Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-05

full of that fire. III be up in the morning He slowed
away the bill Magee had given him. Il guess nothing
will interfere with your lonesomeness Leastways,
hope it won't. Goodnight.
MAGE bade the goodnight, and listened to the
~ thump of his boots and the closing of the great
front door, From his windows he watched the
taker down the road without looking back, to
disappear at last in the white night
the fire. be h1a1e aared red ON he srono b,mor.'s
mo>lth, in his smiling eyes Next in the Pickering half
light of suite he distributed the of his
travelling bags about. On the table he placed number
of new magazines and few books.
Then Magee down in the big leather chair before
the fire, and caught his breath Here he at last
The wild plan he and Hal Bentley had cooked up in that
44th-st. club had actually to be- "Secluson!"
Magee had cried. Bermuda" Bentley had suggested
"a mixture of hotel clerks and honeymooners the
seeker for solitude had Sneered Some winter place
down South, from Bentley. "And Irritation lurking in
every corner, from Magee "A country town where you
don't know anyone. 1.-The easiest place in the world
to get acquainted | must be alone, Man, alone!"-
Baldpate lnn, Bentley had cried in his idiom. why
Bly-Baldpate Inn at Christmas-t must be old
John H. Secusion himself
Yes here he And here the solitude he had
to find Magee looked nervously about, and the
smile died out of his gray eyes. For the first time mis-
g1vngs srnote him. Might not have too much of
good thing? silence like that of the tomb had de-
scended. He recalled stories of who went mad
from loneliness; What place lonelier than this? The
wind howled along the balcony. 1t ratified the WIN
dows. Outside his door lay great black cave,-in
summer gay with men and maids: now like Crusoes
island before the old man landed
"Alone, alone all, all alone quoted Magee "If
can't think here it will be because IN not equipped with
the apparatus will! III show the gloomy old critics
l wonder what's doing in New York;
New York! Magee looked at his watch. Eight
o'clock. The great street ablaze. The crowds
parading from restaurants to theaters. The electric
signs pasting llrid legends suffering sky
the taxis spraying threats with gasoene the raf
fc cop at Broadway and 42d-st mady earning his
pay Magee got up and walked the floor New York;
Probably the telephone in his rooms was janging
vany calling forth to sport with Amaryllis in the shade
of the rubber trees Billy Magee-Bily Magee who sat
alone in the silence Baldpate Mountain. Few knew
of his departure: This the night of that stupid at
tempt theatrcals the Plaza stupid in itself but
gay, almost giddy since Helen Faulkner be there
This the night of the dinner to Carey at the club
This , was the s nghto many vertipg things
they read, in the old days, by candlelght He won
dered if they would have found his own stories worth
the strain the eyes And he also wondered if abso
lutte solitude quite the thing necessary the COM
position the novel that should forever silence those
who sneered at his ability.
Absolute sotude Only the crack1e of the fire. the
of the wind and the ticking of his watch bore him
company. He strobe to the window and looked down
at the few dim lights that proclaimed the existence of
Upper Asquewan Falls. Somewhere, down there,
the Commercial House, somewhere the girl who had
wept SO bitterly in that gloomy little waiting She
only three miles away, and the thought cheered
Magee. After ALL he not desert island.
And vet he alone intensely, almost painfully
alonealone vast, moaning house that must be his
only home until he could go back to the gay city with
his masterpiece. What masterpiece. AS though with
surgeon knife would lay bare the hearts of
Magee paused; for sharply in the silence the bell of
his room telephone rang out.
HE stood for moment gazing in wonder his heart
beating swiftly his eyes upon the instrument the
wall 1t house phone He knew that it could be
rung only from the switchboard in the hall below I'm
going mad already" he remarked, and took down the
receiver.