University of Missouri College of Engineering - Shamrock Yearbook (Columbia, MO)

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or her ankle. It's on account--oh, it's an occasional penance the women make for wearing these high-heeled shoes, you know. He looked at her again. Her form was bent toward the white-haired man who was with her. The man was star- ing straight over at George, a strange, searching look in his face as he listened to what she was saying. He seemed to question Lewis through the short dis- tance that separated them. And then the woman turned her head slowly, and once more Lewis met her eyes square- ly-deep, dark, glowing eyes that thrilled him to the quick of his soul. He did not try to understand what he saw in them. Before he turned his glance to Bhrome he saw that the color had swept back into her face, her lips were parted, he knew that she was struggling to suppress a tremendous emotion. Bhrome was looking at him curiously -and George went on with his story of Given. He told it in a lower voice. Not until he had finished did he look again in the direction of the other table. The woman had changed her position slight- ly, so that he could not see her face. The uptilt of her hat revealed to him the warm, soft glow of shining coils of brown hair. He was sure that her es- cort was keeping watch of his move- ments. Suddenly Bhrome saw a man that he had been wishing to see for some time, so he excused himself to Lewis and left the table. A few seconds later the white-haired man was on his feet. I-Ile came over to Lewis' table, andiseated himself casu- ally in Bhrome's vacant chair, as though he were a very personal friend of Seventeen . 'f Georgeis that had come to have a friend- ly chat for a few minutes. I beg your pardon for the imposition which I am laying upon youf' he said in a very quiet voice. I am Captain Courtley. The lady with me is my daughter. And you, I believe, are a gentleman. If I were not sure of that, I should not have taken the advantage of addressing you. You heard my daugh- ter cry out a few moments ago? You observed that she was-disturbed? Lewis nodded. I could not help it. I was facing her. And since then I have thought that I'was the cause of her being dis- turbed. I am George Lewis. I have just arrived from the gold fields. So, you see, if it is a case of mistaken identity- No-no-it is not that, interrupted the older man. As we were passing your table-my daughter-heard you speak a name. Perhaps she was mis- taken. It was Justice Given. Yes, I know him. He is a friend of mine. ' ' E Bhrome was returning. The other saw that over George's shoulder and his voice trembled with excitement as he said quickly: ' Your friend is coming back. No one must know that my daughter is inter- ested in this man-Given. She trusts you. She sent me to you. It is impor- tant that she should see you tonight and talk with you alone. I will wait for you outside. I will have a taxicab ready to take you to my apartments. Will you come? I will come, he said. With a feeling that thisnight had set stirring a brew of strange. and unfore-

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' Y M?-f :QW 6 7 V 1-ig! Sl-zamrock :- 1916. fight against total extinguishment-that he would give up his fortune and.al1 that he had won for the other's good health. 'Tm ready to quit now, Lewis, I'm ready to quit-but my God, it's too late now. Which got Lewis to thinking and then he began to tell the story, as much of it as he knew, of Justice Given, his friend of the Great Silent. Lewis' voice was tuned with the winds and the forests. It rose above the low and monotonous hum about them. People at the two or three ad- joining tables might have heard his story, if they had listened. Within the immaculateness of his evening dress, Bhrome shivered, fearing that Lewis' voice might attract undue attention to them. But other people were absorbed in themselves. Lewis went on with his story, and at last, so clearly that it eas- ily 'reached the other tables, he spoke the name of justice Given. Then came the interruption, and with that interruption a strange and sudden upheaval in the life of George Lewis that was to mean more to him than the discovery of his gold mine. His eyes swept over Bhrome's shoulder, and there he saw a woman. She was stand- ing. A low, stifled cry had broken from her at the instant of his first glimpse of her, and as he looked, Lewis saw her lips form gaspingly the name he had spoken-justice Given! She was so near that Bhrome could have turned and touched her. Her eyes were like luminous fires as she stared at Lewis. Her face was strangely white. He could see her quiver, and catch her breath. And she was looking at him. For that one moment she had forgotten the presence of the others. Then a hand touched her arm. It was the hand of her elderly escort, in whose face were anxiety and wonder. The woman started and took her eyes from Lewis. With her escort she seated her- self at a table a few paces away, and for a few moments George could See she was fighting for composure, and that it cost her a struggle to keep her eyes from turning in his direction whileshe talked in a low voice with her compan- ion. . George's heart was pounding like a trip hammer. He knew that'she was and he knew when he had He forgot her. She was talking about him now, that she had cried out spoken Given's name. Bhrome as he looked at exquisite, even with that gray pallor that had come so suddenly to her cheeks. She was not young, as the age of youth is measured. Perhaps she was thirty or thirty-Eve. If some one had asked Lewis to describe her, he would have said that she was glorious. Yet her en- trance had caused no stir. Few had looked at her until she had uttered that cry. There were scores of women under the lights possessed of more spectacular beauty. Bhrome had partly turned in his seat, and now, with careful breeding, he faced his companion again. Do you know her? Lewis asked. Bhrome shook his head. No.,' Then he added: Did you see what made her cry out like that?', I believe so, said Lewis, and he turned purposely so that the four peo- ple at the next table might see him and hear him. I think that she sprained Tixt

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--1f aN ,Y J--iss ,- .Xf,,,- seen events for him, George sat in a softly lighted and richly furnished room and waited. The Captain had been gone a full half hour. He had left a box half filled with cigars on a table at George's elbow, urging that he should smoke. They were a fine quality of cigars and on the box was the name of the dealer from which they had been purchased. I My daughter will come presently, Captain Courtley had said. A curious thrill shot through George as he heard her footsteps and the soft swish of her skirts. Involuntarily he arose to his feet as she entered the room. For fully ten seconds they stood facing each other without speaking. She was dressed in a iilmy gray stuff. There was lace at her throat. She had shifted the thick, bright coils of her hair to the crown of her head, a splendid glory of hair, he thought. Her cheeks were flushed, and with her handsragainst her breast, she seemed crushing back the strange excitement that glowed in her eyes. Once he had seen a fawn's eyes that looked like hers. In them was sus- pense, fear-a yearning that was almost pain. Suddenly she same to him, her hands outstretched. Involuntarily, too, he took them. They were warm and Soft. They thrilled him-and they clung to him. - I am Mary Courtley,', she said. My father has explained to you? You know -a man-who calls ,himself-Justice Given? Her fingers clung more tightly to his, and 'the sweetness of her hair, her breath, her eyes were very close as she waited. Yes, I know a man that calls him- self by that name. W Tell me what he is like? Is he tall like you ? No, he is of medium height. Is he young? No, he is older than I. And his eyes-are they dark? He felt rather than heard the throb- bing of her heart as she waited for him to reply. There was a reason why he should never forget Givenis eyes. Sometimes I thought that they were blue, and sometimes that they were gray, he said, and at that she dropped his hands with a strange little cry, and stepped back from him, a joy which she madedno effort to' keep frornhim flaming in her face. It was a look that sent a sudden hope- lessness through him-a stinging pang of jealousy. This night had set wild and tumultous emotions aflarne in his breast. He had come to her like one in a dream. In an hour he had placed her above all other women in the World, and in that hour the little gods of fate had brought him to his knees in the worship of a woman. The fact did not seem un- real to him. Here was a wom,an, and he loved her. And his heart sank like a heavily weighted thing when he saw the transformation of joy that Came into her face when he mentioned the name of his lonely, mad friend away up there in the North. And this man? he said, straining to make his voice even. VVhat is he to you? 'His question cut her like a knife. The wild color ebbed swiftly out of hgr cheeks. Into her eyes swept the haunt- mg fear which he was to see and won- Eighteen