The Carlisle independent., 1915-12-02

known that. wen start rom uncle Jim's at eight o'clock"
 Allison called old Ephraim.
 T want to begin dressing at seven fifteen" he directed. "At three o'clock set some sandwiches inside the door. Have some fruit in my dressing room."
 He went back to his map, remember ing Lucille with a retrospective smile. The last time he had seen that viva cious young person she had been emp tying a box of almonds, at the side of the camp fire at the toboggan party. He totted down memorandum to send her some, and drew a high stool In front of the map.
 Strange this new ambition which had come over him. Why, he had ac tually been about to consider his big work finished; and now. all at once, everything he had done seemed trivial. The eager desire of youth to achieve had come to him again, and the blood sang in his veins as he felt of his lusty strength. He was starting to build, with youths enthusiasm but with a mans experience, and with the momentum of success and the power of capital. Something had crystaliized him in the past few days.
 Across the fertile fields and the mighty mountains and the arid deserts of the United States, there angled four black threads, from coast to coast, and everywhere else were shorter mail lines and shorter branches, and, last of all, mere fragments of railroads. He began with the long, angling threads, but he ended with the fragments, and these, in turns, he gave minute and careful study. At three o'clock he took sandwich and ordered his car He was gone less than an hour and came back with an armload of books government reports, volumes of statis- tics, and a file of more intimate infor- nation from the office of his broker He threw off his coat when he came in this time, and spread, on the big, lion-clawed table at which Napoleon had once planned a campaign, vari- colored mass of railroad maps At seven-fifteen old Ephraim found him at the end of the table in the midst of some neat and intricate tabulations.
 Time to dress, sir" suggested Ephraim.
 "Oh, it's you" remarked the ab- sorbed Allison, glancing up.
 Yes. sir" returned Ephraim. You told me to come for you at seven-fK- teen"
 Allison arose and rubbed the tips of his fingers over his eyes.
 Keep this room locked" he ordered, and stalked obediently upstairs For the next thirty minutes he belonged to Ephraim.
 He was as carefree as boy when he reached Jim Sargent's house, and his eyes snapped when he saw Gail come down the stairs, in pearl-tinted gown, with triple string of pearls in her waving hair and a rose-colored cloak depending from her gracefully sloping shoulders.
 Her own eyes frightened at the sight today; not singly but as one of a group. She was quite conscious that she liked him, but she was more con- scious that she was curious about him. He stepped forward to shake hands with her and, for a moment, she found in her an inclination to cling to the warm thrill of his clasp. She had never before been so. aware of anything like that. Nevertheless, when she had withdrawn her hand, she felt a sense of relief.
 Hello, Allison" called the hearty voice of Jim Sargent. You're looking like youngster tonight"
 T feel like one," replied Allison. smiling. I'm on vacation" He was either vain enough or curious enough to glance at himself in the big mirror as he passed it He did look younger; astonishingly so; and he had about him a quality of lightness which made him restless. He had been noted among his business associates for a certain dry wit, scathing, satirical, relentless; now he used that quality agreeably, and when Lucille and Ted, and Arly and Dick Rodley joined them. he was quite easily a sharer in the gayety. At the theater he was the same. He par ticipated in all the repartee during the intermissions, and the fact that he found Gail studying him, now and then, only gave him an added impulse. He was frank with himself about Gail. He wanted her and he had made up his mind to have her He was himself a little surprised at his own capacity of entertainment, and when he parted from Gail at the Sargent house he left her smiling, and with a softer look in her eyes than he had yet seen there.
 Immediately on his return to his library, Allison threw off his coat and waistcoat, collar and tie, and sat at the table.
 What is there in the icebox?" he wanted to know.
 Well, sir" enumerated Ephraim carefully; "Mirandy had 8 chicken potpie for dinner. and then there's"
 That wil2 do; cold" interrupted Al lison. Bring it here with as few service things as possible, a bottle of