Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1912-04-25

had remembered Overwhelmingly
pretty, and every mark Of her consid.
Grafton came as fresh stab, as q
Z, fresh realization of the gulf between
them. ~
! He was constrained; he knew he
was not appearing at his best; he
seemed to feel her artifices to draw
him out, to overcome his awkward
ness, to display him to some advan.
tage before her father. But those old.
! profound eyes were not to be de.
ceived, and had the look Of wonder
Ing at her trouble. An ex-ambassador
could read young man like a book
oven while eating mullins and joking
| about tiger-skin ladies in teuf.teufs..
1t appeared that teuf.teuf was an
automobile. Matt's ignorance OF the
word seemed to stamp him as boor.
What a misfortune, he had never
heard OF 1t before! He made an
anxious note of 1t for future occasions,
| pair that there would be no future oc-s
casions. He would never see Chris.
, tine Marshall again. Thus altogether
was to affect liveliness, to talk about
| the islands, to try to hide that grind.
| ing sense Of failure.
! He hoped afterward that he had not
talked too much about the islands. It
was all he knew to talk about Can
nibals, fighting, pearldiving, and the
shuddering, bloody business of the
bark Moroa-things that people usual
ly like to hear, especially from q sur
yivor Of the last The general, with
big laugh, called him Captain Othello
"a sally that induced Chris to repeat,
with whimsical acceptance that
made Matt's heart beat: THAT 1t
was strange, most passing strange;
twas pitiful, twas wondrous pitifuI"
| causing him to flush and feel very
! self-conscious, indeed, though thrilled,
too, as those fine eyes turned on him
Sc kindly and with such smiling signi-
! fcance. How little she realized their
havoc on poor devil who, then and
there, could have knelt down and
kissed the hem Of her skirt, with such
reverence and alteration that 1t would
have been an added rapture to include
pair of trim, small riding boots as
we'll and the very bit of carpet on
which they stood These thoughts,
however, were not good for sustained
and conventional conservation. Such
as 1t was, 1t languished terribly at
times, and the generals mouth could
| be seen to purse under his mustache,
as though concealing-yes--a yawn!
Captain Othello grew bluer and bluer,
| and more abstracted and constrained,
/ until finally an unmfstakable yawn
brought him to his feet
The end had come; he was holding
! out his hand; he was saying good-by;
all was over and for ever. No, not
quite for ever! Learning that he had
sent away his buggy, Miss Marshall
offered to walk with him as far as the
tennis courts. She volunteered this
In spite Of rather sharp look from
her father, and request that had the
| quality of q command, not to stay out
:, too long.
Side by side, Matt and she walked
| together, both silent till the house was
left behind.
Whats the natter" Miss Marshall
asked at last. You've been SO differ
ent today-so changed. couldn't
make it out, and"
"And what?" inquired Matt somber-
1ly.
1T hurt me little. I thought you
might be glad-glad to come, you
know"
II was glad to come.'
Poor fellow suppose you have to
say that"
II knew I was dull and disappoint-
! ing, and the more I tried the duller
got, and-thats 1t, II yon want to
know"
She moved closer to him. and an
nounced, with shade of relief in her
voice, that he was very foolish per-
son. He hadn't been a bit dull, nor
disappointng--the idea! But did not
seem himself. that was all, and mopy.
Dreadfully mopy.
Its because I'm going away tomor-
row." he said. "Because"-and he fal-
tered at anything 80 outright-"be-
cause I'll never see you again."
There was a pause.
"You mustn't" she murmured at
last. II don't want you to go away
But have to-"
"Oh, you have to-" she repeated
questionaly.
ITO do things-to start in seriously
He could not say mules. Mules stuck
in his throat.
But how does that mean never
seeing me again? That's what you
said, wasn't it?"
TITS hard to explain; You wouldn't
understand
No, l don't suppose would she
assented. II was foolish enough to
think that you-that you"
"That loved yOu?"
"Oh, no, no, not that-that would be
absurd"
4 But do"
(To Be Continued)