Putnam patriot., 1916-06-30

Please tdIA bi SUMetHllG sensible now for all antidote-your piaus. for instance
 My plans are never sensible. and what few I have are as empty as my "a. kets. To tell the truth. l have neither plans nor pockets, she laugh ed since this is a borrowed gown.
 Pockets in gowns are entirely mat ters of hearsay anyhow: 1 doubt if they exist. You are going back to Seattle|
 No. Mother would never allow it. Tn fact, when she learns that I'm out here she'll probably send me back to New York as fast as I can go.'
 "Doesnt she know where you aree
 "Indeed. no, She thinks I'm safely and tamely at home. Uncle Curtis wouldn't object to my visit, I fancy; at any rate. I've been counting on his good offices with mother, but it's too late now
 I'm like you," he said; T can't brook disappointment I'm going on.'
 In answer to her questioning look he explained his plan of intereepting the freight steamer that night whereupon her face frightened with sudden hope.
 cant ] go. too?" she implored eager ly she was no longer the naughty young lady he had met upon entering the room, but a very wfstful child.
 I'm afraid that's hardly
 Please, Please. Be a real prince and grant me this hoon Won't you: My heart is set upon il"
 IL was hard to resist her imploring eyes-eves which showed they had never been denied. It was hard for O.Neil to refuse anything to a woman.
 If your uncle is wiling" he began besitatingly.
 He isn't my really uncle. I just call him that"
 Well, if Mr. Gordon wouldn't ob jeet, perhaps l can manage il, proyid ed. of course. you promise to explain 10 your mother"
 Miss Gerard's frank delight showed that she was indeed no more than q child. Her changed demeanor awak ened doubt in the mans mind.
 It will mean that you'll have to sit up all night in an open launch" he cautioned her.
 "I'll sit up for week
 With the creepy water all about and big black mountains frowning at you|
 "Oh. fiddle." she exclaimed. You'll be there if l get frightened" Rising impulsively, she laid her hand on his arm and thanked him with an odd mingling of frankness and shyness, as if there could be no further doubt of lis acquiescence. He saw that her eyes were the color of shaded wood land springs and that her hair was not black but of deep, rich brown where the sun played upon it, the hue of very old mahogany, with the same blood red flame running through it. He allowed himself to admire her in sileAce until suddenly she drew back with a startled exclamation.
 What is it?'
 ''l forgot-I have no clothes" Her words came with q doleful cadence.
 The universal complaint of your sex" he said, smiling Allow me to talk with your hostess. I'm sure she will let you walk out with your bor-- rowed fnery just like Cinderella. You will need nick thick coat too"
 But this is her very, very best dress
 she shall receive on the next ship big box all lined with tissue paper, with the imprint of the most fashion able dressmaker in Seattle. I'll ar range ali that by cable
 You don't know how she loves it" the girl said doubfully
 Come, Call her in. If I'm to be prince you mustn't doubt my power.
 Nor did the event prove him overcon- Hdent. Before he had fairly made known his request the good lady of the house was ready to surrender not only her best Sunday gown. but her fluttering heart as well. Murray O'Neil had way of making people do what he wanted. and women invariably yielded to him.
 To Natalie Gerard the trip down the bay and into the sound that night was q wonderful adventure. She remem- bered it far more viyidly than the ship wreck, which became blurred in retro speet, so that she soon began to think of it as of some half forgotten night mare To begin with. the personality of Murray ONeil intrigued her more and more. The man was so strong, so sympathetic and he had such a resist less way of doing things. The stories she had heard of him were romantic, and the superintendent's wife had not allowed them to suffer in the telling.
 When midnight came she found that she vas ravenously hungry, and she was agreeably surprised when O'Neil produced an elaborate lunch. There were even patent bottles filled with steaming hot coffee more delicious, she thought, than anything she had ever before tasted. He called the meal their after theater party, pretending that they had just come from Broad way melodrama of shipwreck and peril The subject led them naturally to talk of New York, and she found he was more familiar with the city than she
 T usually spend my winters there" he explained
 Then you have an office in the cityT"
 '0h. yes I've maintained place of business there for years"
 Where is ita On Wall street?"
 ~No." he smiled. "oH upper Fifth avenue It's situated in the extreme southwest corner of the mems cafe at