The Washington herald., 1914-07-12

old friend Billie Rawson, a retired
member of the secret service. and
took a vacation together. He was
tired and so was l, and to satisfy our
respective needs foc sleep and rest we
sought out a retired spot on the Maine
coast known generally only to its own
inhabitants, to a few artists who found
in its rocky coast line an infinite va
riety OF material for the exploitation OF
their brushes and sense of color, and to
the favored few sojourners at its hotel
a small wooden structure accommodat-
ing twenty people at most and bearing
the appropriate name of the. Fairview
The chief industries of the town were
fishing and yarn spinning-the latter
not the work of women with loom or
wheel, but of the fishers as they congre-
gated on stormy afternoons at the vii
lage store to swap experiences. l had
happened upon it a few years before
when l had gone thither as a reporter
on a Boston newspaper to get the story
of a wreck that had occurred there in
which there was a considerable loss of
life Its isolation had appealed to my
occasional desire for getting away from
the things of the hurly-burly world, and
the plight of its people-for they were
wretchedly poor, living for the most
part on each others necessities-had
made an equally strong appeal to my
sympathies. They were a fine lot, tax
ing them as whole, possessed of no lit
tie natural humor, as the yarns they
told attested; proverbially honest but
for the most part weighed down by their
possessions in land, much of which had
been mortgaged to astute land boomers
who had visions of great future for
the coast-lying stretches and who were
only too ready to loan money on those
seemingly barren acres in the hope, not
infrequently realized, of some day be-
coming the owners thereof through
foreclosure proceedings. l felt sure
that two or three weeks spent in the at
mosphere of Oal1um Point would suf-
fee to put both Rawson and myself
again upon our feet.
You don't have to WOO sleep there,
Billie" I said to him. Insomnia at
Oakum Point is as rare as icicles at
Panama"
"Oakum Point for me-" was Rawson's
laconic response, and as a result two
weeks later we were established bag
and baggage at the Fairview. At the
time OF our arrival, besides the landlord
and his wife and the freckled-faced boy
who represented the help" there were
only three other occupants of the house,
all of them artists resolved to be on the
scene early before the dust of summer
had served to dull the luster of the
crisp freshness of the land and sea-
scape.
Walter Berrien, the famous marine
painter, was one of them; one of his
pupils-a fresh, breezy young fellow
named Wilkinson-was the second, and
the third was a middle-aged spinster.
With Berrien and Wilkinson we
speedily fraternized, but Miss Horncas-
tie would not even be sister to US. In
fact, we rarely saw her save at break
fast, and even then we had to get down
early to do it. She had a way of start
ing out before 8 o'clock with the i'm
Pedimenta OF her art-paint box, folding
easel, and three-legged canvas stool
and for all we saw of her again during
the day the earth or the sea might as
well have swallowed her.
For myself my interest in the lady
waned after the second or third day, but /
it was not so with Rawson. At sight |
OF her my companion was so visibly i'm |
pressed that i rather rallied him upon
the subject. Rawson as rule took so
little interest in women that it amused |
me to observe his furtivc glances in her
direction upon the few occasions when
the lady was in evidence.
Into all lives some rain must fall" l |
warbled subtly. What's up, Rawson1
Has that granite heart of yours been
finally drilled, blasted, and the poor rem
nants driven sky high into the empy-
rean?"
What are you talking about?" he re-
torted.
Don't lose your heart, Billie" said
!. She's plain as they make EN- and l
don't honestly think she could either
make you happy or support you in the
style to which you are accustomed"
"Who?" growled Rawson, with a
frown.
Miss Horncastle," l replied
GO to the devilT" laughed Rawson.
Il left my heart in my safe deposit box
at home. No fear of its being ship
wrecked on the coast of Maine"
He paused moment
Don't repeat that joke, Jenkins" he I
said gravely. Especially in the pres
ence of Berrien and Wilkinson. have
a particular reason for it"
OF course l promised, but it puzzled
me nevertheless to observe that Raw