The Washington herald., 1920-10-20
AN O.. HENRY STORY
The Lotus and the Bottle

mated circle OF the consurs little
world, and was gone. Save for the
tiny cloud of smoke that was left
hanging over the brim of the sea,
! she might have been an inmate.
rial thing, chimera of his idle
/ brain.
! Geddie went into his office and sat
; down to dawdle over his report. If
| the reading of the article in the
/ paper had left him unshaken, this
! silent passing of the Idslia had
done for him still more. 1t had
| brought the calm and peace of a
situation from which all uncertain
ty had been erased. He knew that
| men sometimes hope without being
( aware of ii. Now, since she had
come 1000 miles and had passed
without a sign, not even his un-
conscious self need cling to the past
any longer.
After dinner, when the sun was
low behind the mountains, Geddie
walked on the little strip of beach
under the cocoanuts. The wind was
blowing mildly landward, and the
surface of the sea was rippled by
tiny wavelets.
A miniature breaker, spreading
! with a soft Swish" upon the sand
brought with it something round
I and shiny that rolled back again
as the wave receded. The next in
tuX beached it. clear, and GeddIe
picked it mp. The thing was a long
necked wine bottle of colorless
| glass. The cork had been driven in
tightly to the level of the mouth.
and the end covered with dark-red
sealing wax. The bottle contained
only what seemed to be a sheet OF
paper, much curled from the mani
pulation II had undergone while
being inserted. In the sealing-wax
was the impression of a seal-prob-
ably OF a signet-ring, bearing the
initials of monogram; but the i'm
preston had been hastily made. ana
the letters were past anything more
certain than a shrewd conjecture.
Ida Payne had always worn a sig
net ring in preference to any other
finger decoration. Geddie though,
he could make out the familiar
Il. p; and a queer sensation of
disquietude went over him. More
personal and intimate was this re-
minder of her than had been the
sight of the vessel she was doubt
less on. He walked back to his
house, and set the bottle on his
desk.
Throwing off his hat and coat.
and lighting a lamp-for the night
had crowded precipitately upon the
brief twilight-he began to examine
his piece of sea salvage.
BY holding the bottle near the
light and turning it judicieusly, he
made out that it contained a double
sheet of note-paper filled with close
writing: further, that the paper was
of the same size and shade as that
always used by Ida and that. to the
best of his belief. the handwriting e
was hers. The imperfect glass of
I,the bottle so distorted the rays Of
light that he could read no word of
the writing: but certain capital let
ters, Of which he caught compre-
hensive glimpses, were Ida's. he felt
sure. ...
There was little smile both Of
perplexity and amusement in .Ged-
dies eyes as he set the bottle down
and laid three cigars side by side
on his desk. He fetched his steamer
chair from the gallery, and stretch
ed himself comfortably. He would
smoke those three cigars while con-
sidering the problem.
For it amounted to a problers.
He almost wished that he had no,
found the bottle, but the bottle was
there. Why should it have drifted
In from the sea. whence came so