Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-01-17
RN III DIE RIQoERa.


His salary provides against that.
Pessr's chop house was. not 90 long
ago. prescribed course for freshmen
% q certain New York paper. More
foFcefully. Il was part Of the inquisi-
4aon that tortured the soul Of the ap
pgentice. The new man went there
tnstinctively. sat on perilous stool,
and while his coffee cooled invented
sOcialistic epigrams about the men Of
latter pay envelopes who ate in the
naighborhood OF the white lights.
TO find Peters you Stunned any
thing resembling q white light. The
path you chose led down murky streets
lined with packing cases and Uttered
with the excelsior Of commerce. Your
nOstTils we're assailed BY the odor Of
dead things; before your eyes Chinese
laundry signs danced their crimson
dance. Up the darkest alley Of the lot
you came upon Peters, its window un-
washed. half the white enamel letters
missing from the legend that pro
claimed Il.
Inside the window single gas lamp
with broken mantle shed reluctant
light upon the antique pastry and his
4Oric rolls that Peter would have
termed his display" Peter himself
was in . cage near the door, mild Of
manner for one behind bars, yellow
suf hair, greasy, the deluded victim Of
an idea that through fancy waistcosts
one may attain the picturesque. re-
gaFdless Of the waistcoat's cleanliness.
Passing Peter, you took q stool near
= narrow counter, and raised your eyes
10 tbs dirty walls where hung the ny-
speeked suggestions" for q meal.
Fricassee Of lamb with peas was only
d4teen cents, and there was also q
Spanish omelette, equally inexpensive,
which. II you ordered it, recalled CRATE
fully to your mind the thrashing Of
'9S. When you had made your selec-
aion and lowered your eyes. you gazed
straight into Milly's, Just as she set the
glass Of water down before you
Milly was not beautiful. The sud.
den sight Of her as you gave your or
der induced no tremor Of the voice
Far from IT, Her hair was OF an I'M
classified color, straight, scanty, de-
void of the deceit Of rat or pun. Her
eyes we're green, or blue, or gray, what.
ever you wished to call them; but
whatever you called them, they were
Watery Her complexion was sallow;
her figure lean. And yet
When noveIists exhaust their adjec-
4ives In describing heroine they re-
mark that she had that indefnable
something about her. and let It go at
that Milly was an incomplete heroine.
She had that indefnable something,
and nothing else. Drawn by popular
artist for the cover of a best seller,
Milly would have killed the book. and
yet she had that indefinable something
as surely as have the fair ladies of
hctionaI fame.
Just what was the real name Of that
something In Milly's case is hard to
say. Thinking It over at this distance,
1t must have been simply that Milly,
Tar above the more happily lowered Of
her sex. knew how to understand and
TO sympathize. Through these twin
talents she climbed to distinction in
the hearts of the hopeless cubs.
Hopeless is the word. To Milly's
counter for their battered steaks came
a small army Of boys who were at the
moment the sick-hearted recipients of
small pay and vast experience-a com.
bination apt to result in sore reflection
Not a few among them were destined
20 go far in the profession, but for
the time being they were all playing
the role Of the under dog They knew
Il. They referred to 1t bitterly as
they waited for their coffee to cool
And Milly. listening. understood and
spoke words Of cheer.
II was a night late in June when
Milly glanced up from the bread she
was slicing to see Randolph Spade
enter Peters chop house Now, it was
no small priVilege-and the young
mans manner intimated that he was
aware Of the fact-foF a girl TO be
allowed to look upon Randolph Spade
He was arrayed faultlessly. and the
band about his straw hat was proof of
membership in an exclusive college
club. Removing the hats proceeding
novel to Peter's-he revealed hair
brushed back straight from the fore
head In the manner affected by stage
juveniles and undergraduates. The
forehead was high. the eyes by turn
keen and visionary behind the glasses.
Milly had him neatly classified before
be took his seat; she knew his kind,
and she knew that the path that
stretched for them from Peters to the
eating places Of the white lights was
beset by difficulties Of which the coars-
ar travellers never dreamed. She smiled
10 herself as she took his order.
When she had conhded It to a greasy
kitchen face that glared at her through
the window at her back. she moved
along the counter to where Jimmy
Clark sat. clear-eyed. above his pie
asX4o-u hin, - che ool-oI vaAafuv