Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1914-11-12

that one could wish. In RETROSPECT
tive fash there passed before him a
vision of those days, when he, Mr..
Philip Steele, son of q multimillion-
aire banker, was one of the favored
few in the social life Of a great city; /;
when fashionable clubs opened their
doors to him, and beautiful women
smiled upon him, and when, among
others, this girl of the hyacinth letter
held out to him the tempting lure Of
her heart. Her heart? Or was 1t
the tempting OF his own wealth :?
Steele laughed, and his strong white
teeth cleaned in half-contemptuous
smile as he turned again toward the
fire.
He sat down, with the letter still
In his hands, and thought Nof some Of
those others whom he had known.
What had become of Jack Moody, he
wondered-the good old Jack of his
of the hyscinth with the whole of his
big. honest heart. but who hadn't
been given half show because Of
his poverty? And where was White
more, the young broker whose hopes
had fallen with his own financial
ruin; and Fordney, who would have
cut off ten years of his life for her
and half-a- dozen others he might
name?
Her heart. Steele laughed softly
nc hn hn 1nst ~
sweet perfume of 1T came to him
more strongly. How she had tempted
him for time! Almost-that night
of the Hawkins ball-he had sur
rendered to her. He half-closed his
eyes. and as the logs cracked in the
fireplace and the wind roared out
side, he saw her again as he had
seen her that night-gloriously beau
tifnl; memory of the witchery of her
voice. her hair. her eyes firing his
blood like strong wine. And this
beauty might have been for him. was
still his. IL he chose. A word from
out OF the wilderness, a few lines
that he might write tonight
upright. One after another he crum-
pied the sheets of Daper in his hand
and tossed all but the signature page
into the fire. The last sheet he kept.
studied it for a little--as il her name
We're the answer to problem-then
laid 1t aside. For few moments
there remained still the haunting
sweetness of the hyacinth When it
was gone, he gave a last searching
sniff, rose to his feet with a laugh in
which there was some return of his
old spirit, hid that final page of her
letter in his travelling kit and pro-
ceeded to refill his Dipe.
More than once Philip Steele had
told himself that he was century or
two after his time. He had admitted
this much to few OF his friends, and
they had laughed at him. One even
ing he had opened his heart little
to the girl of the hyacinth letter, and
after that she had called him eccen-
trio. Within himself he knew that
he was unlike other men. that the
blood in him was calling back to al
most forgotten generations, when
strong hearts and steady hands
counted for manhood rather than
stocks and bonds. and when romance
and adventure were not quite dead.
At college he took civil engineer
ing, because it seemed to him to
breathe the spirit OF outdoors: and
when he had finished he incurred the
wrath of those at home bv burying
himself for whole year with a sur
veying expedition in Central America.
II WAS this expedition that put the
finishing touch to Philip Steele He
came back big hearted. clear mind
ed young fellow. as bronzed as an
Aztec--a hater OF cities and the hot
house varieties of pleasure to which
he had been born, and as far removed
from anticipation of his fathers mil
lions as though they had never been.
He possessed fortune in his own
right, but as yet he had found no use
for the income that was piling up. A
second expedition, this time to Brazil.
and then he came back-to meet the
girl of the hyacinth letter. And after
that, after he had broken from the
bondage which held Moody, and Ford
ney, and Whittemore, he went back
to his many adventures.
II was the North that held him. In
the unending desolations of snow and
forest and plain, between Hudson's
Bay and the wild country of the
Athabasca, he found the few people
and the mystery and romance which
carried him back. and linked him to
the dust generations he had
lost.
One day slender, athletically
built young man enlisted at Regina
for service In the Northwest Mounted
Police. Within six months he had
made several records for himself, and
succeeded in having himself detailed
to service in the extreme North,
where man-hunting became the
thrilling game of One against One In
an empty and voiceless world. And
no one not even the girl of the hya