Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-02-15
The Girl at the
Window
BY DONALD CHAMBERLAIN

a Western city to engage in business.
I left my Office every afternoon at five
o'clock and walked to my room. 1t
was winter and the climate was cold.
Each afternoon / passed a house in
which was a window ON the ground
floor, and / could see by the light that
there was a bright coal fire burning in
the room. Being in a strange city, with
no associates, / often wished to go into
that room and sit before that fire. For
/ lived in a cheerless hall bedroom in
a boarding house.
One afternoon when I passed that
house a very pretty girl sat in the
window. 1 could only see her head
and shoulders, the rest of her body
being below the window sill. She
seemed to be using her hands at some
kind of work, but l could not see what
1t a Her eyes were not fixed upon
1t except occasionally. l inferred 1t
might be some kind of knitting. Her
presence in the room made me yet
more DESTROYS of entering it.
Now and again when / passed the
house on my way from business saw
the girl in the same position, and using
her hands, so far as l could see, in the
same manner Once she turned her
head and seemed to be looking at me,
but / could not be sure. All that win
ter I passed the house every day, al
ways in the evening looking for the
girl in the window.
Whether or no a nan car fall in
love by sight alone, I do not know, but
I certainly yearned for that girl. The
more I yearned for her the more I be-
lieved she had conceived an interest
in me. Since I was a stranger to her
/ could not make advances. l wished
that l might smile at her but to such
cheap filtration I did not are to de-
scend. There seemed something too
pure in the innocent face, on which
there was a tinge of sadness.
One day I met her on the street,
walking, her hand on the arm of a
young man. The likeness was so strong
between them that I was sure he was
her brother. She did not notice me;
but as l passed her she was speaking
to her escort and I believed that her
being interested in something else was
the cause of her not noticing me. I
would have given worlds for n
glance from her beautiful eyes.
When summer came the house that
interested me was shut up and it was
evident that the family was away. The
next winter a married lady with whom
I became acquainted took pity on my
loneliness and offered to introduce me
to the social life of the city of my
adoption. / told her that there was
one person whom / wished especially
to know; that I did not know her
name, but I could give her the adj
dress. The lady took a memorandum
of the latter and promised to make an
investigation. Though l did not say
as much, she knew that l had fallen
in love with the girl in the window.
Mrs. Withers, the lady who had Of
fered to serve me, made no report for
several weeks. Then one day, while
calling on her, looking into my eyes
with great seriousness, she told me
that she had learned all about the girl
who had charmed me. I begged her
to introduce me at once. She Withheld
her consent and when / insisted told
me that / must give up my fancy
there was a reason why l should not
go further with my infatuation. 1 had
better put the girl out of my mind.
I went to my lonely room, resolved
to take my friends advice; but when
it came to putting it into practice, |
failed. That Madonna face with a
tinge of grief upon it would not leave
me, though l tried for weeks to Danish
1t. Mrs. Withers introduced me to
many young ladies, but 1 took no in
terest in any of them. At last she
gave up trying to assimilate me with
girls who complained to her that I was
cold as a stone.
My sponsor informed me that she
had told the girl I w%orshipped at a dis
lance that she had inspired a young
man unknown to her with love for her.
The girl was naturally interested to
know who her lover was, and all about
him, but owing to the blight that rest
ed upon her approved Of Mrs. Withers'
refusal to present me to her.
This only made me more eager for
the introduction. l wrote Mrs. With
ers a note in which l said that I would
never have another love and if I could
possess the girl 1 craved l would glad
ly bear the blight, the nature Of which
bad not been impaired to me. I wrote
the note expecting that Mrs. Withers
would tell her its contents, and she
did. She told me what mingled pain
and pleasure it had given the girl for
whom it was intended.
Some months later I received a glo-
rious surprise. Mrs. Withers told me
that the blight from which the girl l
loved had suffered had been removed.
She had been born blind and her sight
had been restored by ar operation.