Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-04-02

They sat facing one another across
small side table in the dining-roon
of quiet little hotel off Broadway
The time was eight in the evening
dinner guests had gone; after-thea-
ter supper parties were yet to come
For the present they were almost a
lone in the rich and silent place eX-
cepting for waiter who leaned a
gainst a grating far in the rear and
gossiped idly with the cashier in a
foreign tongue.
The man was striking personality.
Out of his long and massive features
glinted hard eyes of cold gray. His
nose and mouth and chin were adam
antine and a trife sinister. His age
might have been fifty if one averaged
his youthful athletic carriage with
the head of iron gray hair parted on
one side. and brushed back in a hoary
name above his high forehead. He
was clothed in expensive but sober
black; there was a heavy diamond
glinting on his right hand. About
him was an air of success-a man
who had forged to the front and
made the world yield him his mca-
sure Of its wealth.
The woman who sat opposite him
with elbows on the table edge and
hands clasped against her cheek may
have been Of equal age but the years
had dealt more harshly with her than
with him-or she may have attempted
to get more out of them than the man
had done. Her face was lined and
counter-lined with million tiny
wrinkles which she had plainly tried
to hide with cosmetics; her hair was
iron gray, although the fatal pathos
of its color had been somewhat offset
by the clever and modish manner in
which it had been treated. The wo-
mans eyes were tired eyes now
but they were more than that they
were hungry eyes wistful eyes .
bewildered eyes eyes in which
it would require much more emotion
to make the tears we'll and the cheeks
become ridiculous.
And her face was Scared, faint
scar to be sure, and cleverly treated
by surgeons whose fees were written
in four figures. But the mouth re-
manned partially closed; all the skill
of facial surgery in the world had
failed to make the lips function nor
mally again. Which, if the musical
world knew the whole truth, had been
the enforced reason for the disap-
pearance of one Madame Zola from
the concert and operate stage.
Neatly the man tapped the ash
from his long cigar into the base of
the safety-match holder at his right.
He restored the cigar to his lips and
replaced his elbows on the tables
edge. Then he stroked his heavy
powerful chin with capable hand.
His level gray eyes were upon the
woman. In them was no pity, no
emotion, no compassion for anyone
or anything. His whole personality
suggested razor wrapped in some
lIhiiS oOlI anu IodSH anu uIiWIcluy.
at is one of those situations in
]ife," he said in his low matter of
fact tone, (which must be looked at
sensibly. Both of US have lived be-
yond the years of sophomore senti-
ment-although there are times, I
will admit, when I'd give many dol
lars to return to them again and not
know many things which I've since
discovered in life. So let's change
the subject, Mibb, because it bores
me by it's very absurdity."
"But it isn't absurd, Dick" pro-
tested the woman. and in her tone
and the manner of its expression lay
a pitiful indication of her weakness
to cope with the situation, yet de-
speration that it must be done some
how if by no other method than per-
severance. ats big and vital to me,
Dick Oh Dick! don't YOU