Evening star., 1914-04-26
peranent!

permanent.
Thomas was moved to burst of confidence Il
know that l poor, and to the best of my belief
honest Moreover, perhaps l should be compelled
by the exigencies of circumstance to leave you
after a few months. | am not rich man, masque-
rading for the sport of it. really poor and
grateful for any work. 1t is only fair that should
tell you this much: that | am running away from
no one. Beyond the fact that l am the son OF
very great but unknown scholar, farmer OF med1-
ocre talents who lost his farm because he dreamed
of humanity instead of cabbages have nothing
to saw" He said it gravey without pride or veiled
hauteur
"That is frank enough" replied Kitty, curiousy
stirred "You will not find us hard task masters
Be here this afternoon at three. My father will
wish to talk to you. And be as frank with him as
you have been with me-.
She smiled and nodded brightly and turned
away He had a glimpse of a tan shoe and slim
tan-silk ankle, which poised birdlike above the
high doors1 and then she vanished into the black
shadow of the companonway She atterward
confessed to me that her sensation must have been
akin to that of boy who had stolen an apple and
beaten the farmer in the race to the road.
We all make the mistake of searching for our
drama, forgetting that it arrives sooner or later
unsolicited.
Bewtched! Thomas should have been the hap
pest man alive; but the devil had recruited him tor
his miserables. Her pquant face no longer con-
fronting and bewildering him, he this second
net into which he had permitted himself to be
drawn As if the first had not been colossal enough!
Where would it all end? Private secretary and
two hundred month-forty pounds-this was
a godsend. But to take her orders day by day, to
see her, to be near her! Poverty stricken wretch
that he was he should have declined. Now he
could not; being a simple Enghshman, he had
given his word and meant to abide by it. There
was one glnmer of hope,-her father. He was a
practical merchant, and would not permit man
without past (Which is often worse than a man
with one) to enter his establishment.
Thomas was not in love with Kitty. Qndeed,
this isn't love story at all) Stewards three days
out are not in the habit of falling in love with their
charges (Maundering and Drool notwithstanding.
He was afraid of her, she vaguely alarmed him,
that was all.
For seven wears he had dwelt in his third floor
back; had breakfasted and dined with two old
maids, their scrawny niece, and a muscular young
stenographer who shouted militant suffrage and
was not above throwing brickbat whenever the
occasion arrived. There was barmaid or two at
the pub where he 1unched at noon; but chaff was
the alpha and omega of this acquaintance Thus,
Thomas knew little nothing Of the sex.
The women with whom he conversed, played
the gallant the hero the lover 1--WE none of us fancy
ourselves as roguesD, those which peoped
his waking dreams. She was La Belle lscut,
Elaine, Beatrice, Constance; it all depended upon
what book he had previously been reading. 1t is
when we men confronted with the living picture
of someone of dreams of them that women
cease to dwell in the abstract and become issues,
to be met with more or less trepidation. Back
among of his idle dreams there had been
Kitty, blue eyed, black haired, slender and elfnsl.
KITTY sat down in her chair. "Wel" she said,
Il have found him.
"Found whon?' asked Mrs Crawford.
"The private secretary"
Copyright. by Bobts- Merrill Company.