Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-12

ana happily or look at one with such
sweet candor In her eyes?
ana yet the supper was n very ghost
OF meal. for when I remembered the
man who had watched and waited the
very FOOD grew nauseous and seemed to
choke me. She's Eve-a Evei" rang
a voice In my car; Eve tricked Adam.
didnt she, and you amt a better man
nor Adam; she's a Eve--a Ever
Peter. YOU eat nothing"
Yes, indeed" said I. staring unsee-
ingly down at my plate. and striving to
close my ears against the fiendish voice
And you are very pale!"
shrugged my shoulders.
! 'Peter-look at me-"
looked up obediently.
-. Yes you are frightfully pale-are YOU
lll again-is IL your head; Peter-what is
! ~! and, with a sudden, half-shy gesture,
! she stretched her hand to me across the
| table' And as ! looked from the mute
| PITY OF her eyes TO the mute pity of
| that would-be comforting hand, I had a
great impulse to clasp It close i'm mine
! TO speak. and tell her all my base and
! unworthy suspicious. and, once more,
| 10 entreat her pardon and forgiveness.
| Ihe words were upon my lips. but I
| checked them, madman that | was. and
! shook my head
| 1T is nothing" ! answered "unless Il
! be that I have not yet recovered from
| Black Georges fist: Il is nothing!"
| ANA so the meal drew TO an end and.
| though feeling my thoughts base. I sat
with my head on my hand ana my eyes
upon the cloth, yet knew she watched
me, and more than once | heard her
| sign. man who acts on impulse may
sometimes be laughed at for his mis-
| taxes, but he will frequently attain to
| higher things and be much better loved
| ny his fellows than the colder, more cal
| culating !ogician who rarely makes a
| blunder; and Simon Peter was a man of
impulse
Supper being over and done. Chairman
| must needs take my coat, despite my
protests, and fall to work upon its thread
bare shabbiness, mendinE a great rent
In the sleeve. And, watching her through
the smoke of my pipe, noting the high
mold of her features, the proud poise of
her head, the slender elegance of her
/ hands, ! was struck sharply by her con-
| trast to the rough, bare walls that were
my home and the toil-worn, unlovely
| garment beneath her fingers. AS I looked
she seemed to be suddenly removed from
me-tar above and beyond my reach.
That is the fourth time, Peter"
What, CHAIRMAN"
That is the fourth time YOU have
sighed since you lighted your pipe and
1t is out, and you never noticed it,
Yes" said l. and laid the pipe upon
! the table and sighed again before I could
| stop myself Chairman raised her head
| and looked at me with n laugh in her
! eyes.
'Oh, most philosophical, dreamy black
| smith, where be your thoughts?'
81 was thinking how old and worn and
! disreputable my coat looked"
Ind rfVss
| it up and regarding it with a little frown
! 'forsooth it is ancient and hath seen bet
| ter days"
/ Like its wearer!" said I,>and sighed
! again.
! "Hark to this ancient mani" she
/ laughed. this hoary-headed blacksmith
! of ours, who sighs, and forever sighs /:
| If it could possibly be that he had met
any one sufficiently worthy-I should
| think that he had fallen-philosophica
! in love; how think you, Sir Knight OF
the Rueful Countenance?"
| 81 remember" said I, that, among
| other things, you once called me 'Supe-
| rior Mr.. Smith," Chairman laughed
and nodded her head at me.
| You had been describing to me some
! quite impossible idealistic creature, alone
worthy of your regard, sir"
"Do you still think me SUPERIOR Char
miami"
do you still dream of your impalpa-
BILE. bloodlessly- perfect ideals. sir?'
| mo" / answered; mo, ! think | have
| done with dreaming"
"And I have done with this, thy coat,
for behold! II is finished" and, rising,
! she folded II over the back of NV chair
Now. as she stood thus behind me. her
! hand fell and for a moment rested lightly
| upon my shoulder.
Peter"
Eyes, CHAIRMAN"
"I wish. yes, I do wish that you were
| either much younger or very much older"
| "Why?"
Because you wouldn't be quite $3.50
cryptic-such a very abstruse problem.
| Sometimes / think / understand you bet
| ter than you do yourself, and sometimes
I am utterly lost now, IL you were
! younger I could read you easily for my
| self. and, II you were older, you would
| read yourself for me-"
"I was never very young"' said T.
mo. you were always too repressed,
| Peter"
Eyes. perhaps ] was"
Repression is good up to a certain
point. but beyond that it is dangerous" "
| said she, with a portentous shake of the
| head. 'Heigho! was II a week or year
| ago that you avowed yourself happy and
couldn't tell why?"
'I was the greater fool!" said 7,
For not knowing why, Peter?"
| For thinking mySeI nappy.
| peter, what is happiness?"
"An idea" said ], possessed generally
OF fools!"
"And what is misery"
MISERY is also an idea"
Possessed only by the wise, Peter;
surely he is wiser who chooses hap
| piness?"
Neither happiness nor misery comes
| from choice"
"But-if one seeks happiness Peter?'
| zone will assuredly find msery" said
| /, and, signing, rose, and taking my
| hammer from it's place above my book
shelf. set 10 work upon my bracelets
driving them deep into the heavy frame
work of the door. All at once / stopped
with my hammer poised, and, for nc
reason in the world. looked back al
! Charmian. over my shoulder; looked tc
find her watching me with eyes that
we're az II could we'll bel puzzled, visit
full, shy, and glad at once and the same
time; eyes that veiled themselves swift
ly before my look, yet that shot one last
glance, between their lashes, in which
were only Joy and laughter.
"Yes?" said ]. answering the look. But
she only stopped her head and went OF
sewing; yet the color was bright I'm hel
cheeks.
And, having driven in the four brace
let's. or staples. and closed the door,
took up the bars and showed her how