Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-05-08
But the man ?" impatiently.
By HAROLD MACGRATH

probably. They don't tramp about
like this otherwise. For all that. he's
rather a decent sort; no bounder like
that rotter we left at Mandalay. He
never talks about himself. 1 fancy
he's lonesome again"
What do they do?" The question
came to her lips mechanically.
"Paddy-fi fields. White men are
needed to oversee them. And then,
there's a railway, and there's the new
oil country north of Prone. You'll
see the wells tomorrow. Rather fancy
this Warrington chap has been work.
ing along the new pipelines. They're
running them down to Rangoon. Well,
there goes the last bag. Will you
excuse me? The lading bills, you
know. If he's with us tomorrow, I'll
have him put the parrot through its
turns. An amusing little beggar."
why not introduce him to me?"
Beg pardon?"
I'm not afraid"
"By Jove, no! But this is rather
difficult, you know. II he shouldn't
turn out right with commend
able hesitance.
"I1l take all the responsibility. It's
a whim."
"Well, you American girls are the
eighth wonder of the world" The
purser was distinctly annoyed. "And
it may be an impertinence on my part,
but 1 never yet saw an American
woman who would accept advice or
act upon It,"
Thanks. What would you ad-
vise?" with dangerous sweetness.
Not to meet this man. It's ir-
regular. 1 know nothing about him.
II you had father or a brother on
board"
"Or even a husband!" laughing.
There you are!" resignedly. "You
laugh. You women go everywhere,
and half the time unprotected"
Never quite unprotected. We
never venture beyond the call Of gen.
tlemen."
THAT is true" Frightening. "You
insist on meeting this chap"
"I do not insist; only, 1 am bored.
and he might interest me for an hour"
She added: Besides, it may annoy
the others"
The purser grinned reluctantly.
You and tre colonel don't get on.
Well, I'll introduce this chap at din
ner. If 1 don't"
II am fully capable of speaking to
him without any introduction what
ever" She laughed again. ut will be
very kind of you"
When he had gone she unused over
this impulse so alien to her charac-
ter. An absolute stranger, a man
with a past, perhaps a fugitive from
Justice; and because he looked like
Arthur Ellison, she was seeking his
acquaintance. Something. then, could
break through her reserve and aloof-
ness? She had travelled from San
Francisco to Colombo, unattended
save by an elderly maiden who had
risen by gradual stages from nurse to
companion, but who could not be
made to remember that she was no
longer a nurse. In all these four
months Elsa had not made half a
dozen acquaintances, and Of these she
had not sought one. Yet, she was
asking to meet a stranger whose only
recommendation was a singular like
ness to another man. The purser was
right. 1t was very irregular.
Parrot & CO.." she murmured. She
searched among the phantoms NOV
ing to and fro upon the ledge: but
the man with the cage was gone. 1t
was really uncanny.
She dropped her arms from the rail
and went to her stateroom and dressed
for dinner. She did not give her
toilet any particular care. There was
no thought of conquest, no thought
Of dazzling the man in khaki. 1t was
the Incidence and carelessness Of the
east, where clothes become only nee
essities and are no longer the essen
tials of adornment.
Elsa Chetwood was twenty-five.
lithely built, outwardly reposeful, but
dynamite within. Education, en-
vironment and breeding had some
what smothered the glowing fires. She
Of hn
of woman, which finds it's expressions
in the Aspasias and Helens and Cleo
patras of legend and history. In fea-
lures she looked exactly what she was,
well-bred and well-born. Beauty she
also had, but it was the cold beauty
Of northern winter nights. 1t COM
PEELED admiration rather than invited
it. Spiritually, Elsa was asleep. The
fire was there, the gift of loving
greatly, only it smoldered, without
radiating even the knowledge Of its
ave- as one loves the marbles OF
Phidias. She knew no restraint, and
yet she had passed through her
stirless years restrained. She was
worldly without being either frugal
or extravagant. Her independence
was inherent and not acquired. She
had laid down certain laws for her.
self to follow; and that these often
clashed with the laws of convention
which are fresh to those who divide
society into three classes, only mildly
amused her Right from wrong she
knew. and that sufficed her.
Her immediate relatives were dead
those who were distantly related re.
mained so, as they had no part in hel
life nor she in theirs. Relatives
even the best of them, are practically
strangers to us. They have theil
own affairs and interests, and If these
touch ours it is generally through the
desire to inherit what we have. sc
Elsa went her way alone. From hei
father she had inherited a remarkable
and seldom errant judgment. To her
faces were generally book-covers
they repelled or attracted; and sht
found large and undiminishing inter
est in the faculty of pressing bach
the covers and reading the text