond the float that
marked the limit of safe swimming.
She was an expert swimmer and re-
joiced in the cold salt water. the
warmth of the sun on her uplifted
face and the soft resistance of the
waves against her strength.
Slender, graceful and muscular, she
made pretty sight, her white arms
cleaning like marble against the blue
shining in the sunlight. Her eyes
were fixed on a distant buoy she had
marked for turning point.
She did not see mans form dive
nearby, nor see his long strokes
toward the same goal she was striv-
ing for. Helen was almost upon him
when her attention was attracted by
a low shout OF distress, ms brown
arm shot upward and he sank before
It was not until Helen had reached
the spot and grasped him firmly by
his thick hair that she recognized Bob
Archer. In that moment of suspense
she forget her tenderness for him,
everything save the fact that he was
a human being and that his life was
in danger.
left him only half conscious. His eyes
were closed and he did not struggle.
Before she could cry for assistance
she had been observed from the yacht
and boat was hastily lowered and
exhausted with the hard pull. Archer
was a heavy man and had been dead
weight in the one hand she could
spare ,
only revived when a distracted sailor
dashed singing salt water ins her face
and eyes. Then she sat up and looked
anxiousiy at the inanimate form in
the bottom Of the boat.
ST think he'll be all right, miss"
said the coxswain reassuringly. He
must have been took with a. cramp, for
ordinarily Mr.. Archer is fine swim
mer.''
Tears of thankfulness forced them
selves to Helen's eyes and she made
no reply. Once on board the yacht
she declined the captains urgent Of
fers of hospitality. She did accept one
it on.
when she was assured that he was
recovering and would soon be up and
around she asked to be taken ashore;
with her mother and returned to her
home in the city.
Helen Dale knew that Bob Archer
must seek her out and express his
gratitude for what she had done; that
She might not meet him again she
had fled.
Bob Archer awoke to a rather uH-
pleasant realization the morning after
the rescue. He who had always been
independent of women was Indebted
TO one for his life. He blushed to rec
oI1ect that a girl had come to his res
cue and he cursed his own weakness
In succumbing to a mere cramp. But
he set forth to the hotel. immaculate
In white duck from top to toe In his