Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1910-01-21
HAPTE ri.
Continued from last week
FRANCES GOES no SEA.

lowing the casting OF the oou-
mers gun, three months that
had brought many changes to
those whose lives had been for a short
time tangled in the intricate maze of
pride. love and ambition.
The gun had peer taken to the prov
ing grounds and there had stood the
test. The naval board was enthusi.
astic over it. All that remained was
for the weapon to prove its efficiency
on shipboard at target practice and 1t
would be adopted by the government.
Orders on the Rhinestrom gun were
still held up pending the result of tar
get practice.
LiAtenant Sommers had been or
dered back to sea duty. Apparently
he had achieved his ambition. The
future looked bright for him In his
chosen profession. Fellow officers en-
We'd him. He was considered a won
derfuI young man. and a bright future
In the service of his country seemed in
All this on the side Of ambition. hut
on the other side life was not SO
bright. He knew that no matter how
high he might rise in his profession
happiness could not be his. He had
lost irretrievably the girl he loved
and satisfied ambition meant little to
him compared to that.
On the morning after the sensational
events In the furnace room Sommers
had called at the Durant house. Fran
ces had. refused to see him. He wrote
her a letter. and 1T was returned to
him unopened. Finally he managed to
meet her on the street. but she passed
him by without speaking.
Next morning the young officer re-
ported back In Washington for duty.
And how about the girl? She had
hurried away from the works that
night burning with shame and raging
with anger. She determined never TO
see Sommers again. She hated him.
She knew she did! And to make it
again.
The next day she was still enraged
when he called. 1t cost no effort to
have him turned from the door. When
his note arrived she started impul
sively to open it. then checked her,
self. She would be firm; she would
punish him.
And so with some slight effort she
handed the letter to the servant with
instructions to return it to Lieutenant
Sommers at his hotel.
Passing her old lover on the street
had peer an effort. but that, too, she
managed to do It took the last of
her anger. however. The reaction had
come. She began TO regret. then to
forgive and finally to long once more
for the one man who. she felt sure.
could make her happy.
A little discreet questioning had
brought out the cause of his anger.
She found out the real reputation OF
Pinckney among the work people. The
discovery shocked her.
She understood then why Sommers
had beer so enraged. She saw 1t was
not against her or brought about by
any doubt of her, but merely fierce,
uncomfortable rage against Pinckney
that he had dared-a man OF his Kind
to put her In a position that his char
acter at once made questionable.
When she had finally come to a real
understanding the girl longed to write.
but Sommers by that time was awar
on sea duty. and she could not reach
him. Against her own Judgment she
had longed for and expected some
word from him. But the naval Off
GERS pride was too great to pursue a
further intrusion after so signal a re-
buff.
Then the girl began to grow pale
and TO worry. Her parents noticed
the change without realizing the cause.
No one had any suspicion Of the real
relation between Frances and the
young naval officer. That good
night" on the vine covered porch was
IA secret-a tender memory locked in
her heart and In his. to be brought out
by each, regarded fondly and mourned