Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-01-26
the good sense not to spoil with a
comb and brush.

the gOod not TO spol WIFI q
comb and brush.
There was also a square shouldered
fellow who bristled with energy. He
seemed to be employed In outside
work, and 1t was only in the early
hours that he had a chance to talk
with her.
She treated him with sufficient cor
diality to cause jealous feelings on my
side of the canyon, for it pleased me
to fancy myself In love with her.
Lastly, there was the old bookkeeper.
who must have lived somewhere in the
country, for he brought her such flow
ers as the florists do not sell and laid
them on her desk before she came
down. He would be alone in the office
then, and he did not know that | was
watching him from across the chasm
1 have seen him spend twenty minutes
in arranging half a dozen wild flowers
and then dodge quietly away at the
sound of a step in the hall.
In all my days at the window I lev.
er saw him address her till she had
first spoken to him.
There was a day in June when she
of blossoms awaited her, and / could
read anxiety In the old bookkeeper's
back where he stood by his desk on
the far side of the room as the min.
utes passed on beyond the usual time
Of her appearance. When the gray
haired young man came in his first
glance was directed toward the desk,
of which the lid was closed for the
first time, at that hour. in many
months.
Immediately a messenger boy came
In with a telegram, and when the
head of the firm had read it he looked
toward the closed desk again, SO ]
knew what must be in the dispatch.
The bookkeeper was watching over
his shoulder, and by and by he pluck
ed up courage to ask a timid question
of his employer. The answer made
him look very grave.
Whatever the news may have been,
he communicated 1t to the light haired
youth and the square shouldered fell
low in the latter edge of the luncheon
hour before the chief had returned.
They took 1t very hard, and the
younger of them stood by the window
afterward when he should have been
at work, and he looked the picture of
grief.
Yet the girl was on hand at the
usual hour next morning and was the
recipient of cordial greetings, though
she had to ask the bashful bookkeeper
for his.
In the afternoon, when she stood by
the open window for a few minutes, |
thought she looked quite i'll, and, worse
than that. she seemed apprehensiye.
The blight of melancholy was OF her.
l fancied her as one of those unfor-
tunates who in youth are told that
there will be no maturity; that the
seeds of death are planted and must
grow.
-EEhfee days later she was absent
again. Then 1 saw her on three sue
cessive days, leaving out of account
intervening Sunday. Again she fail
ed to appear but only for a day, and
the remainder of the week she was in
her accustomed place.
Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday
passed with no glimpse Of her. In the
late afternoon of that last day a man
who could be known for a doctor half
a mile away made a long call upon the
head of the firm. They conversed very
seriously for a few minutes and then
drifted to general themes and laughed
and puffed their cigars as if nothing
were wrong. That fixed my estimate
of the gray haired young mar at a very
low point in the scale.
There was no sign of her during the
week. On Monday l saw unusual
sights in the office across the way.
First the old %bookkeeper came in, and
while he had the Office to himself he
sat in her chair, and l saw him shed
tears.
Then the young man with the corn
colored hair appeared, and upon my
word | was afraid to see him stand
by the open window with such a look
upon his face lest he should cast him
self down to the bottom of the Nassau
street gulf.
A little later the three clerks, the
gray haired man and an elderly per-
son whom | took to be the second mem
Der of the firm just arrived from
~abroad-for | had heard a rumor that
one of them had been in Europe near
~ a year-assembled in conference on
a plane of equality which only a mu-
tual deep sorrow could have justified.
After awhile the two clerks came
back, bringing some large ~pasteboard
boxes, which contained flowers, for,
though they were opened in a part Of
the office that my view did not well
command. | got a glimpse of white
blossoms and green leaves.
/ think those men were all sincere,