Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1920-05-26
LEAP YEAR AND
SUZANNE
BY JESSIE DOUGLAS

&c. 1920. by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate
I've an idea p cried Suzanne Mel
rose. banging the table with the handle
OF her knife to attract attention. 81
say, people, let's take the ski Jump at
midnight. There's no moon, so it will
De fairly dark. How about it?"
"Hear-heari" came a chorus of
voices Sure thing-jolly good sport I"
"Ali settled, then" said Suzanne,
and returned placidly to her consump-
ton of Maryland chicken.
OF all the merry, care-freSs crowd
gathered for the winter sports at Aga
wan Lodge on Lake Adironack, Su-
zanne was the most daredevil and the
most persistent in her pursuit Of pleas
ure. 1.-the, glowing with health, she
was the life of the party--quite too
much TO suit Cameron Stuart, whose
one pursui. was Suzanne herself. He
would have preferred a little less gre
gartousness on Sues part and more Of
an inclination to spend some time
alone with him.
But his pleadings had effected moth
Ing more than a peremptory stamp of
the girls extensively shod foot. "Some
day I'll settle down." she had declared
and do nothing but boss the servants
and say How divine at old ladies'
musicales, but now, right now, I am
going to have my ding and play the
game for all there is In It" Cameron,
watching the play of expression across
the girls piquant features, loved her
more than ever. The nine years diff
ference In their ages made him more
tolerant of her youthful spirits than
younger man might have been.
Sues parents, feeling the urge Of
the sunny Florida regions more po-
tent than the call of the north, had
dispatched the girl and her fifteen
year-old brother to the Lodge, under
the wings of various friends already
foregathered there. Dwight was really
not strong enough to engage In the
energetic sports of the season. A con-
stitutional tendency to feel fatigue
quickly and a slight heart weakness
often barred him from strenuous ac-
tivities, much to his disgust. His one
great friend was Cameron Stuart.
And after dinner Cameron sought
out the boy and begged him not to
make one of the party taking the jump
Are you going?' asked Dwight.
"Of course" said Cameron. You
know play watchdog for your sister,"
"She needs one" returned the boy
frankly. But he did not say he would
not go. Just at the age when a boy
most feels himself man, he resented,
even from Cameron Stuart, any impll-
cation that he was not perfectly well
able to hold his own with the rest.
Eleven o'clock saw laughing mack
inawed crowd with waving scarves
and woolly tams set out across the
snow-blanketed grounds of the Lodge
Past the iced chute for the tobog-
gans, across the blackness Of the lake,
into the shadowy forest they tramped,
skis slung across their shoulders.
At the jump itself the skis were
carefully strapped on and tested.
Suzanne herself led off, sailing grace
fully out into the air and landing tri-
umphant on the snowy stretch a hun
dred and thirty feet below. One by one
they took the leap, and by the time
Suzanne had regained the crest only
Cameron and Dwight remained.
Dwight had never attempted 1t be-
fore, being satisfied with the lesser
jumps near the lodge. And Sue could
not recall having seen Cameron take
it either. AS she approached Cameron
stood on the brink as If irresolute,
gazing down into the darkness below.
Suddenly he turned, stopped down to
unstrap the Skis and remarked quiet
ly, 81 guess I'll not take It after ALL"
Suzanne stared at him In unbellef.
Cameron Stuart a coward She hard
~ noticed that Dwight also was taking
off his skis. She was merely thankful
that the rest of the crowd, plodding
slowly up the slope. had not witnessed
Cameron's act. Cameron Stuart" she
said with cutting emphasis, never
never ask me to marry you again.
Her head high, she moved away And
Cameron little knew the pain in her
heart-only the great emptiness in his.
Some nights later Cameron sat gaz-
ing soberly into the smoldering depths
of the huge fireplace in the heavy
beamed living room Of the Lodge. The
crowd had gone slelghlng, but he had
chosen to stay here alone. What use,
he unused bitterly, to tantalize himself
watching Sue flirt with first one a1d
then another of the men In the party,
to catch glimpses Of her profile as she
talked TO some man beside her, sending
what messages he knew not with her
starry eyes,s No, he did not care to 90.
What was more, he would leave the
Lodge tomorrow. Sue thought he was
a coward Since the day when he had
not taken the jump she had avoided
any chance encounter with him.
Some one opened the door. Cameron
looked quickly up. There stood the