Evening star., 1928-04-29
NJ 8 w A

But he drew slowly nearer where she
! was till his fly was dropping in the pool
/ Just below the WALL and stout fish rose
] 10 1t, and the man came nearer, and
knelt with net in his hand and lifted
from the water l2-inch trout. When
/ he rose he saw her, saw her attentive
/ countenance, caught the blue of her
eyes beneath the shadow of her heavy
/ hair And then he smiled and lifted
his hat. His voice, 1t seemed to her
was like q gentle song.
But she did not reply; and, after &
| moment. he flung wary glance around
and then waded the brook In the shall
lows below the pool and came to tho
wall.
Thus, Mollys first encounter with
Warren 1innett was not like Tups, OF
q sort to make her dislike the man.
T'UP, that night at supper, thought
4 Molly strangely absorbed He made
no comment: the man was not apt at
words. But in his slow fashion he puz-
zled and wondered and was full OF dim
distress. She had sometimes had cause
to be provoked with--punished him with
silence thus. And he tried to remem-
Der what he might have done. But
he had changed his boots before COM
ing into her kitchen, he had brushed
the clay and dust from his overalls, he
had washed his face and hands and
combed his hair, he had folded the
daily paper and put 1t away upon the
pile. Yet surely, 1t seemed to him,
some act of his had angered her.
But Molly was not angry; she was
palpitant and miserable and trembling
with uncertainty. Linnett had told her
his name: said his friends called him
Lin: that he lived in New York and
was come for a fortnight's fishing, half
that period already gone, His dress, his
tone. the manner and the substance OF
his speech, all these were strange TO
her, and his strength, too. Somewhere
In the depths of her thoughts she Won
dered which was the stronger, this man
or her husband. This man-Lin--WaS
ready Of tongue, had an aptness about
him. He walked lightly, where Tup
clumped along; he smiled, where Tup's
ewes held a blank and steady glance.
And-he had said he would fish the
brook each dayl
She remembered how he smiled. say
ing this. and how gentle were all his
WAYS, The manner of his fishing, for
example; bit of feather, touching the
water like gossamer upon the wind; the
light and delicate tug of his fragile rod;
the fish lifted in net that was no
more than a spider web When Tup
fished--she had seen him--he used
steel rod a stout line; his fish were
lifted from the water with harsh and
instant hand. 1t was so In all he did.
When he harneSsed his team, he spoke
no word to the horses. but thrust
against their fianks with his shoulder
or drew down their heads to the bit.
He was never cruel, but neither was he
ever gentle to the beasts.
She was one of those women TO whom
strength Is masculine and fine; II 1t had
not been so with her she would never
have chosen Tup. instead for instance,
of little Pile. Yet she was like one of
those ladies in the dim past who reigned
by beauty at a court before King Ar
thurs. perhaps, and who first insisted
that a strong man must be gentle, too.
If she had ever heard the phrase, a
very gentle knight" 1t would have COM
forted her now.
NEXT afternoon she made herself
very busy about the house; she
cleaned and swept and garnished, she
churned she preserved some vegeta-
bles; she worked SO desperately that
on the day succeeding she could Tnd
little to do And when Linnett moved
up the brook, pretending not TO look
toward her covert behind the wall. cast
ing his fly, idling in the sun, she
watched him come Then. as he drew
nearer. she had sudden panic fears and
fed away into the wood and then came
back again and came along the trees
TO meet him when he stood beside the
wall.
He talked for a while. leaning by the
wall, dappling his fiy upon the surface
OF the water, and they laughed together
when little chubs flung themselves UP
10 strike at II and fell back. and flung
into the air again. His eye was ON the
pool and hers turned ever TO rest upon
his countenance. He wore a small MUS
tache: Ii made his mouth, she thought.
at once gentle and firm. His skin was