The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-07-04


cling first page. George lost some con-
fidence.
Two or three times a woman looked
into the young mans mind, and in his
guilelessness they effected sundry
holes in his letter Of credit, but left
his soul singularly untouched. The
red corpuscle, his fathers gift, though
1t lay dormant, subconsciously erected
barriers. He was innocent, but he was
no fool. That one year taught him
the lesson, rather cheaply, too. II
there was any romance In life, It came
unlimited, and II courted and sought
was as quick on the wing as that erst-
while poesy must.
The year passed, and while he had
not wholly given up the quest, the
practical George agreed with the ro-
mantle Percival to shelve 1t indef-
nitely. He returned to New York
with thirty-two pounds sterling out of
the original thousand, q fact that reju-
venated his paternal parent by some
ten years
"Jane, that boy is all right. Perci-
val Algernon could not kill boy like
that"
do you mean to infer that it ever
could?" Sometimes qualm wrinkled
her conscience. Her mothers heart
told her that her son ought not to be
shy and bashful, that 1t was not in
the nature of his blood to suspect
ridicule where there was none. Per
haps she. had handicapped him with
those names; but it was too late now
to admit of this, and useless, since
it would not have remedied the evil.
Jones hemmed and hawed for
space mo-" he answered.; "but I
was afraid he might try to live up
to it; and no Percival Algernon who
lived up to it could put his nose down
to Shah Abbas and tell how many
knots it had to the square inch. I'll
start him in on the job tomorrow.
Whereupon the mother sat back
dreamily. Now, where was the girl
worthy of her boy? Monumental ques-
ton, besetting every mother, from Eve
down, Eve, whose trials in this direc-
ton must have been heartrending!
George left the cellar in due time,
and after that he went up the ladder
in bounds, on his own merit, mind
you, for his father never stirred a
hand to boost him. He took the in
terest in rugs that turns buyer into
a collector; it became fascinating
pleasure rather than a business. He
became invaluable to the house, and
acquired some fame as a judge and
an appraiser. When the chief-buyer
retired George was given the position,
with an itinerary that carried him half
way round the planet once a year, to
Greece, Turkey, Persia, Arabia, and
India, the lands of the genii and the
bottles, of arabesques, of temples and
tombs, of many-colored turbans and
flowing robes and distracting tongues.
He walked and always in a kind of
mental enchantment.
The suave and elusive Oriental,
with his sharp practices, found his
match in this pleasant young man,
who knew the history of the very
woods and cottons and silks woven
in rug or carpet. So George pros
pered, became known in strange
places, by strange peoples; and saw
romance, light of foot and eager Of
eye, pass and repass; learned that
romance did not essentially mean fall
ing in love or rescuing maidens from
burning houses and wrecks; that, on
the contrary, true romance was kalei-
doscopic, having more brilliant facets
than a diamond; and that the man
who begins with nothing and ends
with something is more wonderful
than any excursion recounted by Sim
bad or any tale by Scheherazade. But
he still hoped that the iridescent god
dess would some day touch his shout
der and lead him into that maze Of
romance so peculiar to his own fancy.
And then into this little world of
business and pleasure came death
and death again, leaving him alone
and with a twisted heart. Riches
mattered little, and the sounding title
of vice-president still less. It was
with distinct shock that he realized
the mother and the father had been
with him so long that he had forgot
ten to make other friends. From
one thing to another he turned in
hope to soothe the smart. to heal the
wound; and after a time he drifted,
as all shy, intelligent and imaginative
men drift who are friendless, into the
silent and intimate comradeship of in
animate things, such as jewels, worries,
old metals, rare woods and ancient
embroideries, and perhaps more COM
forting than all these, good books.
The proper tale of how the afore-
said iridescent goddess jostled (for it
scarce may be said that she led) him
into romance lacking neither COM
edy nor tragedy, now begins with a
trifling bit of retrospection. One Of
those women who were not good and
who looked into the clear pool Of the
boys mind saw the harmless longing
there, and made note, hoping to find
profit by her knowledge when the per-
tinent day arrived. She was a woman
so pleasing, so handsome, so adroit,
that many man, older and wiser
than George, found her mesh too
1 E. u - q