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

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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

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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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9E - nun. tall rob- him 'he Vere vere and she ming :pe- 3112 vild his e in her and had ship un- l he e a the her his the gto to Phe her .nf- on- ' n der at more than once. It was if he had done something to frighten her. We-my father and I-are interested in himf' she said., Her words cost her a visible effort. He noticed a quick throbbing in her throat, just above the filmy lace. Mr, Lewis, won't you par- don this-this betrayal of excitement in myself? It must be unaccountable to you. Perhaps a little later you will understand. We are imposing on you by not conflding in you what this inter- est is, and I beg of you to forgive me. But there is a reason. - Her hands rested lightly on his shoul- ders. Her eyes implored him. I will not ask for confidences which you are not free to give, he said very gently. He was rewarded by a soft glow of thankfulness. 1 About then her father entered the roomg then for a period of nearly three hours he vividly told them how and where he had met Given. What friends they had grown to be, of the lonely life there in the wilderness with' only the yapping and the howling of the foxes and the wolves. Of the awful silence that you could almost hear. Of the bit- ter cold. After-.he had left he still felt the thrill of the warm, parting pressure of her hand, he saw the gratitude in her eyes, he heard her voice, low and tremu- lous, asking him to come again tomor- row evening. His brain was in a strange whirl of excitement, and he laughed- laughed with a gladness which he had not felt before in all of the days of his life. He had told a' great many things that night, but he'wondered why that haunt- ing fear had come into her eyes when Nineteen he happened to mention the Mounted Police. But he had asked them no ques- tions, he had not tried to pry into the secret which they so evidentlydesired to keep from him. Now, alone in the cool night, he asked himself a hundred questions, and yet with 'a feeling that he understood a great deal of what they had kept from'him. Something had whispered to him then-and whispered to him now-that Justice Given was not the man's right name, and that to her and her father he was a brother and son. This thought, as long as he could think it without a doubt, filled his cup of hope to the overflowing. . But the doubt per- sisted. It wasllike a spark that refused to go out. Who was justice Given? What was he, the' engineer, now' the half'-wild trapper, to Mary Courtley? Yes-he could be but that one thing-a brother-a black sheep-a wanderer. A son who had disappeared-and now was found. But ifhe was that, only that, why would they not tell him? The doubt sputtered up again. Hle did not go to bed, he was anxious for theday and the evening that was to follow. A woman had unsettled hisworld. His gold mine now became an unimportant reality. Everything faded into the back- ground and only the woman remained. He was like a boy living in the anticipa- tion of a great promise-restless and even feverishly anxious all day. He made all sorts of 'inquiries about Cap- tain Courtley. None seemed to know anything of him or where he had come from. That night, when he saw Mary Court- ley again, he wanted-to reach out his arms to her. He wanted to make her understand how completely his wonder-