The Washington times., 1911-10-16
CHAPTER II (continued) /.
INV , HY should it?"
NV Don't the New York
" girls you know look down


don't know. You see, never met
any New York girls"
oh! thought you were a New
Yorker"
II am
AND you never met any New York
girls! Are you woman-hater?"
Not at all. I've simply been two
pusy. OF course. had nodding ac-
Quaintance with the stenographers at
the factory and with my landlady's
daughter. but never had time to talk
with any Of them"
She was sitting very straight and
looking keenly at me. as II to deter
mine whether or not I was jesting.
do you actually mean to say" she
began, at last. that you've never had
any girl acquaintance in all your life ~
Never till I met you. / suppose W.
are>acquaintances, aren't we? I've talk
say sd mSrs otSsr with Itn you than ever did with
IT really believe you're telling the
TRUTH" she murmured, with q sort of
incredulous awe. And to think Of q
man living to your age without ever
e; even sa,la,A having had the misfortune to fall
Lowell" l protested. Il have-often."
why, you said
I saw suspicion leap into her big eyes.
i've fallen in love successfully with
Juliet. Portia. Desdemona. Di Vernon.
the Lady of the Lake"
"oh!" she laughed. the suspicion fad
from the booksT"
where else was to find them? The
best thing about falling In love with a
book heroine is that she can never
II she marries another man, one has
the satisfaction of knowing the lucky
chap never really existed except In SONS
"Do you know she interposed,
what you tell me makes me very much
ashamed Of my earlier ideas about you?
You were 80 stin-almost uncivil-
whenever tried to talk to you at the
really 1t was only because you weren't
used to talking to girls"
Remembering my real reason TOT
avoiding her. I felt twinge Of con- con-
brought me back to my senses and
warned me that was in dire danger OF
forgetting that Amos Todd's daughter
was probably not the sort of woman in
whom a sensible man ought to allow
himself to get too deeply interested.
I drew back into my shell: but any
awkwardness incident on my awakened
precautions was averted by the stopping
allv dingy shop.
'This Is the placer said Miss Todd,
consulting paper in her hand and COM
pairing It with half ensaced name
Count Sebaste told me contained more
antiques than any other in Naples. He
says lots of better classes deal here
in spite Of the shabby locality. 1t seems
that Dardo, the man who keeps It, Is
an artist in his own line OF repairing or
furnishing up tewelry."
I stood aside to let her pass before
me into the darksome. musty. little
self in the midst Of what looked like a
funk shop in an advanced stage Of dss-
I.amIs. trays. hansings. weapons.
carvings. medieval doubiets, helmets
and armor, leather screens battered
furnitire-ten Thousand heterogeneous
articles were fumbled together with no
semblance OF order. and all gray with
I stood confused. bewildered. fearing
to rnove lest ! smash something or
overtnrn tablefni OF trinkets.
Womanlike. she fitted here and there.
picking up one thing. stoopine to In
spcct another. turning a third to the
light ho f6r closer view: upsetting moth;
Of ecstasy at sight of f some par particuIariy sIs
atrocious bit OF marble that looked to
me like a cutrate tombstone. end turn
ing away without a second glance from
brfrhtcr. zrnver- looking pieces Of Jew
ely that seemed to my inexperienced
place.
As I waited. stupidlv watching her
and maryeling at her safe progress
among all the totterinR masses of me
dievalism, an old man hobbled in from
q rear door.
He looked dingier and more dilapi-
dated than ANYTHING else In the shop
on him.
Are you signor Dardo?" she asked,
In rather bad italian.
Eh?' he erunted. turning his head
sideways. after the Ninimitable manner
She repeated the query in a slightly
higher pitch.
No" he muttered. in the viIest OF
Ncapolitanese: mo: Sienor Dardo is
out. am keeping shop for him. What
do vou want?"
He. actually seemed to resent our
presence there. and looked suggestivelv
ct the still open door Decidedly. Dardo
was not likely to make much money II