The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1915-06-03
CHAPTER Viii.
A Woman's Reason.

Elsa stared at the vacant doorway.
She recognized only sense of bewil-
derment. This was not one of those
childish flashes of rudeness that had
amused, annoyed and mystified her.
She had hurt him. And how? They
had been together three days on the
boat, and once he had taken tea with
her in Rangoon. She could find moth
ing save that she had been kind to him
when he most needed kindness, and
that she had not been stupidity curious,
only alphabetically So He interested
her and held that interest because he
was type unlike anything she had
met outside the covers of a book. He
was so big and strong and yet so boy
ish He had given her visions OF the
character which had carried his man.
hood through all these years of strife
and bitterness and temptation. And
because of this she had shown him
that she had taken it for granted that
whatever he had done in the past had
not put him beyond the pale Of her
friendship. There had been no de-
grading entanglements, and women
forgive or condone all other trans
gressions.
And what had she just said or done
to put that look of dumb agony in his
face? She swung impatiently from
| the rail and began to promenade the
deck, still cluttered with luggage over
which the Lascar stewards were moil-
ing. Many glance followed the sup
pie pleasing figure of the girl as she
passed round and round the deck.
Other promenaders stepped aside or
permitted her to pass between. The
resolute uplift of the chin, and the
staring dark eyes which saw but inner
visions, impressed them with the fact
that it would be wiser to step aside
| voluntarily. There were some, how
| ever. who considered that they had as
much right to the deck as she. Before
them she would stop shortly, and as a
current breaks and passes each side OF
an immovable object, they, too, gave
way.
The colonel fused and fumed, and
his three spinster charges drew their
pale lips into thinner paler lips.
"These Americans are impossible!"
"And it is scandalous the way the
young women travel alone. One can
never tell what they are"
| "Humph! Brag and assertiveness.
And there's that ruffian who came
down the river. What's he doing on
the same boat? What?"
Elsa became aware of their presence
at the fifth turn. She nodded absently.
Being immersed in the sea of conjec-
ture regarding Warrington's behavior,
the colonels glare did not rouse in her
the sense of impending disaster.
The first gong for dinner doomed.
The echoing wall spoke in the voice
OF the East, of its dalliance, its con-
! tent to drift in sargasso sea Of en-
tangling habits and desires, Of it's IA
talism and inertia. 1t did not hearten
one or excite hunger. Elsa would
rather have lain down in her Canton
lounging-chair. The dining-saloon held
two long tables, only one of which was
in commission, the starboard. The
saloon was unattractive. A punka
stretched from one end of the table to
the other, and swung indolently to and
fro, whining mysteriously, sometimes
subsiding altogether and then Tapping
historically and setting the women's
hair awry.
Elsa and Martha were seated some
where between the head and the foot
of the table, The personally -conduct-
ed surrounded them, and gabbed in,
4 cessantly during the meal of what they
/ had seen, of what they were going to
see. and of what they had missed by
1 not going with the other agency's
party. Elsa's sympathy went cut to
the tired and faded conductor.