The Madison journal., 1917-03-03
CHAPTER 1.
Love of Woman.
THE EDITOR.

| II wv VI HsOTidUs
meetings only lived up TO thei
tntcipatiOnS, life would be "A success
ion Of startling climaxes. 1t had beer
eome months since Meade had seer
Helen lllingwOrth. He had dreamed
Pf meeting her every day and had pic
fured the meeting differently and more
apturously after every letter. As a
bnatter of fact the whole thing was
casual and ordinary to the last degree.
h always is.
DOCTOR Severence, a retired phySi-
rian, who was vice president and
financial man, and Curtiss. the chief
engineer of the bridge company, were
hard upon Miss IllingwOrth's heels as
ehe stepped down from the car to the
station platform. He saw her, as il
we're, surrounded by proSaic men. The
woman he loved got the same welcome
hnd the same handshake as her father
md the other two men. 1t was not
lntl big Abbott, who had been belated
y some sudden demand of work. came
weeping down the platform to engage
he attention Of the men that the anx-
cus Meade had moment with the girl
eeerself.
Now Helen lllingwOrth had also been
seing visions, so that she had been as
fsappOinted as he. The only real sat
ractiOn that either of them could take
the situation lay in the fact that the
| Hhpr fhara
J nd the girl was dressed In some light.
/. tmy fabric which well became her RI
PANT beauty. Meade could look at a
Of structural steel work and tell
u ali about it. All that he could
ave told you about the dress she wore
n S that 1t was eXquisitely appropri-
8 e, but 1t never occurred to him that
q im great price to great artist
n 2deen lllingwOrth had obtained that
ID ook OF delightful simplicity.
q The gown was not wasted on Meade,
ne decided, as she caught his raptur-
& glance. She had never looked love
ef' She was not a fragile. ethereal
oman; quite the reverse. That WIS
d ne OF ten thousand things Meade liked
bout her. She could do all those ath-
sue and pr tactical things that modern
o0hg women can do and she could do
hem well.
Aeade was intensely practical and
Mueht. He could do all of those
Mngs himself and many more and he
PAed 10 do them, and that is one rem
W Why he had been attr acted to her.
q NOT tor that alone did he love her.
'hat soft summer afternoon she
NAeu as subtly delicate as every man
Ouiu at one time or another have the
Unah ne loves appear. and As far re-
po'ed from things strenuous nc ~ IN
uO'ner world! He was wearing the
Vush clothes. flannel shirt, khaki tro,.
=" neaVy shoes and leggings which B
ere his habitual use at work Con a
ssted with her flmy and delicoteIv v
laonc his well-worn olive
40 hablliments stood forth hideopsIv t
nat Is ne thought so, and the CON
somehow seemed typical of tho p
A.tence between them as he consid- o
Ped her. eohSiu- !.
Anere was the careless insoucionce "
eonscious power in the be airing of n
engineer which differentiated hin, Il
un most Of the men with whom sbo
~ been thrown in contact duripg hau &
= The International Bridge was tbo
Nes' thing of the kind the MortIet h
pany or any other American struc- b.
plant had ever undertaken II u
oeen constant topic of converse L
Wherever her father was Sha
neard all about it, and altbourb d
speaking, the bridge was tba II
IN oI Meade, Sr. Vet she oIuors |
.uuned II with Meade. Jr. There " oS W
ieelng In her mind that II u.o, D.. T,
use and that, through him. she com. n
-Aueu II. She was SuprpmaJv a.
eu ana entirely confidenr vorr,. r,
~ yer with the man by her side sbo e,
Frlehced Il passing sense of r,o.s; "
such as one might concoiro -, h,
aerny would feel in the presence If h,
team hammer. "a =.
ae! were as awkward and co,
ruined when left 70 themselves ~ g .
mad not been all over the uVo.Id
mans jobs for decade and ,h1
yer had not queened II amonc tho =.
st girls of the land for half aS =,
ny Years. And with thoughts bprn. :, ~
passionate. and words embarrosl- -
y 'orrential at hand to give Them ~ -
they only spoke common- -
wv Is the bridge getting aIongg" -
ne girl, repeating her fatbe-,S
few minutes before. os ~
Wo fell behind the Others march an an
- sn the long pl platform, while tho a" a.
= sanding by the private car witb W ~,
M s'ef looked curiously after tba 90 @
- group and wondered if thar u, ~
hs nss en' iong-legged young man was SuS 81.
VI Tor the New York gownI ses s.s