The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-11-09
rb~ of 3}SSGil(h SG aEHk! 5! 2! N W NA\Ala GD6\
 HALLE VyagMA lxN% ERr1INIE RIvES l Copyright the Merrill
 Company -
HALLE ERrTNE RIvES
(Continued.l
Copyright. 1910. by the Bobbs- Merrill
 Company

CContinued.)
 fer laugh was deliciously uneven, but it did not seem so from fright. He had answered something inordi- nately foolish and had lifted her down again, not holding her so closely this time. He remembered that on the drst occasion he had held her very tightly indeed.
 He looked up suddenly, conscious that she was laughing silently. What is itT he asked.
 I've seem so tremendously acquaint- ed." she said, "for people who"- She know who ann"
 In the references to her coming he had heard her name spoken, and now by a sheer mental effort he managed to recall it.
 "You are Miss Fairfax" he said. "And my name, perhaps ought to ado, Is Daunt. I am the secretary of en- bassy. hope, after our little effort of tonight, you will not consider diplo- macy only high class vaudeville. Such comedy scarcely represents our daily bill"
 'Tt came near enough to being trag- edy," she answered. a, "It was so uncommonly nfelike I was torn with fear that you might not guess it was got up for your espe- cial benefit"
 "How well you treat your visitorsr' she said, with gentle irony. Had you many rehearsals?"
 every few" he said. "I was afraid the boy might misread the stage direc- ton and slip the dog chain too soon. But I am greatly pleased have al- ways had an unsuitable longing to be hero-if only on the stage. aspire to grand opera also, as you can have noticed" He laughed, trifle shame facedly, then added quickly: "I hope you liked the final disappearance act. think7"
 She smiled unwillingly. "Ah, you make light of it! But don't think didn't know how quickly you acted what you risked in that one minute! And then to run back a second timer' She shuddered little. "You could have done nothing with that piece of wood"
 "'I assure you," he said, "you under rate my prowess! But it wasn't to be used.it was only the dogs cue"
 Poor brutey's she said. 'I hope he will injure nobody"
 Luckily the children are off the streets at this hour," he answered. Hell not go far: the police are too numerous. I am afraid our very effi- ,cient performer is permanently retired from the company. But haven't yet congratulated you. You didn't seem one bit afraid"
 T hadn't time to be frightened. r. was thinking of something else. The fright came afterward, when I saw you-when you left me on the railing" She spoke little constrainedly and went on quickly: "I really am des- perate coward about some things. I should never dare to go up on an aero plane, for instance, as Patsy tells me you do almost every day. She says the Japanese call you the honorable fly man."
 There's no foreign theater in Tokyo and no winter opera, he said lightly. we have to amuse one another, and the glider is by way of contributing my share of the entertainment. 1t is certainly an uplifting performance" !" He smiled, but she shook her head.
 "Ah,'' she said, "I know! I was at Fort Logan last summer the day Lieu tenant Whitney was killed I saw it.' The smile had faded, and her eyes had just the look he had so often fancied lay in those eyes he had been used to gaze at across the burning driftwood-his Lady of the Many Colored Fires" He caught himself longing to know that they would mist and soften if he, too. should some day come to grief in such sudden fashion. They were wholly wonderful eyes! He had noted them even in the instant when he had snatched her from the piazza from the danger into which his ca Tier singing had called her.
 "How brazen you must have thought itr' he exclaimed. My impromptu solo, I mean. I hardly know how ] came. to do it. I suppose it was the moonlight Git does make people idiotiC sometimes, you know, in the tropics) and then what you played-that dear old song! l used to sing it years ago It reminded me-
 "YesT"
 'Of the last evening at college. II was a night like this, though not So lovely. I sang it then-my last college solo,"
 'Your last?" She was leaning to- ward him, her lips parted, her eyes bright on his face.
 "Yes." he said. 'I left town the next day" 4
 Her eyes fell. She turned half away and put hand to her cheek. "oh,' she said vaguely, "of course."
 But it was brazen," he finished lamely. 'T promise never to do it again"
 The breath of the night was coolly sweet It lowered about them, min. eled of all the musky winds and flow CT months of Eden. A dulled, weird sound from the street reached their ears, the monotonous hand tapping ot q aneIL shallow drum.
 - Buddhist devotee," he said making a pious round of holy places He is stalking along in dingy white