The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-05-03
0Conanuad

We had luncheon picnic fashion half ! way to our journeys end, diverging 1 from the main road to find a secluded l spot where we could spread our cloth | and open our hampers without fear of l Interruption or, to use more sinister word, detection. It was rather a jolly affair, that first and lisst al fresco ban quet of ours under the spreading branches of mighty trees and beside the trickling waters of a gay little mountain brook that hurried like mad down to the broad channel of the Dan- ube, nov many miles away. The strain of the first few hours had slack ened. Success seemed assured. We had encountered no difficulties, no dan gers in town or country. No one ap- peared to be interested, in US except through idle curiosity; villagers and peasants stared at us and grinned; po- Hcen1en and soldiers stood aside to let us pass or gave directions politely when requested to do so. There were no signs of pursuit, no indications of trouble ahead. And so we could af- ford to be gay and confident at our midday meal in the hills bordering the broad highway.
 We even went so far as to arrange for jolly reunion in New York city at nc distant day! I remember dis tinctly that we were to dine at Sher- ry's. To me the day seemed a long way off.
 I suppose, being writer of fiction, should be able to supply at this point in the narrative a series of thrilling, perhaps hair raising, encounters with the enemy in the form of spies, cut throats, imperial mercenaries or what ever came handiest to the imagfna- tion. It would be a very simple mat ter to transform this yeracious history into the most Iurid of Haelodramas by the introduction of the false and bizarre, but it is not my purpose to do so. I mean to adhere strictly to the truth and stand by the consequences. Were I inclined to sensationaltsm it would be no trouble at all for me to have TafnoWsyss agents shooting at our tires or gasoline tank from every crag and cranny or to have Rosemary kidnaped by aeroplanists supplied with drag hooks or to have the countess lodged in a village prison, from which should be obliged to Hberate her with battleax and six shooter, my compen- sation being joyous rest in a hospital with the fair AIinea nursing me back to health and strength and cooling fond words in my rapacious ear the while I reflected on the noble endOwnoents of a nature that heretofore had been commonplace and meek. But no! None of these things happened, and l decline to perjure myself for the priv ilege of getting into the list of "six best sellers
 So far as am able to judge there was absolutely no heroism displayed during our flight through the hills and valleys unless you are willing to .ae- cept as such a single dash of sixty miles an hour which Britton made in order to avoid a rain shower that threatened to flank us if we observed the speed laws.
 But wait! There was an example of bravado on my part that shall not go unrecorded. hesitated at first to put it down in writing, but my sense of honor urges me to confess everything. It happened just after that memorable picnic luncheon in the shady dell. The countess, I maintain, was somewhat to blame for the incident. She sug- gested that we-that is to say, the two of us-exp1ore the upper recesses of this picturesque spot, while the others { were making ready for the resumption of our journey.
 Shame, contrition, humiliation or whatever you may elect to call it, for bids a lengthy or even apologetic ex- pIanation of what followed her unfor tunate suggestion. I shall get over with it in as few words as possible
 In the most obscure spot in all those ancient hills I succumbed to an ex ecrable impulse to take her forcibly iI my arms and kiss her! don't know why I did it or how, but that is just what happened. My shame, my horror over the transeendental folly was made almost unbearabIe by the way in whicE she took it. At first thought she ha6 swooned, she lay so limp and unre sisting in my arms. My only excuse whispered penitently in her ear, was that I couldn't help doing what ha6 done and that deserved to be dra WI and quartered for taking advantage O
 my superior strength and her gentle forbearance Strange to say, she mere ly, looked at me in sort of duml wonder and quietly released herself still staring at me as if were tn, most inexplicable puzzle in the world
 Her cheeks, her throat, her brow grey
 warm and pink with a just fndigna
 tion. Her lips parted, but she uttere,
 no word. Then followed her dejeet edIy, cravenly back to the roadside am exeeuted an inward curse that woul ] hang over my miserable head so lon | as 1t was on my shoulders.
 l Her viyacity was gone. She shra<