The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-06-29
BREAKING
THE ICE
BY ALAN HINsDALE

My cousin Polly was witeh-ai
least there was a witchery about hel
that drew men TO her as flowers draw
bees. I called her a flirt. not doubt
ing that she purposely exercised this
fascination upon men in some such
spirit as fisherman decoys trout.
One day when we were sitting at d
table looking over book of pictures
together Polly drew closer to me than
was necessary for her to see the pic.
lures, and some loose strands of lie.
hair grazed my cheek. I turned upon
her and said:
None of that, Pol You and | are
cousins. We have been brought IN
together like brother and sister. If
you throw spell over me you'll spoil
it all"
She seemed hurt. Her only reply
was reproachful look through those
expressive eyes Of hers. I considered
1t one of her wiles, and it irritated me.
do you know what you're trying
to do? You're bent on scooping me
In as you have so many other fellows.
You want me to be soft ON you for
awhile; then. when / get beside nv
self with love for you, you'll say,
What pity that you should have so
misunderstood mel All our cousinly
friendship will be gone, and there vii!
be nothing to take its place .
She listened to me, looking as if she
were about to cry. till 1 had finished.
then said In an injured tone:
You have no right to assume that
| have ever treated any man dishon.
orably. Men have sought my society.
and, since girls like the comprehensive
OF the opposite sex, have encouraged
them to be friends. But I deny that
| have encouraged them to be lovers. =
With this she walked out of the room.
keeping her back to me, evidently to
hide dampness in the eyes
was puzzled. Was this a part of
her method of enticing a man for the
purpose OF refusing him. or was she
speaking the truth? Whether it was
her game or whether she wanted me-
| was at loss to decide If she want
ed me 1t seemed likely that she had
made move to break through the or
binary friendliness of my treatment of
her, which would be perfectly legiti-
mate in any girl toward any fellow
she desires to be on lover-like terms
with.
Whichever of these propositions was
true the effect was the same. Polly
had inoculated me- With what? I
don't know. Was 1t curiosity? That
was an Ingredient. Was 1t a reaIiza-
ton that I had not before experienced
that wanted her? Possibly. What
ever it was it had got into my blood
and had produced that fever which ac-
companies love.
While before this episode 1t had not
occurred to me to trouble myself about
how many fellows Polly had turned
down, i now began to dread that the
next man who was attentive to her she
would accept. Then 1t occurred to me
that she might have felt an ineipient
love for me which had nipped in the
bud. A bud destroyed will never bud
again. The thought was maddening.
wanted to go to Polly and undo
what ] had done.
But supposing she had simply been
tempted to try her destinations upon
me? II went to her with serious
and sorrowfu1 face she would laugh at
me. At any rate, what had said to
her about breaking up our cousinly
status was true. When next we met
there would be something that had
never existed before between us-con-
straint. She would be shut up like an
oyster, like clam
And SO we were. There was no more
Hello, Polr' Morning, Bobr' then an
interchange OF chat, In which usually
got worsted. Polly seemed distrustful
or looking at me. And I was glad of
It, for If / caught her eye wouldn't
know what to express In mine. I re-
marked that 1t was very disagreeb1e,
damp morning, and she replied, Very
In tone that indicated the conditions
between us were more disagreeable
than the. morning. Then she took up
book and pretended to read look
ed out through a window. Presently
Il LIEU Vi tuC S1LudllOH dAu ucEFGu III =
self to break it.
'sYou seem very much interested In
your book" I remarked
ITS quite interesting" without TAX
Ing her eyes OF it.
Silence for awhile. at the end of
which / said 81 presume I owe you an
apology
She looked away from the book, but
not at me- She was evidently ready to
listen.
ST should not have accused you,r |
went on, "of drawing fellows In TO
throw them over"
"0h. that's nothing. The fellow
must look out for himself
What marvellous consistency! Quite
worthy of a woman Nevertheless
there was a telltale look in her eye
that belied her words. / drew my
chair nearer. She did not move away.
"Po1," / said, 81 believe I would like
to feel those stray hairs Craze my
cheek
No reply. / drew my chair close be
side hers and looked at the book she
was reading. 1t was upside down. In
order to see the better / placed my
cheek so near hers that they touched
The ice was broken-that is, If
kiss can be spoken of as ice. Then /
talked a lot of what I now call baIder-
dash, though Pol pronounced it ssvery