Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1911-04-13
A PERIL
OF THE SEA
By ALBERT TUCKER KENYON
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

When an ocean liner has been out a
couple of days if the weather is fair
those who have had NAL de mer begin
to lind their way III deck. Women re-
cline i'll steamer chairs comfortably
tucked in with rugs, many of them
slightly pale, but gaining color from
the pure ocean atmosphere.
1t was on such an occasion that |
first saw a lady whose face at once
Interested me. | was young. and
young men are very sensible to beauty.
Ibis girl was not SO especially beauti-
full as striking. Her eyes and eye
brows were a dark brown, while her
hair was a chestnut with a tinge of
red in it. 1t was this contrast that at
tracted me.
Now. am quite willing to confess
that under other circumstances |
might simply have admired the artis-
tic combination of milky skin, dark
eyes and Titan hair without having
given the girl another thought. But,
as | have said, in fair weather at sea
n is under different influences, or,
rather. free to be moved by any infu-
ence. We had left New York in a
snowstorm and We're now on the bos-
on of the warm waters of the gulf
stream Though We needed u wraps,
there was a pleasant softness in the
air i'll marked contrast with the win
ter we had left. Not only did I feel a
delightful relaxation, but l was not
troubled With a multiplicity of things
to look at. I saw only the sky. the
ocean and the ship, and on the ship
I looked only at the young girl who
charmed me.
AS luck would have it a friend Of
mine who was aboard stepped up to
the young lady and spoke to her. I
was delighted. An Introduction was
assured to me. Within IN hour l was
sitting beside Miss Manning. chatting
with her.
We were making the Mediterranean
trip and, since we had been out only
two days. ten or eleven days remained
to me to enjoy Miss M%anning's society.
How impressionable is a youngster Of
twenty-five, especially n who has
nothing to do but be impressed! I con
TESS that l had no right to be i'm
pressed. for I was engaged to q very
lovely oman The trouble with me
was an artistic temperament. l had
been caught by q peculiar condition
OF beauty. I did not find Miss Man
ming especially intellectual, especially
entertaining. but evcr before me was
that singular combination OF features.
| did not at first realize the danger for
me, an engaged man, to put myself
under the influence of another woman.
even if the attraction was in that
which appealed alone to an abnormal
n for beauty. Before we reached
the Azores | began to fear for myself,
and when we reached Madeira and we
went ashore together and walked in
the garden of F%unchall. redolent with
the perfume of tropical flowers, Iknew
that / was lost.
I had written something daily to my
fiancee to post from our first landing
point. h"t somehow | could not drop
it in tn" rurser's box to be mailed. |
glanced over what I had written, and
so completely had l passed under a
new spell that I wondered how l could
ever have been under any other. l
tore my letter into bits. From Ma
deira to Gibraltar l was in an agony
between a of honor, shame and
self condemnation on the one hand and
in%fatUation on the other. From Gibral-
tar to Naples l sank into absolute non.
resistance and self contempt.
had not the assurance nor was l
expected to attach myself to the Man
ming family during their stay in Italy.
so I left them. intending to meet them
in a few months in Switzerland. I
had not spoken my infatuation-I can-
not call it love-to Miss Manning, for
| could not bring myself to act so con
temptibly while I was still betrothed
to another. 1 hoped the conditions
might be changed before our next
meeting, though what was to change
them except some dishonorable act on
my part I did not know.
1 had not been separated from my
fellow traveller a week before the
chains that bound me to her began to
drop off Of their own weight. Then it
first occurred to me that I had been
captivated by a peculiar beauty. l
saw so many different types of beauty
in the galleries of Italy that I suppose
I became surfeited. Still, 1 could not
call up the image of Miss Manning
without backsliding.
Three months passed, and 1 joined
the Mannings at Lausanne, on Lake
Geneva. When Miss Manning came
into the room where I waited for her
I stood mute with establishment. Her
Titan hair had turned into a dark
brown, like her eyebrows.
You are surprised at my appear
ance," she said. "Let me explain.
Before leaving America I had suffered