The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-07-29
Copyright LOG by the BObbs- Merrill Co.

brisk liveliness. She paid no atten-
ton to the expostulations of her rela-
tives, but going to the glass arranged
her hat and put on her gloves. When
she turned back to the table she had
regained possession of herself. Her
veil was down and through it her
cheeks looked unusually flushed, and
her dark eyes, with their slanting out
er corners, brighter and harder than
ever. She hurried through her good
bys on the plea that she had shopping
to do, and almost ran out Of the house,
leaving trail Of perfumery and high,
artificial laughter behind her.
For the next week she waited for
news from Dominick and none came.
1t was a trying seven days. Added
TO her embarrassment Of mind, the
loneliness OF the fiat was almost un-
endurable. There was no one to speak
to, no one to share her anxieties. Her
position was unusually friendless.
When her marriage had lifted her
from the ranks of working women she
had shown so cold a face to her old
companions that they had dropped
away from her, realizing that she
wished to cut all ties with the world
of her humble beginnings. New friends
had been hard to make. The wives
Of some of the bank officials, and odd,
aspiring applicants for such honors
as would accrue from even this re-
mote connection with the august name
of Ryan, were all she had found where
-.xlxl III. feff inc
| list
But she was intimate with none OF
| them and was now too worried to seek
| the society of mere acquaintances.
She ate her solitary meals in oppres-
sive silence, feeling the Chinaman's
| eyes fixed upon her in ironic disbe-
lief of the story she had told him to
| account for Dominick's absence. Eat
as slowly as she would, her dinner
could not be made to occupy more
| than twenty minutes, and after that
| there was the long evening, the in
| terminable evening, to be passed. She
was a great reader of newspapers,
and when she returned from her after
noon shopping she brought bundle
! Of evening papers home in her hand
She would read these slowly, at first
the important items, then go over
| them for matters of less moment, and
finally scan the advertisements.
| At the end of the week she felt that
she must find out something, and went
| to the bank. 1t was her intention tC
! cash small check and over this
transaction see if the paying teller
would vouchsafe any information
/ about Dominick. She pushed the
check through the opening and, as the
man counted out the money, saiG
glibly:
do you hear anything of my wan
dering husband?"
The teller pushed the little pile Of
silver and gold through the window
toward her and leaning forward, said
with the air of one who intends tc
have a leisurely moment Of talk:
mo, we haven't Isn't it our place
to come to you for that? We were
wondering where he'd gone at such
a season."
Berny's acknowledgement finger:
made sudden haste to gather up the
coins.
ooh, he's just loafing about" she
said as easily as was consistent will
the disappointment and alarm tha
gripped her. He's just wandering
round from place to place. He wa:
getting insomnia and wanted a change
of scene"
She snapped the clasp Of her purse
before the man could ask her further
questions, nodded her good-bys, anC
turned from the window. Her face
changed as she emerged on the wide
stone steps that led to the street.
) was pinched and pale, two lines drawn
between the eyebrows. She descend
ed the steps slowly, the flood Of mag
nificent sunshine having no warming
influence upon the chill that hat
seized upon her. Many of the pass
ing throng Of men looked at her,
pretty woman in her modishly-mad
dress Of tan-colored cloth and he
close-fitting brown turban with
bunch of white paradise feathers a
one side. Under her dotted veil he
carefully made-up complexion looket
naturally clear and rosy, and her eyes
accentuated by a dark line beneatl
them, were in attractive contrast t
her Redeemed hair. But she was no
thinking Of herself or the admiration
she evoked, a subject which was gen
orally Of overpOwering interest. Mat
tiers Of more poignant moment hat
crowded all else from her mind.
The next week began and advanced
and still no news from Dominick. H
had been gone fourteen days, whel
one evening in her perusal Of the pa
per she saw his name. Her trembling
hands pressed the sheet down on tn
table, and her eyes devoured the print
ed lines. 1t was one Of the many shor
dispatches that had come from tn
foot-hill mining towns on the recen
storms in the Sierra. 1t was heade,
Rocky Bar and contained a descrir
ton Of the situation at Antelope an
the snow-bound colony there. II
chief item Of information was tina
Bill Cannon and his daughter wer
among the prisoners at Perley's He
tel. A mention was made, only lin
or two, of Dominick's walk from Rock
Bar, but 1t was treated lightly an
gave no idea of the real seriousness
Of that almost fatal excursion.
Berry read the two short para
graphs many times, and her spirit
went up like the needle Of a theI
mometer when the quicksilver j