The Washington herald., 1914-11-08
loosrisht. lA4l

clutching at his heart, could
- not but feel a thrill at the
wild beauty of the girl; her
long hai1 flowed and writhed smolcily,
her face was the more commandingiy
beautiful for the very merciless hate
that fired it; her giriish body in her
boyish costume was strangely alive.
Her thighs gripped the horses sides
visibly like arches of steel All this
beauty Forbes saw also, and more, for
he saw with the eyes of idolatry; and
yet more again, for his beloved was in
mortal danger. He ran in a frenzy of
fear and determination. As he and the
horse met on sheir converging paths
Persis shrieked to him: Keep awayl
Keep awayp
None the less he leaped for the bride
with both hands flung out. But she
would not let him, endanger himself
She threw all the power OF both her
arms and her weight on the farther
bride, dragging the horses head aside
till he swerved out of Forbes reach.
Forbes Sprawled on the turf; but at
least he had not been struck by the
boots or knees of the horse. And then
the horse came down IN turn, thrown
out of his stride and with his head
brought round so sharply that he came
down on his shoulder and almost broke
his neck.
PERKS went through the air like a
pinwheel, and those who witnessed the
affair gave up her and the horse for
dead. But she clung TO the bride, and
got up on all fours. For once Persis
was awkward She and Forbes met
and stared like quadrupeds, and the
horse rolled over on his belly and
stared too.
Willie, meanwhile, had vanished over
the hill like the headless horseman Ten
Eyck had Ekened him 10,
After the first automatic recovery
PerSis was overtaken by wave of ter
ror she had had no time to feel. She
turned ashen about the mouth, and a
queasy feeling sickened her. Her elbows
gave way, and she sank to the ground.
Senator TAFT came up with difficulty,
forgetting that he had been, perhaps,
nearer death on that green battlefield
than any other of the fallen. He heard
Forbes ,wailing, as he gathered Persis
into his arms and strengthened his own
weak knees:
"Persis, my darling, my angel, speak
10 mel Are you dead?"
Persis opend her eyes with a fash.
She began to realize that she had been
very conspicuous. ~Of course I'm not
dead. But what's worse, my hairs
down. ! must be sightl And my
breeches are torn. Oh, Lord, why.
wasn't 1 killed romantically? Turn
your backs at once"
The two men stared all the more,
but she released herself from Forbes
arms, rose to her feet with some
twinges of evident pain, and put up
her hair with what few hairpins re-
NAMED of her store, and borrowed a.
pin from the Senator's lapel to mend a
rip that let one exquisite knee escape
to view. A caddy came running up
with her hat, and she thanked him.
Come along" she said; Il feel as if
were on the stage of the Metropoli-
ton Opera House"
The horse got clumsily to his feet, all
the battle knocked out of him, and fol-
lowed weakly till she handed him over
to a groom.
Eager to escape the stares that met
her and the sympathy and felicitations
that greeted her, she walked so-1apidly
that the Senator dropped back. She
found herself alone with Forbes, and
she murmured:
You were wonderful to try to save
me as you did"
"As 1 didn't" he groaned. "You
wouldn't let me-"
No, / don't want you ever to risk
anything for me, Harvey. But I'm just
as grateful-and more than that. If
there weren't so many people looking
on do you know what I'd say?"
WHAT"
Kiss me" The words came so un-
expectedly that he forgot their sub
junctive mode. He took them to be in
the imperative, and came near obeying.
He checked himself in time, and said
How soon shall / be able to call you
mine before all the world?"
DO you wish that?"
"Madly! 1t is my one great wish.
She breathed deeply and caressed
him with a delicious smile, and muir
INJURED:
1T is mine, too"
And then Ten Eyck and Winifred
and Mrs. Neff and Alice, and others of
her acquaintance, crowded round, sum-
moned by the flying rumor of the Incl
dent. At length some one exclaimed:
But where's Willie?"
Good Lord" Persis gasped, 81 for
got all about him"
By the time Persis had reached the
clubhouse and had undergone the min
istrations/of a maid, who was also a
seamstress, Willie came limping up on
the terrace, where Persis was seated
with the others.
The luncheon, which Ten Eyck had
commanded, was announced just then,
and they all adjourned to the dining
room. Suddenly, in his joy of being
near to Persis, FoIbes remembered that
he had neglected Senator TAFT, after
promising to meet his daughter He
did not venture to leave his own table;
but as soon as the luncheon was eaten,
and while Winifred and Mrs. Neff and
Persis snealoed off somewhere for their
after-coffee cigarettes, he sought out
TAFT and found him with a tail and
Self-reliant girl< whom he introduced as
Mildred.
Forbes was ashamed of himself for
feeling little chilled by Mildred s. ir-
repressible enthusiasm He blamed
himself, not her. But when Persis re-
turned he thanked heaven for beauty
untroubled by any deeper concerns than
its own loveliness, and for a heart that
inspired desire for itself rather than
pity for the submerged nyriads.
He bade the Senator and his daugh-
ter as cordial a good-by as he could,
,nd ,-orasoad 70 meet fbe Senator ae