The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-01-30
CHAPTER 81.
Dear

SAA~AA IAh VN'
Dear.
Freddie left Estrelda at Mapleville
next morning with no special twInge
or Juggling at his heart strings. 40 be-
gin with, and under the most taNorable
circumstances, it always is ditfiuult to
be romantic over porridge and eggs. To
end with, that which Freddie telt for
Estrelda thus far was sheer glamour.
She was his Girl " Dreams; a sprite
made of moonbBams with the light OF
a will-U'-the-wisp in her eyes; yielding
sweet the realization of that woman
creature pursued by every man through
all his life and never really held in his
arms. She Of whom a poet has sung
that
The form of her is slight,
Like a crescent moo at night,
And her face is some strange flower
none have seem"
In short the girl that Freddie called
"EstreIda" was a mirage; an ideal.
And poor Jane Estrelda Smithers was
decidedly of this earth. Nor was it in
the least her fault. She could not help
II II her wrists Ind ankles were large,
and her chin too heavy, and her eyes
too small and close together. Perhaps
she could not help it If certain tones in
her voice hopelessly betrayed the
ccarsest grain of her fiber. 1t may
bt Nlldl sic GOuiu uO more n6lp THESE
things than she could help the soft
down that followed the line Of her hair
on the nape of her neck and on her
cheek bones, marking the trail of the
lower born, the less highly civilized.
Perahps the fault was all Freddie's for
not seeing her as she really was, But
when one is 10 there is a rosy cloud
over everything that only the bitter
winds of life can blow away. Freddie
had seen Estrelda in the moonlight and
touched by the glow Of Japanese Ian
terms; silent, wistful, mysterious. Ii
would have been very hard to make him
believe that she vas none of these
things.
But by the same token. love-that
love which lasts the "a hours through
needs a sturdier abode than a castle
in Spain" The heart and brain must
be intrigued before a man smiles the
wonderful love smile over his breakfast.
So, had any M seen Freddie, on the
morning after his picnic in he woods
with Estrelda; watched his businesslike
packing and checking of his luggage,
observed the whole-hearted in
which he attacked his toast in the diner
Of the early morning train, that person
would have guessed him as yet un-
touched by divine fire.
Possibly even Freddie himself was
fooled. AS a matter of fact. he arrived
at the next town on his schedule, feel
ing much more like work than he had
felt for weeks. The brief rest, and the
p~reoccupation of his day of joy, had
given him new vitality. Again his
pleasant mouth curled happily; his
thick fringed gray eyes smiled. What
his father once called "the lit in his
walk had come back.
And to put an edge on it, the first
retail dealer he saw had known his
father and Mason & Co. for years and
gave him forthwith one of the best
orders Freddie had booked on his trip.
Luck seemed with him. He carried
about him an aura of JOY and success,
so that quite ill-tempered people gave
way before hin and found themselves
unconsciously answering his smile. MOI
did the light of it all begin to fade
till evening. Then it seemed to come
back over him suddenly, overwhelm-
ingly.
lie had eaten his dinner and gone, as
usual, into the writing room Of the
small country hotel, to send his nightly
message home. He brought out his
own fountain pen and drew the cheap
lined paper, with its tawdry letter
head toward him, and
doll Baby" he began to his mother,
today has been like all the other days,
except that"-he slowed down-stopped.
be sure except that" Except what?
He had started to write with a vision
before his eyes; a vision that, before
this day, had held all the wonder of
the world for him; a vision of a white
and golden woman, indefinitely pure
and to him most sacred; a woman for
ever on the altar of his heart; back to
whom he would grope his way from
every pain and from every passion. To
her he had started to send his mes
sage of love, when-slowly she seemed
to fade; to go beyond his reach. And
in her place there came another. H
heard again a full-throated, curiously
challenging laugh. He saw again the
shade and sweep of black hair growing
thick and miraculously close to tight
strength Of a strong, large hand on his.
Slowly his expression became set. His