The Washington herald., 1920-07-25
THE HEAD HUNTER

y
before I did my pearl of the door,
way. because 1 had learned a lit
tie OF the game of war. and knew
better than to strike for a prize
before testing the strength of the
enemy.
A sort of cold dismay-some-
thing akin to fear-filled me
when ! had estimated him.
found a man so perfectly poised.
so charming, so deeply learned In
the worlds rituals, so full of tact.
courtesy. and hospitality, so en-
dowed with grace and ease and a
kind of careless, naughty power
that / almost overstepbed the
bounds in probing him, in turn
ing him on the spit to md the
weak point that 1 so craved for
him to have. But / left him
whole-I had to make bitter ac-
knowledgment to myself that
Louis Deyoe was gentleman
worthy OF my best blows: and l
swore to give him them. He was
a great merchant of the country,
a wealthy importer and exporter.
All day he sat In a fastidiously
appointed ONCE, surrounded by
~ - u eiN anu tNiucuCtS Oh tne
high culture, directing through
glass doors and windows the at
fairs OF his house.
In person he was slender and
hardly tail. His small, WELL
shaped head was covered with
thick. brown hall. trimmed short,
and he wore a thick, brown beard
also cut close and to q fine pcint
His manners were a pattern.
Before long had become a reg
ular and a Welcome visitor at the
Greene home. J shook my wild
habits from me like a worn-out
cloak. l trained for the conflict with
tho care OF prize fighter and the
self-denial Of a 'Brahmip.
As for Chloe Greene, shall
weary you with no sonnets to hsr
eyebrow. She was a spl-ndidly
N'yenber rippin, ard no more
mysterious than a window-pane.
She had whimsical little theories
that she hSc dcdueed from life,
and that ttted the maxlms of
Epictetus like princess gowns. I
wonder, after all, IL that old duf-
Ter wasn't rather wise,
Chloe had a father. the Reverend
Homer Greene, and an intermit-
tent mothe-. who sOntimes paIely
presided over a twilight teapot.
The Reverend Homer was a burr
like man with a life-work. He
was writing a concordance to tho
Scriptures, and lad arrived as far
as Kings. Being. presumably. Il
suitor for his daughters hand,
was timber for his literary out
pOurIngs. ! Lad the family tree
of Israel drilled iEtc my head un-
til used TO Cry alcu6 in my sleep:
And AmlnadGb hegat Jay Eye
See" aud so forth. Until ne had
tackled another book. once
made a caIculstion that the Rev
rrcnd Homer's concordance would
be worked up as far as the Seven
Walls mentioned in Revelation
about the third day after they
were orencd.
LoTis Devoe, as ell as I. was a
visitor and an intimate friend OF
the Graenes Il was there ! met
him the oftencst, and more
agreeable man or G more accom-
p'ishsd I have never hated in my
life.
Luckily or unfortunately, I came
to be accepted as a boy. Ny ap-
pesrarce was youthful, and I sup
pose I had that pleading and
homeless air that always draws
tie motherlintss that is IN women
and the cursed theories and hob
bies OF paterfamiliss.
Chloe called me Tommy" and
made sisterly fun OF my attempts
to WOO her. with Devoe she was
vastly more reserved. He was
the man of romance, one TO stir
her imagination and deepest
feelings had her fancy leaned to-
ward him, I was closer to her,
but standing in no glamour; l
had the task before me of win
ming her in what seems to me the
American way of fghting-with
cIeanness and pluck and every
day devotion to break away the
barriers of friendship that divid-
ed US, and to take her, IL could,
between sunrise and dark, abet-
ted by neither moonlight nor mu-
sic nor foreign wiles.
NhlOr VI bNoNtN
ing her blithe affections upon
either of us. But one day she let
out to me an inkling of what she
preferred In a man. 1t was tre-
mendously interesting to me, but
not Illuminating as to its appli-
cation. had been tormenting
her for the dozenth time with the
statement and catalogue of my
Tommy" said she, II don't
want a man to show his love for
me by leading an army against
people of the earth with can
mons"
IF you mean that the opposite
way" ! answered, "as they say
women do, I'll see what l can do.
The papers are full of this diplo-
matte row in Russia. Ny people
know some big people in Wash
ington who are right next to the
army people, and l could get an
artillery commission and"
I'm not that way" Interrupted
Chloe. Il mean what j say. 1t is
not the big things that are done
In the world, Tommy, that count
with a woman. When the knights
were riding abroad in their srmor
to slay dragons, many stay-at
home page won a lonesome lady's
hand by being on the spot to pick
up her glove and be quick with
her cloak when the wind blew.
The man 1 am to like best, who
ever he shall be, must never for
get, after hearing 1t once, that 1
do not like to have any one walk
at my left side; that 1 detast
bright-colored neckties; that I
prefer to sit with my back to a
light; that / like candied violets;
that l must not be talked to when
/ am looking at the moonlight
shining on water and that l very