The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1913-05-03

Their J%acqueline nor |. under the
red and white striped awning.
cared much. and Pietro even dared To
light Il cigarette.
Silver gray dome. campanile and
spire cleaned through the golden haze
that hung over the enchanted city. a
great stiffness was over all. only the
ripple of Pietro's lazy oar aud faintly.
very family. bells Ginning
J%acqueline turned in her seat and
looked nj me %curiously.
MY dear Richard. will you answer
me one question:
GLADLY II IT is not too difficult. But
don't forget. Jacqueline. Venice is not
exactly an intellectual center
Then tell me please. why IL is that
when You were In New York. hardly
two months ago, YOU talked so charm
ingly Of your Venetian skies and still
lagoons that you quite made me long
for them. But now when ! am AT last
under one of your wonderful skies aud
on your wonderful lagoon instead Of
helping me to love IL all and synpa-
thizing with me you insist on the hor-
rible things that clash-things | would
80 gladly forget for the happy mo
ment.''
Because" answered gravely. Il
must not allow myself to forget that
one happy moment Is not n lifetime"
Really, | don't understand you"
She looked at me frankly-too frank
ly-that was the trouble. | hesitated.
In spite of the fiimSy excuses her
aunt has ~suspiciousIy erected | had
brought JHcqueline alone with me here
TO tell her why ! must not allow my
self to love her. and. ! may add, to
hear her laugh to delicious scorn my
reasons. And yet ! hesitated. Some
times | felt she cared for me. But II
] answered her question truthfully !
riSkcd a cruel awakening.
"Do YOU know how long ! have been
living in Veneer" | asked presently,
with apparent irrelevance.
Three years. Is IT not:'
That is a long time to be dreaming
and loating. isn't it,
Yes" Her eyes looked gravely out
III the lagoon.
"And IL seems To you hardly n man
~. strenuous life for a man of-shall
we say-thirty years Of age, TO spend
three years rocking himself to sleep,
as II were, In n sondola:'
J~acqucline looked at me with a Gu
rious inteutncSs. aud ! was uneasy un-
der her gaze. | knew she was noting
quite ruthleSsly that | was getting fat.
at is difficult to keep quite tit in
Venice" ] pleaded.
And you really have done that for
three years she said at last. almost
in admiration. II was Ms if | were a
strange animal doing clever tricks.
For three years. barring flights TO
New York and London in January and
February. aud n few weeks in the Ty-
rol during July and August" ] an
swered steadily.
And you really like it, she asked,
still wonderingly.
Il can never imagine myself liking
1t again. | have despised myself since
last Tuesday"
Sin last Tuesday" she echoed and
then blushed. 1t was on Tuesday that
%jacqueline and her aunt had arrived in
Venice. But you are not answering
my first question:
Il am answering IL in Il roundabout
way" | replied dreamily. Then quite
abruptly, You didn't know me until |
was at Oxford. did your
mo"
Il was sent to Elton when | was n
slckly, timid little chap of fourteen. |
had had a lonely life of it in New
York. My mother was 50 afraid |
should have a good time like other
boys and shout and play and talk with
an American accent that she chained
me to a priggish English tutor. who
tool me for solemn walks in the park
Tor recreation. | was hardly any bet
Ter of thai the pale faced little idiots
you see marching about Rome aud Pa
iermo two by two, dressed up In ride
uious uniforms Of broadcloth and ear
rylng canes. But my keeper had me
all to himself. Think of IT,. | never
held a baseball in my little fist. lmag-
me that kind of a %youngster set down
IN the midst of half a thousand lusty
young English schoolboys and an
American at that"
POOR little homesick boy" she muir
INJURED. And them"
just five years of being stunned
ana moping aud long solitary rows on
the river and dreams bad for n boy II
my years-just n long stretch of that
sort of thing. that was my life ut the
public school.