Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-07
CHAPTER VI.-Continued.

CHAPTER VI.-Continued.
IT'S rather difficult to see them in the
| moonlight; their rags match the pave
ments"
The Egyptian night. that sapphirine
darkness which the flexible imagination
peoples with lovely and terrible SHADES,
or floods with mystery and romance and
| wonder lay softly upon this strip OF YER
| dure aslant the deserts face, the valley
| OF the Nile The moon, round, brilliant,
strangely near, suffused the SCARED old
visage of the world with phantom silver;
the stones Of the parapet glowed duly,
the pavement glistened whitley, all things
it touched with gentieness, lavishing
| beauty upon beauty, mellowing ugIness
or effacing it. The deep blue Nile. be-
ribboned with the glancing lights from
the silent feluccas, curling musically along
| the sides of the frostlike dahabeahs ano
| steamers, rolled on to the sea: ana tne
blue-white arc lamps spanning the Urea!
| Nile bridge took the semhlance OF pearl
| necklace. From time to time a caravan
| trooped across the bridge into cairo. Inc
| high and low weird notes OF the toH-
toms, the wheeling protests OF the
| camels, the raucous defiance OF the don-
L -
were sounds that crossed and recrosseo
| one another ancfently. -
| do you care for poetry. MI Jones!
Il? I used to write it.
| And you aren't afraid to admit II!
well, 1 shouldn't confess the deed to
every one" he answered, frankly. I'VE
all write poetry at one time or another;
but it's generally not constitutional ant
we recover. -
II do not see why any one shoulo De
ashamed of writing poetry.
"Ah but there is poetry and poetry MY
kind and Byron's is born of kindred Souls;
but he was an active genius, whereas
| wasn't even a passive one. In all grea'
poets find my own rejected thoughts, as
Emerson says; and that's enough for my
slender needs. Poets are rather uncom-
| Portable chaps to have round. They are
capricious. irritable. temperamental. seii,
| ish and usually demand all the Afternoon.
| The little vocal stream dried up again
and once more they listened to the magic
sounds Of the night. She stopped abrupt
| ly to look over the parapet and his shoul-
| der met hers; after that the world to MIN
| was never going to be the same again:
| Moonlight and poetry: not the safest
| channels to sail uncharted. The girl was
lonely and George was lonely. too. Hill
| longing had now assumed definite form
| hers moved from this to that, sun IN
definitely. The quickness with wmcn tnls
| definition had come to George rather star
tied him. His first sight of Fortune Ched-
| soye had been but yesterday; yet. here ne
was, not desperately but consciously IN
| love with her. The situation bore against
all precepts; 1t ripped up his preconceived
ideas of romance as a gale at sea shreds
q canvas. He felt bit panicky. He mad
| always planned courtship OF year OF
| So meetings, separations and remeetlnSs
| Measurable expectations. little Junkets tc
! theaters and country places; in brief, te
witness the rose grow and unfold. Some
| where he had read or heard that court
ship was the plummet which sounded the
depts of compatibility He knew nothing
| Of Fortune chedsoye, save that she was
beautiful to his eyes. and that she was
as different from the ordinary run of girls
| as yonder moon was from the stars. Here
| his knowledge ended. But instinct wen
| on, appraising and delving and W1nnoW-
| ing, and instinct told him what knowledge
! could not, that she was all MS neart ue-
| sired.
| When a man finally decides that he is
in love his troubles begin, the imaginary
ones Is he worthy? Can he always pro-
vide for her? Is 1t possible for such
marvellous creature to love an insignificant
chap like himself? And that worst OF
mental poisons. is she in love with any
one else? What to do to win her? The
feats of Hercules. of Perseus. of Jason
what mad piece Of heroism can he lay his
hand to that he may wake the slumber-
| ing fires, and. having reused them, con-
tinue to feed them?
Manhood, meaning that decade between
thirty and forty, looks upon this phase
| abashed. After~all, it wasn't so terrible;
there were vaster emotions. vaster
achievements In life to which in compare
son love was as candle held to the sun.
Again she stopped. leaning over the
parapet and staring down at the water
swirling past the stone embankment- he
did likewise, resting upon his folded arms
| Suddenly his tongue became alive: and
quietly, without hestancy or embarrass-
ment, he began to tell her of his school
| life, his life at home. And the manner
in which he spoke OF his mother warmed
| her. and she was strangely and wonder
| ingly attracted.
"Of course, the mother meant the best
! in the world when she gave me Percival
/ Algernon; and because she meant the
/ best, ! have rarely tried to hide them.
/ What was good enough for her to give
was good enough for me to keep. II is
| simply that / have been foolish about 1t.
| supersensitive. / should have laugheo
and accepted the thing as joke; instead,
| made the fatal move of trying 10 run
away and hide. But. taking the name In
| full" lightly. lit sounds as incongruous
as playing 'Traumerep on a steam
piano"
| He expected her to laugh, but her heart
was 100 full of the old ache. This youns
| man, kindly, gentle, intelligent. II shy,
was a love-child And she? An ofsprin
the loneliest of the lonely. the child ina.
| wasn't wanted. Many time she mao
thought of fiinging all to the winds, OF
running away and hiding where they
/ ever Should find her. Of working with
her own hands for her bread and butter.
Little they'd have cared. But always the
rebel spirit died within her as she stepped
outside the villa gates. To leave behind
for unknown privations certain assured
i comforts. things of which she was fond,
/ things to which she was used, she couldn'
do it, she just couldn't. Morally and
physically she was little coward.
LET us go in" she said. sharply. An
other moment and she would have been
| In tears.