The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-05

 averted, of the girl he had met at the MarShalls' table, Innes Hardin. His eyes jCznped to her companions, the man a stranger, and then, Gerty Holmes. At least, Mrs. Hardin! Some how, 1t surprised him to find her pretty. She had achieved a variety of dis tinction, preserving, moreover, the clear-cut babyish chin which had made It's early appeal to him. There was the same fluffy hair, it's ringlets bit arti- ficial to his more sophisticated eyes, the same well-turned nose. He had been wondering about this meeting; he found that he had been expecting some sort of shock-who said that the love of today is the jest of tomorrow? The discovery that Gerty was not jest brought the surprised qualification which We award letter or composition written in our youth. Were we as clever as that, so complete at eighteen or twenty-one? Could we, now, with all our experience, do any better, or fn- deed es well? That particular sen- tence with wings! Could we make it fly today as 1t scared yesterday? Rick ard was finding that Gerty's more ma tire charms did not accelerate his heart-beats, but they were certainly flattering to his early judgment. And he had expected her to be shockl
 He was staring into his plate of chilled soup. Calf-loye! For he had loved her, or at least he had loved her chin, her pretty childish way of lifting it. She was prettier than he had pie tured her. Queer that a man like Har- din could draw such women for sister and wife-the blood tie was the most amazing. For when women come to marry, they make often queer choice. It occurred to him that that might have been Hardin-he had not wanted to. stare at them.
 Shat was not 1ardin's face. It held strength and power. The outline was sharp and distinct, showing the strong lines, the determined mouth of the pio- neer. There was something else, some thing which stood for distinction-no It couldn't De barQln.
 And then, because an outthrust lir changed the entire look of the man Rickard asked his table companions who was the man with the two ladies near the door.
 "That, suh," his neighbor from Ala bama became immediately oratOrical "that is a big man, sub. If the I'm perial valley ever becomes a reality, 2 fixtuah, it will be because of that ont man, suh. Reclamation is like a seet thrown on a rock. Will it stick7 Will 1t take root? Will it grow? That 1: what we all want to know"
 Rickard thought that he had wanted to know something quite different, ant reminded the gentleman from Alabami that he had not told him the name.
 "The father of this valley, of tn reclamation of this desert, Thoma Hardin, suh."
 Rickard tried to reset, without at tracting their attention, the group o his impressions of the man whose per sonality had been so obnoxious to hi1 in the old Lawrence days. The Hardi he had known had also large features but of the flaccid irritating order. H summoned picture of Hardin as h had shuffied into his own classroom, 0 up to the long table where Gerty ha always queened it among her mother boarders. He could see the rough UT polished boots that had always offend ed him as a betrayal of the mans 1T ner coarseness; the badly fitting coa the long awkward arms, and the satis fled, loud-speaking mouth. These fea lures were more definite. Could tim bring these changes? Had he changed like that? Had they seen him? Woul Gerty, would Hardin remember him Wasn't it his place to make himse known; wave the flag of old friendshi over an awkward situation?
 He found himself standing in fror of their table, encountering first, tn eyes of Hardin's sister. There was n surprise, no welcome there for him. H felt at once the hostility of the caml His face was uncomfortably warn Then the childish profile turned on hin A look of bewilderment, flushing int greeting-the years had been kind | Gerty Holmes!
 Do you remember me, Rickard?"
 If Hardin recognized difficult situi