The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1916-06-10
BREAKING
THE ICE
By ALAN HINSDALE

DeeS. 4 calleQ ner u1rC, not QOuDL-
ing that she purposely exercised this
fascination upon men In some such
spirit as fisherman decoys trout
One day when we were sitting at a
table looking over a book Of pictures
together Polly drew closer to me than
was necessary for her to see the pic
lures, and some lot,se strands Of her
hair grazed my cheek. I turned upon
her and said:
"None of that, Pol You and 1 are
cousins. We have been brought up
together ike brother and sister If
you throw spell over me you'll spoil
it ALL"
She seemed hurt, Her only reply
was a reprOachful look through those
expressive eyes, of hers. l considered
it 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 l get beside my
self with love for you. youTl say,
What a pity that you should have so
misunderstood mer All our coustnly
friendship Will be gone, and there will
be nothing to take it's place"
She listened to me, looking as II she
were about to cry, till l 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 companiOnship
of the opposite sex, have encouraged
them to be friends But deny that
| have encouraged them 30 be lovers"
With this she walked out OF the room,
keeping her back to me, evidently TO
hide dampness In the eyes.
I was puzzled. Was this a part of
her method Of enttcing 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 it seemed likely that she had
made move to break through the or
dinary friendliness Of my treatment of
her, which would be perfectly legiti-
mate in any girl toward any fellow
she desires to be on lover-Hke terms
with.
Whichever Of these propositions was
true the effect was the same. Polly
had inoculated me. With what? l
don't know. Was It curiosity? That
was an ingredient Was it a realiza-
tion that l had not before experienced
that I 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 it had not
occurred to me to trouble myself about
how many fellows Polly had turned
down, / now began to dread that the
next man who was attentive to her she
would accept Then it occurred to me
that she might have felt an incipient
love for me which I had nipped in the
bud A bud destroyed will never bud
again. The thought was maddening
l wanted to go to Polly and undo
what 1 had done.
tempted to try her fascinations upon
me? If went to her with serious
and sorrowful face she would laugh at
me. At any rate, what had said to
her about breaking up our coJsinly
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, Pol!7 Morning, Bob!7 then an
interchange of chaff, in which I usually
got worsted. Polly seemed distrustful
of looking at me, And was glad of
1t, for If l caught her eye wouldn't
know what to express in mine. l re-
marked that it was very disagreeble,
damp morning, and she replied, very"
in a tone that indicated the conditions
between us were more disagreeable
than the morning. Then she took up
a book and pretended to read look
ed out through a window Presently
tired Of the situation and nerved my
self to break it.
you seem very much interested I'm
your book" remarked
"It's quite interesting" without TAX
ing her eyes Off 1t.
Silence for awhile, at the end Of
which I said, 1T presume I owe you an
apology"
She looked away from the book. but
not at me. She was evidently ready to
listen
II should not have accused you"
went on, "of drawing fellows in TO
throw them over"
"Oh, that's nothing. The fellow
must look out for himself"
What marvellous consistency! Quite
worthy Of q woman. Nevertheless
there was q telltale look in her eye
that belied her words. drew my
chair nearer. She did not move away.
"Pol," I said, "I believe would like
to feel those stray hairs Craze my
cheek"
No reply. l drew my chair close be
side barS and looked Of tho hook Sba