Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-04
- BY Katharine
Ne,Ulin Burt
Mary or
Eioise?
Which
Should Win
Unusual Hero?
ticket for n distant Middle. We stern

/
harmless he said. '1'll put him on
the train and he'll sleep Ike a lamb.
The conductor will tell him where to
change"
The station master grinncd. He had
never seen Sluypenkill's leading ply
sician. but. If he had, he would not
have recognized the collapsed, heavily
breathing man. phe train came along,
stopped at the signal for a passenger.
Sales was plucked from his bench and
heaved into car. q saw him propped
in an empty seat, murmured, GOOD
| by: hit n new trail. doc" and swung
himself off us the train gathered its
! speed.
Sales with dull eyes stared out at the
tnll. still figure on the platform. II
stood there. graceful. tense and grim.
to see him go. lie was numbly glad
that its face looked pale and set. Good
by TO Sluyprnkiil, to easy rewards,
his big, tremulous fist and shook it
against the window.
A Hold.Up
When he had climbed up to his small
room, already possessed through it's one
narrow window by sunrise. q did not
carry himself like conqueror. He
looked, rather, like victim of the
melee. white and dusty and grim, with
set mouth and painful eyes. He
dropped down on the cot, too tired to
won his girl. Before he had time to
analyze his emotions, n business for
which he had small aptitude. sleep
of entire exhaustion smothcred out
even the first tremble Of n thought. Only
just as he lost himself. the linked hands
of the conscious and the unconscious
unwil!ingly disentwining. he endured
n strange experience. From the summit
of attained desire. he dropped into
terrible abyss of failure and Of loss. He
knew that Heloisc loved him--she had
told him that she would give him any
thing. everything he wished, and she
knew his wishes well--but in the know
ledge there was only a bitter dcsola-
tion, as though the crescent moon had
withcred TO blackness in his hands.
So dark and terrible was the sensation
that. had he been less exhausted. IL
must have driven him to the rescue Of
full consciousness: but. before he could
struggle away, blankness overlook him
and he slept profoundly.
At noon, bathed. brushed, and fault
lessly attired. he presented himself at
Mary Grinscoombe' door. 1t was
open. and Mt the sound of his step she
came quickly out as though she had
been expecting him. In dress of soft
muslin petals. she looked like small
white rose. dainty. dewy. rain beaten
rose. Hcr face had thinned. and this
acccntnated the beauty of her Irish eyes
and left her sensitive mouth almost
too expressive. She took him by both
hands and looked up at him.
E. -
dreadfully! What made you go away?
didn't imagine ! thought DR.. Sales
had the right Of il - But. seeing the
hawk glitter to his eyes and the sharp
triumph that lay along his lips, she
changed her expression swiftly.
"What's happened. OF"
I've got my girl" he whispered.
she dropped them.
Come in. Tell me. You are Won
derful :"
She seated herself with an uncons-
cious air of statclncss in her school
marm's place. her ruflled daintincss
spreading about her, her small hands
folded together on the table. She gazad
up at him very steadily under the arched
eyebrows and uprurling lnshos. lie
stood opposite h"r, turning his soft hat
in his hand and looking slowly and
wiStfully about the room.
1T wasn't my education that won
her for me. Miss Mary he drawled;
she could not fail to discern his bit
terness: lit was--my fists He looked
down at his hands and she, instinctivcly
looking at them too, saw torn knuckleS
and bruised fingers.
II reckon tho moon has got to be
snatched at, Miss Mary, rather than
prayed to-
lie smiled and dropped into his place.
putting out one of tho strong and
shGpely damaged hands across the table
mask of victory, and swoetened-color |
rushing into its tanned pallor.
"Yes. ma am. and Sophie's got her |
Laurie boy. I've done pretty nearly |
everything | set out to do, and I'm |
plumb near to bein' satisfied with my
self"
"You look,' Mary shrewdIy observed,
Every much farther from self-assurance |
than I've ever seen you look. ., please |
tell me the story of your methods with |
the Sophie gel.
He did, gently and patiently. not |
letting her startled "Ohs' disturb his !
drawlinG, halfironic description of the |
topSy- -turvy mclodrnma.
And now I'm going to New York"
"Whnt are you going to do in New |
York; She sat back as though pain |
made her unable any longer to keep |
that dainty crectness of attitude. He |
flushed hot and high.
"First, I'm agoin' to buy the finest,
ring You need ever wish to
see, and next I'm agoin to take your
pa's book TO visit with n publisher"
She forgot one pain for another.
shaking her head patiently. Its just,
dear Q, come back with one of the
horrid slips. We laugh. Papa and I.
but it does hurt. We need the money
pretty badly--worse than I thought we
did That is--now it is even more a
matter of pride to pay it back than we
ever thought it would be. Oh" she
broke out suddenly, IF l could only
make lot and lot of money. il !
could get away. Sometimes | feel that
for one breath of free fresh air I'd
give my soul. Don't look at me thut
way" she laughed shakily, and drop.
ped her eyes to her hand; "you have
such eyes,
They brooded over her and through
her. II was thinking he said slowly.
''of free fresh air. and his chest lifted
on a struggling breath.
The tiny room contained their silence
Loyalty, its clock ticking the eternal
of -going-gone the
two great globes, terrestrial and Ce-
lestial, cleaned like mysterious bub-
bles that could vanish at pin prick
;rt, .n,,a Mary ot last strupgl a1 |