The Washington herald., 1914-11-01
7X4EAzH ScHKuch GoZLkrs Lal1z6kEe,

Cornings and Pendletons; her uncle,
George Morgan, gave her a large allow
ance; American men OF wealth and posi-
tfon and foreigners of title and good
standing sought her in marriage; she
was looked upon as a great heiress.
They played tennis together: they
drove about the country, sometimes with
parties, often alonsi at night they played
cards and danced and strolled in the
gardens and were madly in love.
1t was on a night when the gardens
lay black and white as a japanese print
under the powdery moonlight that they
sat on an ivy-stained bench above the
marble basin of fountain, and he asked
her to wed. The woman who had her
choice of the eligibles of two continents
looked into the eyes of the man whose
history and inner life she knew not aft
all, and whispered yes"
And suddenly, as he bent to kiss her.
ne caught the red reflection of a gate
lamp IN the water, titillating and beckon-
ing, as phantom lantern. caueht in q
distant river, had titillated and beckoned.
Tis a sign from Fortune" he NUT
tered to himself. Whimsically he bowed
toward the light.
Ihey were married. Before that thera
was the cruise about Italy, when Miss
Schenck and her mother sailed for the
mediterranean in Eugene Higgins steam
yacht, "Varuna," and Collins met them
in HaVre. A few weeks on the blue sea
under the blue sky in Loves own corner
OF the world famed their infatuation to
white heat. Friends coUnseled consery-
atism; Mrs. Schenck all but forbade the
nuptials. But plans romped along. And
in 1903 the Soldier of Fortune journeyed
west to Monterey, California, where New
ports Beauty Queen" became his bride
Brilliantly they started out on their
career together. The flrst step was to
be trip round the world; the groom
purchased a half dozen polo ponies and
swept in a retinue of servants
They sailed through the Golden Gate
with the grand old words Of the marriage
service echOing in their ears And the
winds of the sea caught them and swept
them beyond the memory of avarice and
sordid sham; swept them out of their old
lives toward the edge Of Ito be" and they
were happy.
An ocean steamship is a world within
a world. Human nature steps into il
from the dock as one thoughtlessly steps
into room and closes the door. But
human nature Wakens the next morning
and finds the boat gone from the dock,
and itself laosea from traditions. Life
becomes as broad as the space from bow
to stern; the supreme magnifying glass
of isolation shows new standards; the
past drops away, the future never comes;
there is only Today and a temporary,
opiated comfortable outlook that van
ishes like American democracy dragged
into real life with the first sight of land.
The blue shadows were the first sight
Of land. Little restless currents, electrie
as the STRINGS that precede a storm,
emanated from the distance and troubled
the Soldier of Fortune When the cur
rents we're sweeping force, he plunged
recklessly.
I'm out of money!"
'We'n soon be in Honolulu" his wife
reminded him. "WeIl cable for more"
There isn't any more"
The girl smiled at his Joke.
mine hundred dollars a year" ha
said bitterly, land no credit and debts
debts!"
She understood finally. And told him
goodbye. He had deceived her; trieksd
her into marrying nobody with moth
ing; love few by as the foam broke and
vanished against the ship.