The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-08-06
Copyright lyO6 By the Bobbs- Merrill Go.

80" SDu AhO ~ up any
way?"
up where?"
up at Antelope. 1t was a sort of
strange, new experience for you"
"Oh, liked 1t so much loved part
OF 1t. l liked the people much better
than the people down here, Mrs. Per-
ley, and Cora, and Perley, and Will
loughby-did you ever know a nicer
man than Willoughby ?-and Judge
Washburne. He was a real gentle
man, not only in his manners but
down in his heart. And even Perley's
boy, he was so natural and awkward
and honest. felt different from what
/ do here, more myself, less as If out
side things were influencing me to do
things / didn't always like to do or
mean to do. felt as If / were doing
just what / ought to dots hard to
express it-as IL / were being true"
"Oh," said her father with falling
infection which had a sound Of sig
nificant comprehension.
do you know what I mean?" she
asked.
II can make a sort OF guess at it,"
He pulled his cigar for a moment,
then took 1t from his mouth, eyed the
lit end, and said:
How'd you like Dominick Ryan?
You haven't said anything about him."
Her voice, in answering, sounded
low and careful. She spoke slowly, as
IL considering her words:
81 thought he was very nice, and
good-looking, too. He's not a bit like
Cornelia Ryan, or his mother, either.
Cornelia has such red hair"
mo, looks like the old man. Good
deal like him in character, too. Con
Ryan was the best Teller in the world,
but not hard enough, not enough grit.
His wife had 1t though, had enough
for both. If 1t hadn't been for her,
Con would never have amounted to
anything-too soft and good-natured,
and the boys like him."
"How?" She raised her head and
looked directly at him, her lips slight
ly parted.
Soft, too, just the same way, soft
hearted. An easy mark for any one
with a hard-luck story and not too
many scruples. Why did he marry
that woman? I don't know anything
about 1t. but I'd like to bet she saw
the stuff he was made Of and cried
and leased and nagged till she got
him to do It,"
II don't see that he could have done
anything else"
That's a woman's-a young girls
view. That's the view Dominick him
self probably took. It's the sort of
idea you might expect him to have,
something ornamental and impracti-
cal, that's all right to keep in the cup
board and take out and dust, but that
don't do for everyday use. That sort
of thing is all very we'll for a girl,
but 1t doesn't do for a man. It's not
for this world and our times. Maybe
1t was all right when a Teller went
round in armor, fighting for unknown
damsels. but 1t won't go in California
to-day. The woman was a working
woman, she wasn't any green girl.
She earned her living In an Office full
Of men. and l guess there wasn't
much she didn't know. She saw
through Dominick and gathered him
In. It's all very we'll to be chival-
rous, but you don't want to be a con-
founded fool"
"Are you a COMPOUNDED fool when
you're doing what you think right"
'Tt depends on what you think right,
honey. III it's going to break up your
life. cut you off from your kind, make
an outcast Of you from your own
folks, and a poverty-stricken outcast
at that, you're COMPOUNDED fool to
think It's right. You oughtn't to let
yourself think so. That kind Of a
moral attitude is a luxury. Women
can cultivate 1t because they don't
have to get out in the world and fight.
They keep indoors and get taken care
of. and the queer ideas they have
don't hurt anybody. But men"
He stopped, realizing that perhaps
he was talking too frankly. He had
long known that Rose harbored these
Utopian theories on duty and honor,
which he thought very nice and pretty
Tor her and which went gracefully
with her character as q sheltered,
cherished, and unworldly maiden. 1t
was his desire to see what effect the
conversation was having on her that
made him deal so unceremoniously
with ideals OF conduct which were all
very well for Bill Cannon's daughter
but were ruinous for Dominick Ryan.
If you live in the world you've got
to cut your cloth by its measure" he
continued. Look at that poor devil,
tied to a woman that's not going to
let him go IL she can help 1t, that he
doesn't care for"
How do you know he doesn't care
TOT herr" The interruption came in
tone or startled surprise and Rose
stared at him, her eyes wide with II.
For moment the old man was at
a loss. He would have told any lie
rather than have let her guess his
knowledge OF the situation and the I'm.
formation given him by Dominick. He
realized that his zeal had made him
imprudently garrulous, and, gazing
at her with slightly stupid express
sion, said in a low tone of self-justifi-
cation:
We'll, that's my idea. guessed It
I've heard one thing and another here
and there and I've come to the con.
clusion that there's no love lost be-
tween them. It's the natural outcome
OF the situation. anyway"
Yes, perhaps" she murmured. She
placed her elbow on the table and
pressed the tips of her fingers against
her cheek. Her hand and arm, re-
Vealed by her loosa lace slaava looked