Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-12

As with one voice the thrOng answered,
"Latham!" roaring out his name as the
earlier dwelers in the land may have hailed
their favorite gladiator. If the shades of by
gone masters of the soil, Roman or Teuton,
still haunt the plains of Gaul, they now be-
held an apparition which might have winged
it's way straight out of their own folklore.
Demon, Jim, demigod- their mythology
could boast no shape more weird, more
graceful, more august, than this fabric of
mans own making which swan there aloft
in the dusk. Far above its rivals, the noise
of its motor lost in distance, swift, sure, an
esthetic delight, it bore witness like nothing
else in that week of marvels that humanity
had at last solved the riddle of the centuries.
THE wonder of it held Ann in an enchant-
ment which baniShed every other thought
to the outer rim of consciousness. The
great crowd turned away as Latham began
his descent and, surging out between the
tribunes, scattered to the four quarters of
the globe The Grande Semaine d Aviation
was finished. Virginia Truscott and her in
definite husband babe Ann goodnight, and
she made some sort of response. Justin
Blair, accompanied by young Page, returned
to the box and said things which she an
swered. But what any of them talked about
or she replied she did not know. Her mind
still enshrined the vision. Somewhere, out
yonder in the DUSK that thing of grace and
power still drifted. If she waited, it might
return.
And then, when the tribunes were well
nigh deserted and the plain of Betheny was
all dusk and mystery, it did return. Wing
ing lower now, needless of the night, as if it
flew for sheer joy of flight, the wonderful
apparition swan noiselessly from out the
darkness and for single unforgetable in
slant hung, great dragon fly in silhouette,
Ann drew breath which was half sob.
II must" she said, Il must!"
"And so must II"
The low voiced echo of her own words
drew her to earth. She had moved little
way from the others in her eager peering,
and so had come unwittingly close to another
watcher. In an instant she was her usual
self, and recognized Rodos1av. At this pass
Oliver Page unceremoniously interviewed.
"Your uncle says you must really come
now, Miss Milburn," he told her. you'll
find it a tedious ride back to Rheims. They
make the automobiles 60 the long way
round"
He ignored the Prince; but the latter
bowed to him, nevertheless.
Better luck to you next time, Monsieur,
IN ooio way yOd eaAoO hy oSAOoo
the moon!"
Thanks" said the American CURLY, and
turned his back.
Ann moved away with her head held high;
but her resentment burned not against
Rodoslav, but her protector.
"You know each other?" she asked frigidly.
give met him few times" Pages chin
was uncompromisingly square. "He has been
among the sheds good deal this week"
@You speak as if you don't care for him"
Il liked him we'll enough at first. hadn't
sized him up as the kind of loafer who an
noys women"
Ann thawed toward her champion. "You
ought not to condemn him by what just
happened" she said. II spoke to myself
back there. He probably thought was adj
dressing him."
Possibly"
His dry skepticism provoked her to fur
Their defense. II don't know that we ought
to judge him by our standards" she sug-
gested @Perhaps you haven't heard that
he's a Prince?"
eyes, he replied, Give heard; but the in
formation hasn't warped my judgment, and
I'd hate to think it swayed yours"
AIMS dudgeon returned and, slipping her
arm into her uncle's, she abruptly left this
ca1f monitor to tho cOciefv IF her