The Hattiesburg news., 1910-02-22

IL, lou, UOu40S Ny toc yeAu ~no
some eight ensembles with their alb
ject compliments had been packed
into three automobiles and a trap.
drew long breath and faced about.
l had just then only one object in life
TO and Alison, to assure her Of my
absolute faith and confidence in her,
and to offer my help and my poor
self, II she would let me, in her
service. '44
She was not easy to find. searched
the lower floor, the veranda and the
grounds. circumspectly. Then l ran
into q little English girl who turned
out to be her maid, and who also was
searching. She was concerned be-
cause her mistress had no dinner, and
because the tray Of food she carried
would soon be cold. l took the tray
from her, on the glimpse of something
white on the shore, and that was how
I met the girl again.
She was sitting on an overturned
boat, her chin in her hands, staring
out to sea. The soft tide of the bay
Tapped almost at her feet, and the
draperies of her white gown melted
hazily into the sands. She looked like
wrath, a Respondent phantom OF
the sea, although the adjective is re-
dundant. Nobody ever thinks of a
cheerful phantom. Strangely enough,
considering her evident sadness, she
was whistling softly to herself, over
and over, some dreary little minor air
that sounded like a Bohemian dirge.
She glanced up quickly when l made
a misstep and my dishes jingled. All
considered, the tray was out of the
picture; the sea, the misty starlight,
the girl, with her beauty-even the
sad little whistle that stopped now
and then to go bravely on again, as
though it fought against the odds of
trembling lip. And then / came,
accompanied by a tray of little silver
dishes that jingled and an unmistak-
able odor of broiled chicken!
"Oh!" she said quickly; and then,
"Oh! thought you were Jenkins"
"Timeo Donaos-what's the rest of
it," l asked, rendering my offering.
'You didn't have any dinner, you
know" I sat down beside her. "See,
I'll be the table. What was the old
fairy tale? Little goat bleat; little
table appear!' I'm perfectly willing
to be the goat, too"
She was laughing rather tremu
lously.
I'VE never do meet like other peo
pie, do we?" she asked. I'VE really
ought to shake hands and say how
are you"
''I don't want to meet you like Other
people, and l suppose you always
think of me as wearing the other fel
lows Clothes" I returned meekly
"I'm doing it again; l don't seem tt
be able to help it. These are Grang
er's that have on now"
She threw back her head an(
laughed again, joyously, this time.
"Oh, it's so ridiculous" she said
'and you have never seen me when
was not eating! It's too prosaic!"
(which reminds me that the chick
en- is getting cold, and the ice warm,
suggested. "At the time, though
there could be no place better thai
the farmhouse kitchen-but this is
l ordered all this for something
want to say to you-the sea, tn
sand, the stars"
How alliterative you are!" sh'
said, trying to be flippant. you ar
not to say anything until I have haa
my supper. Look how the things ar,
spilled around!"
But she ate nothing, after all, ant
pretty soon l put the tray down il
the sand. I said little; there was n,
hurry. We were together, and tim,
meant nothing against that age-lonl
wash of the sea. The air blew hel
hair in small damp curls against hel
face, and little by little the tide re
treated, leaving our boat an oasis IL
a waste Of gray sand.
IF seven maids with seven mops
swept 1t for half a year
Do you suppose, the walrus said, that
they could get it clear?"
she threw at me once when she
must have known l was going to
speak. l held her hand, and as long
as merely held it she let it lie warm
In mine. But when I raised it to my
lips, and kissed the soft, open palm,
she drew it away without displeasure.
Not that, please" she protested,
and fell to whistling softly again, her
chin in her hands. Il can't sing" she
said, to break an awkward pause,
land so when I'm fdgety, or have
something on my mind, l whistle. l
hope you don't dislike it?"
Il love it," l asserted warmly. l
did; when she pursed her lips like
that | was mad to kiss them
Il saw you-at the station" she
said suddenly. "You-you were in a
hurry to CO." did not say anything,
and after pause she drew a long
breath. Men are queer. aren't they?"
she said, and fell to whistling again.
After awhile she sat up as if she
had made a resolution. Il am going
to confess something" she announced
suddenly. you said, you know, that
YOU had ordered all thic for oornath;r~