Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-02-13

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
obligei That his was a mind well
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 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
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 of from
athe 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 II 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 food, 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
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.
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-
Der them and to keep still-aye, that
showed the man! He would close his
eyes in that little room on the other
side OF the door and see again the
dark pool, her white shoulders, heI
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 hin
asleep II she thought of him at all
and heard again the scream of tht
storm that had brought her to hi
arms. No snow drop that touched
his cheek when he was abroad blu
reminded him Of that night in tn,
cold rain when he had held her clos,
and carried her on. He could not ST
and mend her boot without remem
bering that white foot before whicl
he would fain have Frustrated him
self and upon which he would hav
pressed passionate kisses If he ha
given way to his desires. But he KEEP
, all these things in his heart, por
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 b
did not measure up to the STANDARD
His features were irregular, his chi
, a trife too square, his mouth
!, thought too firm, his brow wrinkled
d little; but he was good to look at fc
he looked strong, he looked clean an
he looked true. There was abor
him, too, that stamp of practical e
hciency that men who can do thing
always have. You looked at him an
you felt sure that what he undertoo
thar he would accomplish, that d.
cision and capability were incarnat
In him.
But after all the things are sal
love goes where it is sent, an
4 ], at least, am not the sende
4 This woman loved this man nett
4 er because nor in spite of thes
| qualities. That they were mig
| account for her affection, but II the
| had not been. 1t may be that that g
| lection, that that passion. would ha1
inhabitated her heart still. No OF
I can say. no one can tell how or wi
those things are. She had loved hi
while she ragged against him and hs
ed him. She did neither the one n
Il the other Of those two last thins
now, and she loved him the more.
Mystery is q great mover; there
y nothing so attractive as a problem ,
cannot solve The very situation
the nan, how he came there, VIII
4 he did there. why he remained thel
ie questions to which she had yet
70 answer. stimulated her profound
ID Bee, 9e she did not know she gu,
d tic : In secret; interest was arous
Ii lad he transition to love was easy.
AZ PropinQuity. too, is responsible 1
o many an affection. The ivy elm
u to the first met tree" Given a m
N and woman heart free and thr,
them together and let there be dece
AZ kindness on both sides, and it is