Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-17
Copyright, 1915, by Edward J. Clode.l

a BLUE and golden day in Sep
IN TENDER, a day when the mel
A\ lowness Of the sunshine, the
6 q rhythmical but even murmur
OF the sea and the tranquil stiffness of
the .ir all seemed to SAVIOR of peace;
and nowhere was this calm of atmos-
phere-something deeper than any
mere quietness of the actual air-more
to be ieit than in the town of Easter
mouth. 1t lies in the crescent made by
Z curve of sandy cliffs and is too big
10 be called a fishing village, too un-
spoilt for a watering place, and the
various people who come there for
their holiday each year all speak OF
It as IL they had discovered it and
held some vested right in the place.
At the Wave Crest Private Hotel, for
Instance. there was almost too much
Of this feeling, which, though crafty
Ing to the proprietress. Mrs Sander
son. yet sometimes caused the regular
visitors to be a little stand-omsh
toward newcomers.
"We,are like a. big family, I am sure.
and Mrs. Sanderson mothers US all,
Miss Myrtle the inevitable faded spin
ster who was almost too elderly to be
4 daughter to any one, was wont to
observe.
However, when she and Mr. Pollock.
the ]. p, and Mrs. Sanderson herself
did melt toward any one then you
could be. quite sure that they were
"all right"
Peace therefore usually held sway
ut Wave Crest. except for the bicker-
Myrtle and Mr.. Pollock-and after all
these wordy flares only increased the
likeness to a family.
On this September morning a sense Of
hroa Ii. of wi
the house as nearly tangible as the sense
Of peace without. Yet to any observer of
acute feelings both would have held a
slight but ominous undercurrent; for on
the horizon slipping quickly along the rim
Of the world went gray shape after gray
shape-mere little serrated ridges to the
careless. but to the understanding eye
something Of the far deeper significance.
They were destroyers, mothered by a
cruiser. and high above them, so high
that it looked less than one of the gulls
wheeling over the retreating tide on the
shore, hung biplane. That strip OF
water known as the North sea and those
gray shapes together made the reason
why the semblance Of peace was still able
to brood over England even when she had
been month at war.
However, there apparently/Fas no acute
observer in the grounds of Wave Crest
that morning. only girl; and with her
slim, rather fatuous. but handsome young
man in fiannels, with an eyegiass, trim
tentment with himself and the rest of the
world. He was taking some boss shots at
an old archery target with an air gum and
seemed too lazy and too inenectuai 10
mind whether he hit it or not. He had
hardly glanced at the portents on the blue
horizon.
He was the embodiment Of casual con-
tent, and as for the girl with him. though
10 a friends eye she would have seemed
more subdued than was her wont. yet she
apparently was content enough. too. But.
had he known 1t, the young man and his
behavior were coming in for severe criti-
cisn on the other side Of the bright brick
house wall. In Mrs. Sandersons own
private sitting room some of her guests
were assembled and they were there ow-
ing to the fact that he Of the eyeglass,
Mr.. Christopher Brent, had. only the
morning before, allowed his bath to over
flow. thus drenching the walls and ceiling
OF the lounge.
1t was the hour sacred to the morning
paper, and. like many people whose
habit Of mind is in a narrow groove,
these inmates Of Wave Crest were un-