Rocky Ford enterprise., 1913-08-29

one to look at, there was nothing to
be seen from the windows. The car
dipped over the edge of an incline,
slid with an even, skimming swiftness
down the face of the hill, and then.
with a series of small jouncings,
knowing or caring where she was. she
signaled the conductor to stop, and
alighted She looked round her for
an uncertain moment. and then recog-
nized the locality. She was close to
the old Union Street plaza on which
the Greek Church fronted. Here in
the days before her marriage, when
she and Hazel had been known as
the pretty Iverson girls" she had
been wont to come on sunny Sunday
mornings and sit on the benches with
such beaux as frightened the monot-
ony of that unaspiring period.
She felt tired now and thought It
would not be bad idea to cross to
the plaza and rest there for space.
She was warmly dressed and her
clothes would not be hurt by the damp.
Threading her way down the street,
she came out on the opening where
the little park lies like an unrolled
green cloth round which the shabby.
gray city crowds.
She sank down on the first empty
bench. and looking round she saw
other dark shapes, having a vague.
huddled appearance. lounging in
bunched-up attitude on the adjacent
seats. They seemed preoccupied. 1t
struck her that they. like herself,
were plunged in meditation on mat
ters which they had sought this damp
seclusion silently to ponder. The only
region of activity in the dim, still
scene was where some boys were
playing under the faintly-defined out
line of a large willow tree. They
were bending close to the ground in
the performance of a game over which
periods Of quietness fell to be broken
by sudden disrupting cries. AS Berny
took her seat their imp-like shapes
dark and without detail, danced about
under the tree in what appeared fan
tastic ecstasy, while their cries broke
through the woolly thickness of the
air with an intimate clearness strange
ly at variance with the remote effect
Of their figures.
The fact that no one noticed her. or
could clearly see her, affected her as
1t seemed to have done the other occu-
pants Of the benches. She relaxed
from her alert sprightliness Of pose.
and sank against the back of the seat
in the limpIess of unobserved indiffer-
ence. Sitting thus. her eyes on the
ground. she heard, at first unheeding,
then with a growing sense Of atten-
ton. footsteps approaching on the
gravel walk. They were the short,
quick footsteps of a woman. Berny
looked up and saw woman. little
darker than the atmosphere. emerging
from the surrounding grayness. as II
she were slowly rising to the surface
through water.
Her form detached itself gradually
from the fog. the effect of deliberation
being due to the fact that she was
dressed in gray. long. loose coat
and n round hat with film of veil
about 1t. She would have been a
study in monochrome but for the
color in the cheek turned to Berry,
glowing, rose-tinted cheek into
which the damp had called a pink
brighter than any rouge. Berny looked
at 1t with reluctant admiration, and
the woman turned and presented her
full face. blooming as a flower, to the
watchers eye. 1t was Rose Cannon.
II in these wan and dripping sur
roundings the young girl had not
looked SO freshly fair and comely.
Berry might have let her pass un-
checked. But upon the elder woman's
sore and bitter mood the vision Of
this rosy youthfulness. triumphant
where all the rest OF the world sank
unprotesting under the weight OF
common ugliness. came with a sense
of unbearable wrong and grievance.
As Rose passed. Berry, with a sudden
binding up-rush of excitement.
leaned forward and rose.
Miss Cannon" she said loudly. "Oh,
Miss Cannon-just moment"
Rose turned quickly. looking inquir-
ingly at the owner of the voice. She
had had vague impression of fig
ure on the bench but had not looked
at it. Now, though the face she saw
was unfamiliar. she smiled and said:
did you want to speak to me?"
The ingratiating amiability of her
expression added to Berny's swelling
sense of injury and injustice. Thus
did this siren smile upon Dominick.
and it was a smile that was very
sweet. The excitement that had
seized upon the older woman made
her tremble. but she was glad, fierce
ly. burning glad, that she had stopped
Miss Cannon.
Yes" she said. lust for moment.
If you don't mind"
Rose had never seen the woman be-
fore, and at the first glance supposed