The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-10-12
CHAPTER II

The liner Atlantic lay at her pier
with steam up and gangway down
ready for her trip to Southampton.
The hour of departure was near and
there was a good deal Of mixed activ-
ity going on. Sailors fiddled about with
ropes. Junior officers fitted to and
fro. te-iacketed stewards wrestled
with trunks. Probably the captain,
though not visible, was also employed
on some useful work of a nautical
nature and not wasting his time. Men,
women, boxes, rugs, dogs, flowers and
baskets of fruit were flowing on board
in a steady stream. The cavernous
customs shed was congested with
friends and relatives, and Sam Mar
lowe, heading for the gangplank. was
only able to make progress by en-
ploying all the muscle and energy
which Nature had bestowed upon him,
and which during the twenty-five years
of his life he had developed by ath-
letic exercise. However, after some
minutes of silent endeavor, now driv-
ing his shoulder into the midriff Of
some obstructing male, now courte-
ously lifting some stout female off his
feet. he had succeeded in struggling to
within a few yards of his goal, when
suddenly a sharp pain shot through
his right arm and he spun round with
cry.
1t seemed to Sam that he had been
bitten, and this puzzled him, for New
York crowds, though they may shove
and jostle, rarely bite.
He found himself face to face with
an extraordinarily pretty girl.
She was red-haired girl with the
beautiful ivory skin which goes with
red hair. Her eyes, though they were
under the shadow Of her hat, and he
could not beacertain he diagnosed as
green, or maybe blue, or possibly gray.
Not that it mattered, for he had a
catholic taste in feminine eyes. So
long as they were large and bright,
as were the specimens under his i'm
mediate notice, he was not the man
to bubble about point of color. Her
nose was small, and on the very tip
of it there was tiny freckle Her
mouth was nice and wide, her chin
soft and round.
Nature abhors vacuum. Samuel
Marlowe was susceptible young man,
and for many long month his heart
had been lying empty, all swept and
garnished, with welcome" on the mat
This girl seemed to rush in and fill it,
She was not the prettiest girl he had
ever seen. She was the third prettiest.
He had an orderly mind. one capable
of classifying and docketing girls. He
swallowed 'cOnyulsively. His we'll
developed chest swelled beneath its
covering of blue flannel and invisible
stripe. At last, he told himself, he
was in love, really in love, and at first
sight, too. which made it all the more
impressive. He doubted whether in
the whole course of history anything
like this had ever happened before
to anybody. Oh, to clasp this girl to
him and
But she had bitten him in the arm
That was hardly the right spirit. That,
he felt, constituted an obstacle.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" she cried
Well, of course, if she regretted her
rash act. :. After all, an impul-
sive girl might bite man in the arm
in the excitement of the moment and
still have a sweet, womanly nature.
THE crowd seems to make Pinky
Boobies so nervous"
Sam might have remained mystified,
but at this juncture there proceeded
from bundle Of rugs in the neigh
sorhood of the girls lower ribs a
sharp yapping sound.
II hope he didn't hurt you much.
You're the third person he's bitten to-
day" She kissed the animal in a