The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1919-07-19

cameo and wholly pleasing. He was
almost as big.bodied as Jack Fyfe.
and full four inches taller. The wet
shirt clinging close to his body out.
lined well knit shoulders. ropy.mus.
cled arms. He could have posed
for a Viking. so strikingly blond was
he, with fair. curly hair. She judged
that he might be around thirty. yet
his face was altogether boyish.
Sitting there beside him. shivering
In her wet clothes. she found herself
wondering what magnetic quality
there could be about man that
focused a woman's attention upon
him. whether she wilied II or no.
Why should she feel an oddly-dis.
turbing thrill at the mere physical
nearness OF this fair stranger? She
did, There was no debating that.
And she NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. II a
bolt OF that lightning she had dreaded
ever since her marriage. was about TO
strike her now. She hoped not All
her emotions had lain fallow. II
Jack Fyfe had no power to stir her
and she told herself Jack had so
failed. without asking herself why
then some other man might easily
accomplish that. TO her unuttcrable
grief. She had told herself many u
time that no more terrible plight
could overtake her than TO love and
be loved and sit with hands folded.
foregoing II all. She shrank from 80
tragic an evolution. II meant only
rVin. the ache Of unfulfiiled. unat
tainable desires. II, she reflected
cynically. this man beside her stood
for such a motif in her life. he
might better have left her out In the
swa-npcd canoe.
While she sat there. drawn.faced
with the cold. thinking rather
amazedly these things which she told
herself she had no right to think. the
launch slipped into the quiet nook Of
Cougar Bay and slowed down to the
float.
Monohan helped her out. threw off
the canoes painter. and climbed
back into the launch.
You're as wet as l am" Stella
said. Wont you come up TO the
house and get a change OF clothes7
| haven't even thanked you"
Nothing to be thanked for" he
smiled up at her. "Only please re-
member not TO get offshore In a
canoe again. miGhtn't be handy
the next time--and Roaring Lakes
as tickle as your charming sax. All
smiles one minute. storming the next.
No. won't stay this time, thanks.
A little wet won't hurt me. wasn't
In the water long enough to get
chilled. you know. RI be home In
half an hour. Run along and get
dressed. Mrs. Fyfe. and drink some-
thing hot to drive that chill away.
Good-by."
Stella went up to the house, her
hand tingling with his parting grip.
Over and above the peril she had
escaped rose an uneasy vision Of a
The piatitudes Of soul-affinity. Of IT.
resistible magnetic attraction. of
love that leaped full-blown into re-
Atty at the touch Of q hand or the
glance Of an eye. she had always
viewed with distrust. holding them
the weaknesses Of weak. volatile
natures. But there was something
about this man which had stirred
her. nothing that he said or did.
merely some elusive. personal attri.
butte. She had never undergone any
such experience. and she puzzled
over II now. A chance stranger, and
his touch could make her pulse leap.
II filled her with astonished dismay.
Afterward. dry-ciad and warm.
sitting in her pet chair. Jack Junior
cooling at her from a nest among
cushions on the floor. the natural rc-
action set in. and she laughed at her.
self. When Fyfc came home. she
told him lightly Of her rescue.
He said nothing at first. only sat
drumming on his chair-arm, his eyes
steady on her.
"That might have cost you your
iife," he said at last. "Will you re-
member not to drift offshore AGAIN."
II rather think SHALL" she re.
spondcd. 1T wasn't a pleasant ex-
perience."
"Monohan. en-" he remarked. after
another interval. 80 he's on Roar.
ing Lake again.
do you know himr' she asked.
Yes" he replied briefly.
For a minute or so longer ne sat
there, his face wearing its habitual
Iimpassiveness. Then he got up,
kissed her with queer sort Of in
tensfty. and went out. Stella gazed
after him, mildly surprised. 1t
wasn't quite in his usual manner.