Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-02-23
CHAPTER /.
Love Of Woman.


=
Love Of Woman.
II meetings only lived up to their
hnticipatIons, life would be a success
sion OF startling climaxes. IL had been
some months since Meade. had seen
Helen nllngwOrth. He had dreamed
OF meeting her every day and had pic
tured the meeting differently and more
rapturously after every letter. AS a
matter OF fact the whole thing was
casual and ordinary to the last degree.
Il always is.
Doctor Severence, n retired physi-
cian, who was vice president and
financial man, and Curtiss, the chief
engineer Of the bridge company, We're
hard upon Miss IHingworth's heels as
she stepped down from the car to the
station platform. He saw her, as it
were, surrounded by prOsaic men. The
woman he loved got the same welcome
and the same handshake as her father
and the other two men. It was not
until big Abbott, who had been beIated
by some sudden demand OF work, came
sweeping down the platform to engage
the attention Of the men that the anx-
ious Meade had a moment with the girl
herself. t-fH FN
Now Helen Hllngworth had also been
seeing visions, so that she had been as
disappointed as he. The only real sat
isfaction that either OF them could take
in the situation lay In the fact that the
other was there. 1t was midsummer
and the girl was dressed In some light
flmy fabric which well became her rn-
diant beauty. Meade could look at u
BIT of structural steel work and tell
you all about 1t. All that he could
have told you about the dress she wore
was that 1t was, exqulsitely appropri-
ate, but It never occurred to him that
with a great price to great artist
Helen nllngworth had obtained that
look OF delightful simplicity.
The gown was not wasted on Meade.
she decided. as she caught his raptJr-
Gus glance. She Ind never looked love-
ller. She was not fragile, ethereal
woman quite the reverse, That was
one Of ten thousand things Mende liked
about her. She could do all those ath-
letic and pr raetieal things that modern
young women can do and she could do
them well.
Z Meade was intensely practical and
efficient. He could do all of those
things himself and many more and he
liked to do them, and that Is one rea-
son why Ne had been sttr acted to her
yet not for that alone did he. love her
On that soft summer afternoon she
looked as subtiy delicate as every man
would at one time or another have the
woman he loves appear, and as fur re.
moved from things strenuous as If in
another world He was wearing the
rough clothes. flannel shirt, khaki trou.
sers, heavy shoes and legglngs which
were his habItual use at work. Con
trusted with her flImy and delicatelJ
colored fabric his well-worn olive
drnb hablliments stood forth hldeously
That Is, he thought so, and the con
trnst somehow seemed typical of tn,
difference between them as he consid
cred her. a.
There was the careless lnsoucianc,
Of conscious power In the bearing o
the engineer which differentiated hin
from most OF the men with whom sh
had been thrown In contact during he
life. The International Bridge was tn
biggest thing Of the kind the Martle
company or any other American struC
turnl plant had ever undertaken. ]
had been constant topic of convers
ton wherever her father was. Sh
Ind heard oil about II, and although
strictly speaking, the bridge was tn
work OF Meade, Sr., yet she alway
identified It with Meade. Jr. There W O
feeling In her mind that II was he
bridge and that, through him, she con
minded lt. She was a supremely ai
sured and entirely confident youn
lady, vet with the man by her side sh
experienced passing sense of uneas
ness, such as one might conceive II
butterfly would feel in the presence ,
a steam hammer
They were as awkward and Co
strained when left to themselves as
one had not been all over the wor
ON mans jobs for a decade and II
other had not queened it among Il
incest girls of the land for half
many years. And with thoughts bur
Ing, passionate, and words embarras
ingly tOrrential at hand to give the
utternnce, they only spoke commo
placesl
"How Is the bridge getting along
asked the gir.. repeating her fathel
words OK fen minutes before.
these two fell behind the others marc
ing down the long pl atform, while t
maid standing by the private car wi
the porter looked curiously after {
moving group and wondered IL III
gray-green, long-legged young man W
the reason for the New York gown!
"It's doing splendidly," was the {
swcr, and even with his heart full
the glri by his side whom he long
to clasp In his arms but did not ev
d ure touch the hem of her garme
some little enthusiasm came into
voice. 1T is the greatest bridge Il
wns ever erected" he said.
"How you love it," said the girl.
Did Meade love the bridge?
thero could be no doubt as to tn
he had studied its growth hour
hour. AS the great steel web rose,
henrt expanded with it. He took Or
in Il even more when they began
push the suspended span across
river OH the outer end Of the comple