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


thing occurred upon these boats True
he had occasionally been spoken to:
an idle question flung at him. like a
bare bone to dog. If flung by an
Englishman, he answered it courte-
ously. and subsidized He had been
snubbed too many times not to have
learned this lesson. 1t never entered
his head that the Introduction might
have been brought about by the girls
interest. He was too mortalIy shy of
women to conceive of such a POSSIBLE
ity So his gratitude was extended to
the purser who. on his side. regretted
his good-natured Recommendations of
the previous hour.
When Elsa learned that the man at
her side was to proceed to RaggOon
she ceased to ask him any more ques-
tons She preferred to read her
books slowly. Once. while he was en-
gagins the purser. her glance ran
over his clothes She instAnly berated
her imPulsive criticism as a bit Of
downright caddiShneSs The Iapels of
the coat were shiny: the winged col
lar gave evidence of having gone to
the native laundry once too often, and
the cuff buttons We're Of Ordinary rupee
silver The ensemble suggested that
since the purchase OF these habiIl-
ments Of civilization the man had
grown, expanded
Immediately after dinner she retired
to her stateroOm, conscious that her
balance needed readiusting She had
heard and read much lore concerning
reincarnation. skeptically; yet here,
within call Of her voice, was Arthur,
not the shadow of substance. but
Arthur, shorn of his elegance his soft,
lazy voice. his half-dreaming eyes, his
charming Incidence. Why ~houid this
mans path cross hers, out of all the
millions that ran parallel?
She opened her window and looked
up at the stars again. She wondered
what this man had done to put him
beyond the pale 1t was not possible
that dishonor lurked behind those
frank blue eyes She turned from the
window and threw open one Of her
kit-bags. delved among the soft fab
RIGS and silks and produced photo
graph She had not glanced at it dur
ing all these weeks There had been
purpose back of this apparent neg
lect. The very thing she dreaded hap
pened Her pulse beat on. evenly, I'M
stirred She was a failure.
In the photograph the mans beard
was trimmed Valois; the beard of the
man who had sat next to her at dinner
had grown freely and naturally. full.
Such a beard was out Of fashion, save
among country doctors it signified
carelessness, Indifference, or full life
wherein the niceties of the razor had
of necessity been ignored. Keenly
she searched the familiar likeness
What an amazing freak of nature! 1t
was UNREAL She tossed the photo.
graph back into the kit bag, bewil-
dered. uneasy.
Meantime Warrington followed the
purser into his Office. Il haven't paid
for my stateroom yet" he said.
I'll make it out at once Rangoon,
| understands
Yes But I'm in difficulty have
nothing in change but two rupees"
The purser froze visibly The tale
was trite in his ears.
But fancy I've rather good secu:i-
ty to Offer" went on Warrington cool
Iy. He drew from his wallet folded
slip of paper and spread it out
The purser stared at it. enchanted
Warrington stared down at the purser,
equally enchanted
by Jove!" the former gasped final
ly. And so you're the chap who's
been holding up the oil syndicate all
these months! And you're the chap
who made them come to this balIy
landing three days ago."
1t was altogether new purser who
looked up. Twenty thousand pounds
about. and only two rupees in your
pocket! Well well: it takes the
East to bowl a man over like this
needs no further recommendation In
the words of your countrymen. go as
far as you like. You can pay me in
Rangoon Your boy takes deck pas.
sage?"
Yes" returning the check to the
wallet
Now, sit down and spin the yarn
1t must be jolly interesting"
IT! admit that it has been a tough
struggle; but knew that | had the
oil Been fiat broke for months Had
to borrow my boys savings for food
and shelter Well. this is the way it
runs" Warrington told it simp ply. as
if it were a great joke.
"Rippin'! By JOve, you Americans