The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-08-19


open all its doors, would be SAVIOR
less place 10 her if Rose and Dominick
were TO be left to the enjoyment of
all the pleasures and Injuries of life
back in California.
Unable to rest, fretted by jealousy,
tormented by her longing for the Of
fered money, oppressed by uneasiness
as to Cannon's next move, the thought
Of the long afternoon in the house was
uncomfortable to her. She could not re-
main unemployed and passive while
her mind was in this state of disturb
ance. Though the day was bad and
there was nothing TO do down town,
she determined 10 go out She might
find some distraction in watching the
passers-by and looking at the shop
windows.
BY the time she was dressed, it was
four o'clock. The fog was thicker
than ever, hanging over the city in
an even, motionless pail Of vapor. Its
breath had a keen, penetrating chill,
like that exhaled by the mouth of a
cavern. Coming down the steps into
1t she seemed to be entering a white,
still sea, off which an air came that
was pleasant on the heated dryness
Of her face. She had no place to go
TO, no engagement to keep, but in
stinctively turned her steps in the
downtown direction. Walking would
pass more time than going on the car,
and she started down the street which
slanted to level and then climbed a
long, dim reach of hill beyond Its
emptiness-a characteristic of San
Francisco streets-struck upon her
observation with a sense Of grip
ing, bleak dreariness. She could look
along the TWO lines of sidewalk till
they were lost in the gradual milky
thickening Of the fog, and at intervals
see a figure, faint and dreamlike, Ell
Their emerging from space in slow ap-
proach, or melting into it in phantas-
NAL withdrawal.
1t was a melancholy, depressing
vista. She had not reached the top of
the long hill before she decided that
| she would walk no farther. Walking
was only bearable when there was
/ something to see. But she did not
know what else to do or where to go.
Indecision was not usually feature Of
/ her character. To-day, however, the
unaccustomed strain of temptation and
| worry seemed to have weakened her
! resourcefulness and resolution. The
one point on which she felt deter
| mined was that she would not go
| home.
The advancing front of car, loom
/ ing suddenly through the mist, decid-
ed her. She hailed it, climbed on
| board, and sank into a seat on the in
| side. There was no one else there. 1t
/ smelt Of dampness, of wet woolens
! and rubber overshoes, and its closed
windows, filmed with fog, showed
semicircular streaks across them
where passengers had rubbed them
clean TO look out. The conductor, an
unkempt man, with an unshaven chin
and dirty collar, slouched in for her
fare, extending a srimy paw toward
her. AS he took the money and
punched the tag, he hummed a tune
to himself, seeming to convey in that
harmless act a sighting opinion of
his passenger. Berry looked at him
| severely, which made him hum still
| louder, and lounge indifferently out
to the back platform, where he leaned
on the brake and spat scornfully into
the street.
Berry felt that sitting there was
worse than walking. There was no
one to look at, there was nothing to
be seen from the windows. The car
dipped over the edge of an incline.
slid with an even, skimming swiftness
down the face of the hill, and then
with a series Of small jouncings
crossed the rails Of another line. Not
knowing or caring where she was, she
signaled the conductor to stop, and
alighted. She looked round her for
an uncertain moment, and then recog
nized the locality She was close to
the old Union Street plaza on which
the Greek Church fronted Here in
the days before her marriage, when
she and Hazel had been known as
"the pretty Iverson girls" she had
been wont to come on sunny Sunday
mornings and sit on the benches with
such beaux as frightened the monot
ony Of that unaspiring period.
She felt tired now and thought il
would not be a bad idea to cross to
the plaza and rest there for a space
She was warmly dressed and hel
clothes would not be hurt by the damp
Threading her way down the street
she came out on the opening where
the little park lies like an unrollet
green cloth round which the shabby
gray city crowds.
She sank down on the first empty
bench, and looking round she saw
other dark shapes, having a vague
huddled appearance, lounging il
bunched-up attitude on the adjacen
seats. They seemed preoccupied. i
struck her that they. like herself
we're plunged in meditation on mat
tiers which they had sought this damp
seclusion silently to ponder. The only
region of activity in the dim, still
scene was where some boys wer.
playing under the faintly-defned out
line OF a large willow tree. They
were bending close TO the ground il
the performance of game over which
periods of quietness fell to be broker
by sudden disrupting cries. As Bern!
took her seat their imp-like shape
dark and without detail. danced abou
under the tree in what appeared a fan
tastic ecstasy, while their cries brok