The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-04-10
tCopyright, 1911. by W. a Chapman

first, but lately she had 1uxuriated |
In it. She loved him, she loved him! |
And why not? What is 1t that wom- |
en- love in men! Strength of body?
She could remember yet how he had |
carried her over the mountains in the
midst Of the storm, how she had been
SO bravely upborne by his arms to his
heart. She realized later what task
that had been, what feat of strength.
The uprooting of that sapling, and the
overturning of that huge Grizzly were
child's play to the long portage up
the almost impossible canon and
mountain side which had brought her
to this dear haven.
Was it strength of character she
sought, resolution, determination?
This man had deliberately withdrawn
from the world, buried himself In this
mountain, and had stayed there deaf
to the alluring call of man or woman;
he had had the courage to do that.
Was 1t strength Of mind she ad-
mired? Enid Maitland was no mean
judSc Oh the mental powers of her
acquaintance. She was just as full of
life and spirit and the joy of them as
any young woman should be, but she
had not been trained by and thrown
with the best for nothing. Noblesse
oblige! That his was mind we'll
stored with knowledge of the most,
varied sort she easily and at once
perceived. Of course the popular
books of the last five years had passed
him by, and of such he knew nothing,
but he could talk intelligently, inter-
estingly. entertainingly upon the great
classics. Keats and Shakespeare were
his most thumbed volumes. He had
graduated from Harvard as a civil
engineer with the highest honors Of
his class and school and the youngest
man to get his sheepskin! Enid Matt
land herself was a woman Of broad
culture and wide reading and she de-
nberately set herself to fathom this
mans capabilities. Not infrequently,
much to her surprise, sometimes to
her dismay, but generally to her sat
isfaction, she found that she>had no
plummet with which to sound his
greater depths.
Did she seek in him that fine flow
er Of good breeding, gentleness and
consideration? Where could she find
these qualities better displayed? She
| was absolutely alone with this man,
entirely in his power, shut off from
| the world and its interference as eff
| fectually as If they had both been
| abandoned in an ice foe at the North
Pole or cast away on some lonely is
land In the South Seas, yet she felt
| as safe as If she had been in her own
| house, or her uncle's, with every pro-
| lection that human power could give.
He had never presumed upon the sit
uation In the least degree, he never
once referred to the circumstances
| Of their meeting in the remotest way,
he never even discussed her rescue
from the flood, he never told her how
| he had borne her through the rain to
| the lonely shelter of the hills, and in
| no way did he say anything that the
| most keenly scrutinizing mind would
torture into an allusion to the pool
/ and the bear and the woman. The
1 flneness Of his breeding was never SO
! well exhibited as in this reticence.
/ More often than not it is what he
/ does not rather than what he does
/ that indicates the man.
4 1t would be folly to deny that he
/ never thought of these things Had
/ he forgotten them there would be No
/ merit in his silence; but to remem
Il 70
showed the man! He would close his
4 eyes in that little room on the other
1 side of the door and see again the
dark pool, her white shoulders, he1
4 graceful arms, the lovely face with
Its crown of sunny hair rising above
the rushing water. He had listened
to the roar of the wind through the
long nights, when she thought him
asleep If she thought of him at all
and heard again the scream of the
storm that had brought her to his
arms No snow drop that touched
his cheek when he was abroad but
reminded him Of that night in the
cold rain when he had held her close
and carried her on. He could not sit
and mend her boot without remem
bering that white foot before which
he would fain have Frustrated him
self and upon which he would have
pressed passionate kisses if he ha6
given way to his desires. But he KEPT
all these things in his heart, pom
dered them and made no sign.
| Did she ask beauty in her lover.
All, there at last he failed. Accord
Ing to the canons of perfection hi
did not measure up to the standard
His features were irregular, his CHR
q trlfie too square, his mouth
thought too firm, his brow wrinkled 6
little; but he was good to look at fol
he looked strong, he looked clean ane
ne looked true. There was abou
him. too, that stamp of practical eff
dciency that men who can do thing:
always have. You looked at him ans
you felt sure that what he undertook
that he would accomplish, that de
cision and capability were incarnat.
In him.
But after all the things are sait
love goes where 1t is sent, ant
!, at least, am not the sender
This woman loved this man Meth
er because nor in spite of thes,
qualities That they were NIGH
g.