Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1910-05-12
Copyright. by Bobbs-Merrill Coz

"Oh, l know how it ends" he nm
ished shortly. Don't you suppose the
whole things written on my spinal
marrow"
But am wandering again. That is
the difficulty with the unprofessional
story-teller: He yaws back and forth
and can't keep in the wind; he drops
his characters overheard when he
hasn't any further use for them and
browns them; he forgets the cofree
pot and the frying pan and all the
other small essentials, and, If he car
ries a love affair, he mutters a fer
vent "Allah be praised" when he
lands them, drenched with adventures,
at the matrimonial dock at the end of
the final chapter.
put in a thoroughly unsatisfactory
afternoon. Time dragged eternally.
dropped into summer vaudeville, and
bought some ties at haberdasher's.
| was bored but uneXpectant; l had
no premonition of what was to come.
Nothing unusual had ever happened
to me; friends of mine had some
times sailed the high seas of adven-
ture or skirted the coasts of chance,
but all of the shipwrecks had occurred
after a woman passenger had been
taken on. Ergo" l had always said
mo women!' l repeated it to my
self that evening almost savagely,
when l found my thoughts straying
back to the picture of John Gilmore's g
granddaughter. even argued as
ate my solitary dinner at downtown
restaurant.
Haven't you troubles enough"
reflected, without looking for more
Hasn't Bad News gone lame, with q
matinee race booked for next week?
Otherwise aren't you comfortable?
Isn't your house in order? Do you
want to sell pony in order to have
the library done over in mission or
the drawing room in gold? Do you
want somebody to count the empty
cigarette boxes lying around every
morning."
Lay it to the long idle afternoon, to
the new environment, to anything you
like, but l began to think that per-
haps l did. | was confoundedly lone
ly. For the first time in my life its
even course began to waver. The
needle registered warning marks on
the matrimonial seismograph, lines
vague enough, but lines.
Ny alligator bag lay at my feet
still locked. While l waited for my
coffee leaned back and surveyed the
people incuriously. There were the
usual couples intent on each other
my new state of mind made me re.
gard them with tolerance. But at the
next table, where man and woman
dined together, different atmosphere
prevailed. My attention was first
caught by the woman's face. She had
been speaking earnestly across the
table, her profile turned to me-. had
noticed casually her earnest manner,
her somber clothes, and the great
mass of odd, bronze-colored hair on
her neck. But suddenly she glanced
toward me and the utter hopelessness
almost tragedy-of her expression
struck me with a shock. She half
closed her eyes and drew long
breath, then she turned again to the
man across the table.
Neither one was eating. He sat low
in his chair, his chin on his chest,
ugly folds of thick flesh protruding
over his collar. He was probably so,
bald, grotesque, sullen, and yet not
without a suggestion of power. But he
had been drinking; as l looked, he
raised an unsteady hand and sum-
moned waiter with a wine list,
The young woman bent across the
table and spoke again quickly. She
had unconsciously raised her voice.
Not beautiful, in her earnestness and
stress she rather interested me. 1
had an idle inclination to advise the
waiter to remove the bottled tempta-
ton from the table. / wonder what
would have happened II l had? Sup
pose Harrington had not been intox-
icated when he entered the Pullman
oar Ontario that night!
For they were about to make . Jour
Asy, gathered, and the young wom-
an wished to 60 alone. drank three
cups Of coffee, which accounted for
my wakefulnosS later, and shameless
Iy watched the tableau before me. The
wOnaA'S protest evidently went for
aStAinG; aoross the table the man
Uruntod AsaesyllAbio replies and grew
0Ea AAd more leMerinK aAG sUllsA.