The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-02-03

orob,v hop around some then. II he's
alive or anything"
II had begun TO seem that MS eyes
mus, remain fixed In that upwafu
stare forever; he wanted TO Dring theni
down hut could not face the glare OF
tbe world. But finally the brightness
~ the sky between the leaves settied
matters for him: he sneezed. wept. an"
for a little moment again faced ms
fellowmen. No one was looking ~
/ him everybody except Milla had "ther
hings to do.
Having sneezed invOluntariiy. no
added spell Of coughing for whicn
there was no necessity. Il guess
must been wropg," he muttered thickiy'
what about, Ramsey
.About it's bein squirrel with
infinite timidity' he turned his head
and encountered q gaze so soft. so hal
lowed. that il disconnected him, ana
he dropped a "drumstick" Of fried
chicken. well dotted with ants, from
his plate. Scarlet he picked 1t up, hui
did not eat 1t. For the first time IN
his life he felt that eating fried chick
en- held In the fingers was not to be
thought of. He replaced the drum
stick" upon his plate and allowed II
to remain there untouched. in spite Of
II great hunger for 1t.
Having looked down, he now found
difficulty In looking up. hut gazed
steadily at his plate, and into this
limited circle Of vision came Millas
delicate and rosy fingers bearing
Gift. There" she said in mOtherly
| little voice. ITS tomato mayonnaise
sandwich and | made II myself
want you to eat II, Ramsey"
His own fingers approached tremu-
Iousness as he accepted the thick sand
witch from her and conveyed II to his
mouth. A moment later his soul filled
| with horror, for squirt Of mayOnnaise
| dressing had caused d catastrophe the
scene Of which occupied no inc0nsider-
able area Of his right cheek. which
| was the cheek toward Mllla. He
CROPPED wretchediy for his handker
| "
II. Sudden death would have been re-
lief: he was sure that after such gro
| tesquerie Milla could never bear TO
| have anything more to do With him {:
| he was ruined.
i In his anguish he felt paper nap
| kin pressed gently into his hand: a
| soft voice said in his ear. wipe It off
with this. Ramsey. N"body's motto
| ing"
| So this incredibly charitable creature
| was sttl able to he his friend even
after seeing him may0nnalsed Hum
| hly marveling. he did as she told him,
hut avoided all further risks He ate
nothing more.
| He sighed his first sigh of inexpress.
! Ibleness, had chill or so along the
| spine. and at intervals his brow was
hedewej.
| Within his averted eyes there dwell
not the Mllla Rust who sat beside him,
but all iridescent. fragile creature who
had become angelic.
| He spent the rest of the day daw-
ding helplessly about her; wherever
she went he was near, as near as pos
sible but Of no deliberate vOlitiOn Of
| nis own. Something seemed to tie him
TO her, and Milla was nothing 10th.
He seldom looked at her directly, OF
for longer than an instant, and more
rarely still did he speak TO her except
as reply. What few remarks he
ventured upon his own Initiative near.
| ly all concerned the landscape which
| he commended repeatedly In Il weak
voice. as kind Of pretty" though once
he said he guessed there might be bugs
/ in the bark of log on which they sat /;
| and he became so immoderately per-
sonal as to declare that IL the bugs
had to get on anybody he'd rather
| they got on him than on Milia. She
said that was lust perfectly lovely"
| If him. asked where he got his sweet
nature, and in other ways encouraged
him to continue the revelation. but
Ramsey was unable to get forward
with 1t, though he opened and closed
his mouth great many times In the
effort to do so.
At five o'clock everybody was sum-
mOned again to the rendezvous for a
! ceremony preliminary to departure !;
| the class found itself In a large circle,
standing. and sang "The Star Spangieti
Banner" Ordinarily. on such an open
air and out-of school occasion, Ramsey
would have joined the chorus uproar
lOusly with the utmost blatancy Of
which his vocal apparatus was capa-
BILE; and most of the other boys ex-
pressed their humOr by drowning out
the serious efforts Of the girls; but
he sang feehly, not much more than
humming through his teeth. Standing
beside Mllfa. he was incapable OF his
| former inelegancies and his voice was
In semi-paralyzed condition like the
rest Of him
Opposite him, across the circle. Dora
focum stood little In advance of
those near her. for of course she led
the singing. Her clear and earnest
voice was distlngulshable from ali
others. ami though she did not glance
toward Ramsey he had a queer feeling
that she MAS assuming more superior
lily than ever, and that she was icily
sc0rnful OF him and Milla The old
resentment r"se-hed ''shOw" that girl
vet. some day,
When the song was over, cheers
were given for the class. "the good ole
class of Nineteen Fourteen" the
school, the teachers. and for the pie
nic. thus officially concluded; and then
the picnickers. carrying their baskets
and faded wild flowers and other sou.
venirs and burdens. moved toward the
big express wagons" which were to
take them back into the town. Ram
sey GOT his guitar case, and turned to
Milla.