Evening star., 1924-11-23

When he had eaten and bought
groceries he did not at once return
to his ranch. In the restaurant they
sopke to him Of certain 17-mile
drive Of strange trees which grow
nowhere else in the world. of an
ocean bound city called Pacific Grove,
where sin is unknown. of Carmel.
where artists and authors live in
amity and speak well of one another
and of the old Carmel Mission and
the wonderful highlands beyond.
And he determined to see all these
wonders before returning to his ranch
and taking up his life's work at the
beginning.
first acquaintance with the
Monterey Peninsula has made per-
toned to beauty than Ruddy Cope
land, absolutely groggy. Neither the
Bay of Naples nor the Riviera nor
the Isles of Greece where Sappho
sang-and ought to have been ar
rested-can hold a candle to it.
A FTER a day and a half of sight
n seeing Ruddy drove slowly down
to Monterey from Carmel, a very
different person from the 21-year-old
boy who SO recently had inherited a
fruit ranch and nearly 81 900 in cash.
His heroes had always been those
persons who appear to make the
world go round and who, through
personal initiative, energy and In
ventiveness, have acquired large
fortunes. And now he felt that a
false rating of those persons had
hurt his life instead Of helping it..
t,-l,A rsit
instead OF studying business and
mechanics. he had taken all the
courses in art and literature. He
felt very tender hearted and q little
sad.
A girl sat at the open window Of a
house which had only two windows
and a door between them. There was
a hearse in front Of the house and a
dilapidated touring car.
Some men were carrying a coffin
through the gate in the house fence
this gate was made of a whales jaw
bone-and presently they heaved up
one end of it and slid it into the
hearse. Two of them climbed into the
front seat of the hearse, and the
others, with two fat women with
black wells, who had been looking on,
piled into the touring car.
Then one of the men jumped out of
the touring car and ran back to the
girl at the window, took her hand
and patted it and said something or
other to her. She gave two or three
quick little mods and compressed her
lips.
RBddy just managed to avoid run
ming into a car that was on its way
up the hill. The tragic beauty of that
sweet. grave face at the window had
upset him dreadfully.
He could not get 1T out of his mind.
After a while he turned about and
drove back up the hill. The hearse
and the touring car had gone, but the
girl was still sitting at the window,
looking out, and as it seemed to
Ruddy. seeing nothing. He had the
feeling that something terrible had
happened to her. He drove
clear to the top of the hill. a mile and
q half away, turned and drove slowly
down.
few blocks above the house of
mourning he parked his car and con-
tinued the descent on foot. He did
not know what he was going to do.
He had no plan. And he could not
have helped doing what he did.
He passed under the whale jaw and
went straight to the window at which
the girl sat. He asked for a drink
of water. And that made her blush
She had to confess that she couldn't
get it for him.
I'm very lame" she said. i've
nearly always been lame. It's really
worse than that. i can't walk at all"
This statement affected Ruddy just
as piece of bad news about some
body he had always known and liked
would have done.
But he said, suppose you want
ed drink Of water or something for
yourself? Are you all alone in the
house,"
II would have to wait" she said,
until somebody 1 knew came by.
. But you can come in and get
yourself a drink of water"
The house seemed to be divided
into two halves. In one Of them the
knees. The other was probably
bedroom. ladder led to A loft At
the back was a lean-to kitchen.
Ruddy found a tumbler and faucet.
And though he was not thirsty he
drank.
THE house was very bare and un-
lovely. They must be very poor
people," he thought. He wanted to
stay and talk with the girl. Her
beauty and her helpleSsness had
touched his heart
He had always heard that there
was much good Castilian blood in
Monterey. and that some of the girls
were very beautiful. This girl had a
Spanish look, and her beauty could
not have been denied.
He paused with his hand on the
door latch.
Her eyes were lifted squarely to
his
Gould you tell me the time?" she