The Holly chieftain., 1915-03-05

wander as he wished. Indifferent u
good clothes when the price was eight
hours a day spent in a stuny Office.
bent. round-shouldered. hump p-backed.
over column of figures. Beneath
good clothes or shabby, there was
nothing but human body, all more
or less alike. So the Watermelon had
gone hts careless. contented way. now
resting here, now working there. un-
worried by rent days falling due. by
collars fraying around the edges. coats
getting shabby and shiny at the seams.
and then Billy came along. Billy.
young. sweet. conventional, an hon.
ored member of conventions band.
walking around and around the same
well-beaten path, in the same small
inclosure. II he had elected to be one
OF the throng. he would never have
met her.
But now he was out and fence un-
scalable was between them. If he
climbed the fence again, It would do
no good
Bartlett. like Billy, wondered II he
were growing simple-minded. A desire
to conf1de in Henrietta. to tell her
what he was up to. had come upon
him and seemed too strong to be re-
sisted. Last night, up the quiet
country road, alone with Henrietta, he
had been forced to suppress the desire
sternly. and now in the garish light
of day 1t was still upon him. He took
seat beside her on the stone wall
where she tried to be comfortable as
she f1shed olives from a nearly empty
bottle, the remains of last nights
supper
II wonder" said he, lowering on the
edge of his foolish desire, "if any one
can become man with nothing to
regret"
Certainly not" said Henrietta
There would always be the years"
| Il mean something that he had done
himself explained Bartlett soberly.
Don't tell me your troubles" said
Henrietta, thinking miserably of the
years 1t would soon be SO hard to
deny. 81 have enough of my own.
Confession may be good for the soul,
but it's the death blow to your repu-
| tation."
Father used to say that If there
were public confession instead of pri-
vate In the Catholic church, there
would be no Catholics" said the Wa
| termelon
Let's have a public confession.."
cried the artless Billy Everybody
tell the worst thing they ever did in
their lives"
The Watermelon laughed and leaned
toward her, moth flirting with the
candle flame. "Oh, kid; I'll bet the
worst you ever nd was to swipe the
jam-pot when ma wasn't looking"
No." said Billy, 81 did an awful
thing once"
Let's hear it."
Billy took the olive bottle from Hen
rietta. speared an olive and passed the
bottle on before she spoke. "Will you
confess, II do?" she asked, pausing
with the olive half way to her mouth
Sure" said the Watermelon. II
robbed an apple orchard once"
You're fooling," accused Billy. "I'm
not. I'm really serious"
so am l." vowed the Watermelon.
Billy" said Henrietta, spare us.
! am too young to listen to a tale
Of depravity."
But the lure Of the confessional held
Billy and she passed Henrietta's re-
mark without notice. She turned to
the Watermelon. 'If l tell you the
worst thing ever did, will you tell
me the worst you ever did?"
II haven't done the worst yet" ex.
planned the Watermelon.
The general having nearly wrecked
the cars and seen the damage re-
paired by Alphonse, hurried to the
four sitting on the stone wall.
Come on" said he. at is time we
were going. We have no blue book,
you know"
Il shouldn't wonder" said Henri.
eta. "if there were not rare chance
for some one to confess a heinous
crime"
She looked at Bartlett as he held
out his hand to help her down and
her eyes laughed deep into his.
in self-defense-" he pleaded in a
whisper.
So in the freshness of the early
morning they dipped down the hill
into the valley, passed farm-houses
and corn lands. They stopped about
nine at farmhouse and partook of a
breakfast of coffee. bacon and eggs
Alphonse filled the cars at village
store and they went on. The glory
| OF the day, the close proximftv NJ uon-