The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-04-23


fast when he came in. He did not
speak to her; he merely stared. After
a while. without taking his eyes away
from her. he put his gun, his coat
and his bag into a chair behind him.
He still gazed at her and she, aston
ished. gaZed back. He suggested
ApolIo: he suggested vaguely the sud
den appearance of the fairy prince.
He was giving an exhibition Of his SUI
preme rudeness-his almost majestic
and memorable i%nsolence; but it was
also a supreme compliment, the best
he knew how to bestow.
"Well,'' said he at last. Its spring
time"
He smoke as If he had been a mes
senger from Destiny, as If spring were
Brena's time and that time had come.
1t was like a sentence of a court.
With a quirk about the corners OF
his mouth, he walked boldly coward
her and looked down into the Ssh Of
cereal on the table beneath her eyes.
Nothing but milk" said he. No,
by Cd, you shan't have milk on your
rice It's an outrage. You are the
young queen and l am the captain OF
the palace guards. And I'm off in a
borrowed mOtorcar to get you the rich
est, thickest pint of cream in the city,
and the speed laws can't stop me-"
This absurd young man, with his in
FAINT smile, his athletes body and his
elementary hungers, leaped out down
the steps, into a new touring car in
which he had come, cut out the muf-
fer and was gone.
He came back with cream. His aunt
said, Jim, you are crazy" But he was
not crazy. He had an instinct for ere
ating romance; he made the Illusion
when he wished because he had
learned that adventures, particularly
those with women, failed or succeeded
according to the distance from the
humdrum world he could lead on as a
guide into the tropical and gaudy-fow-
cred jungle of Change.
He became Brena's knight. He said
so himself. He told her that for her
to contemplate going to work was alb
surd-it was an improperly like feed
ing American Beauty roses to army
mules. Brena laughed and went to
work on Monday morning; but jim
Hennepin had struck the right note
when he had told her he would be her
knight. She said, 81 do like knights
not for myself, because l am so
healthy"
Eyes, you burst with it," he said,
looking at her forehead, her throat,
her wrists. ut is my distraction"
Nevertheless 1 like knights because
they are knights"
II am the originator of the knight
idea" he said. Somebody has told
you it was King Arthur or some one
else. Mere plagiarism! Come with
me this evening on a ride to Waco"
He tool her everywhere and his
aunt scowled.
"Jim, she is only seventeen" Mrs.
Wilkie said, painting.
"She looks twenty-five" he an
swered.
but it leads nowhere" said the
aunt. Nowhere except to scandal"
"Scandal?" replied Hennepin yawn-
ing. Nonsense! Also piffle! A man
takes a beautiful girl around for the
same reason that you'd wear a dia-
mond tiara if you had one, especially
If 1t had been given you by some
broker. It's just a symbol of ones
ability to have the right things. It's
ego"
rs that all, Jimf"
EYES," he said, lying glibly.
Because you haven't the money to
be married, Jim," she said, moving
her mouth over so that 1t looked like a
newly punctured pink opening. She
liked to live near immortality it gave
her vicarious pleasure. She had a
magazine picture Of a certain French
actress tackled up beside her looking
glass. She would have been sorry if
Brena had suffered misfortune from
Jim, but also she would have been
glad Just as one, though sorry to hear
of a distant acquaintance dying, has a
thrill of interest in finding a familiar
name in the obituary notices.
Hennepin was whimsical enough to
repeat to Brena, word for word, this
conversation.
They were sitting in the motorcar
looking out over the undulating Texas
prairie. In the hollows the red bud was
in bloom and the air of dusk was like
the light, velvety.
1T never occurred to her that 1
might love you," he said.
Brena said nothing.
Don't you love me a little?" he
asked.
II don't know, Jim-really, l don't
know. l don't know what love is. I've
only read about it, and ii is just like
reading about some place you've never
been. / wouldn't know when l had ar
rived there and stood on the very
spot"