The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-21

Il am lonely" she said, as she stirred at
last from the depths Of the big char, ana
l didn't know how lonely until tonlght.
Comment vous portez-vous auJourd
huio" How are you today?o
Amelie shut off the lever quickly and
started as if it had shocked her. Then she
closed her eyes and clasped her hanos ana
sat quite still.
ii seem to see you now" she. said, and
her voice was mellow and far off. Uncon-
sciously she lifted her fair face and
stretched out her hands, and her voice, in
finitely soft and tender, went on, and
think that somewhere, somehow, you must
know how dear it is to me to come home
tired and lonely and hear you say, Com
ment vous portez-vous aujourd' hul!, 1t
has been SO long, very long, since had
anyone to care how feel-to know "nether
| am tired or not"
For Just another moment she kept the
memory of the dear, sympathetic voice with
her and held it in her heart, and then she
rubbed her eyes and sat up and laughed in
her own natural, merry little way.
How very foolish of me- she said, quite
naturally now, ito be getting really fond of
professor in machine. How you your
self would laugh if you only knew" and she
leaned over and looked at the silent ma
chine much as she might have looked into
human face.
The physical contact with the nlechan-
ism seemed to rob her dream of its soul,
and this time she touched the lever lightly,
nervously. There was little whirring and
buzzing, and then:
me plaisantez pas" the professor was
a shade of tender reproach in the voice.
"Je ne sens pas dhumeur rire." pray
don't joke. i don't feel like joking)
Amelie started. Was this merely ma
chine? How very human 1t seemed tonight!
. The little clock warned Amelie that the
haur was late. She stirred the dying fire
and carefully removed the record from the
machine Then she weakened in her deter
mination of moment before to go imrne-
diately to bed and decided that she would
try one of the records she had not yet
heard. True, the book of instructions par
ticularly cautioned her against using the
records except in the proper order. But she
did occasionally disobey this solemn I'M unc-
ton and try new one. Without looking at
the number she slipped it on the machine.
As she did so the dream mist seemed to en-
velop her again, and there was new ten
derness in her voice.
You seem very, very near to me to-
night she whispered, much nearer than
usual" Then she added even more softly.
And | am simply crazy to see you! l never
wanted to see you as l have tonight" She
pushed the lever. There was the usual
whirring and buzzing and then-hsten, what
was the professor saying?
''J'ai toujours remarque que les hommes
mes" (In my experience / have always
found that men are at least curious as
women.)
And then, "Est-ce simple curiosite on
desir de vous instruire?" (Are you simply
curious or DESTROYS of infornaation.)
Why did he say these perfectly natural
things to her? Now he seemed almost child
ing, for had she not in truth forgotten her
studies-her "Instruire?"
She stopped the machine and looked
closely and curiously at the record to see if
she could possibly discover just where one
sentence ended and another began. But it
was of no use.
II wish he could know that it is neither
curiosity nor the desire for information that
makes RE long to see hint is just be-
cause of his voice and because he seems to
understand. / know he would understand
if he knew" And then she shut the pro-
fessor up in his box and went to bed.
Amelie had trouble next day with her
classes and things didn't go just right She
decided that the trouble with herself
and not with her pupils, for she realized
that her heart was really with the profess
sor on the closet shelf.
CHAPTER II-Record 80
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