The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-07-24

even the knowledge of its presence
Men loved her, but in awe. as one
loves the marbles of Phidias She
knew no restraint, and yet she had
passed through her stirless years re-
strained Her Independence was in
herent and not acquired She had laid
down certaiL l. VS. for herself to fol-
low; and that these often clashed with
the laws of convention which are fet
ish to those Who divide society in'o
three classes only mildly amused her
Right from wrong she knew, and that
sufTiced her.
Her immediate relatives were dead;
those who were distantly related re-
NAMED SO, a they had no part in her
life nor she in theirs From her father
she had inherited a remarkable and
seldom Grant judgment. To her, faces
were generally book covers, they re-
PEELED or attracted; and she found
large and undiminishing interest In
the faculty of pressing back the COW
ers and reading the text Often bat
tered covers held treasures, and often
! the editions de luxe were swindles
! But in between the battered covers
and the exquisite FlorentinG h,nd-tOol-
ing there ranged row of mediocre
! books; and it was among these that
Elsa found that her instinct was not
wholly infallible, as will be seen.
Today she was facing the first prob
lem of her young life. epochal She
was, as it were, to stop and begin life
anew, And she didn't know. she
wasn't sure.
There were few passengers .board
There were three fussy old English
maidens under the protection OF still
fuss.er old colonel The quartet
| greatly amused Elsa Their mods were
abrupt. and they spoke in the most
/ formal manner She was under grave
4 suspicion; in the first place. she was
travelling alone in the second place.
! she was an american. At table there
was generally desultory conversation
and many blrb of malice Elsa shot
| from her bow Figuratively, the colo
mel walked about like pCrcupine,
/ bristling With arrows instead Of quilts.
/ Elsa could hare shouted at times, for
! the old war dog was perfectly obly-
! ious. There was. besides. the inevi-
table German tourist, who shelled with
! questions every man who wore brasj
/ buttons, until there was some serious
| talk of dropping him astern some day.
He had shelled the colonel. but that
gentleman was snugly incased in the
! finest and most impenetrable Besse-
mer, complacency.
Upon these Irrawaddy boats the
purser is usually the master of cere-
monies in the dining saloon. Elsa
usually sat at the purser's right. and
tonight she found the stranger sit
ting quietly at her side. The chair had
been vacant since the departure from
Mandalay. Evidently the purser had
decided to be thorough in regard to
her wishes 1t would look less con-
| spicuous 20 make the introduction in
; this manner. And she wanted to meet
this man who haT almost made her
cry out in establishment
Miss Chetwood, Mr.. Warrington"
This was as far as the purser would
unbend
The colonel's eyes popped: the
hands Of the three maidens fluttered
Warrington bowed awkwardly. for he
was decidedly confused.
Hal" doomed the German. Vat
do you tink uff ;"
And from soup to coffee Warrington
eluded. lodged, stepped under and ran
around the fusillade of questions.
Elsa laughed softly. There were
breathing spells. :. be sure Under
the cover of this verbal lombard
ment she found time to inspect the
stranger. The likeness. SO close at
hand, started ringing in her ears
and a f1utter in her throat 1t was al
most unbelievable. He was bigger,
broader. his eyes were Feener. but
there was only one real difference:
this man was rugged. whereas Arthur
was elegant 1t was as if nature had
taken two forms from the same mold.
and had finished but one of them His
voice was not unpleasant, but there
were little sharp points of harshness
in it. due quite possibly to the dust
Il am much interested m that little
parrot of yours. | have heard about
him
oh! | suppose you've heard what
they call u.s." His eyes looked straight
into hers, smilingly
Parrot & Co.? Yes Will you show
him off tomorrow"
Il shall be very happy to-
But all the while he was puzzling
over the purser's unaccountable action
in deliberately introducing him to this
brown-eyed. golden-skinned young