Show 8 i lr p S it GERTRUDE ATHERTON r Continued The youngsters I went through that phase We Ve all aU do But we emerge I mean of bt cour course e when we haye have anything to express Metaphysical verb verbosity is a friendly friend friend- ly refuge But as a rule years and hard knocks drive us us to directness of ot expression But poets I must begin young yoting And New York j jis I is not exactly a a l b hotbed of romance ro- ro mance Do you think that romance Is impossible In Ne New York she asked Irresistibly I oh well oh well what Is romance romance Of Ot course i it Is quite possible to fall in love in New York although Yort-although although anything bu but the ideal setting But romance a Surely the sense of ot be between between between be- be tween a m man n and woman Irresistibly irresistibly bly attracted may be as provocative provocative provocative tive in a grea great t city as in a feudal castle surrounded by an ancient forest forest or or on one of my Dolomite lakes Is It ft not that which constitutes constitutes constitutes romance the breathless trembling on the verge of ot the un- un that explored that Isolates two human beings as authentically I I am picking pick pick- picking ing up your vocabulary vocabulary-as as if they w were re alone on a star in space space Is Isit IsIt Isit it not possible to dream hero here in New York York and and surely dreams play their part in romance Her lIer fingertips moving delicately on the surface of ot her lap has a curious suggestion of playing with fire One needs leisure for dreams He lie stood up suddenly and leaned against the mantelpiece The at atmosphere atmosphere atmosphere at- at had become electric A A good thing too as far as some ofus of ofus ofus us are concerned The last thing J for a columnist to indulge in is dreams Fine hash he hed he'd d have for his readers next morning Do you mean to say that none of ot your jour our clever young joung men tall fall Inlove Inlove in inlove love Every day In the week some of or them They rhey even and marry and tell fatuous fatuous' yarns about their babies No doubt some of ot them lia have even en gloomed through brief periods of ot unreciprocated passion But they dont don't look 1001 very romantic to me Romance is impossible without Imagination 1 I should think Aching for what you cannot have or falling In love lo reciprocally with a charming charmIng charmIng charm- charm Ing girl Is It hardly romance That isa Isa is isa a gift like gift like the spark that goes to the making or art Are Aio you jou romantic ho he asked harshly You look as if it porn to inspire lomance romance ike dreams a beautiful st statue tue or painting painting but but mysterious as you jou ou make yourself yourself- lu in Ill essence I I and tind I believe are essence should never have ha associated you jou with the tho romantic temperament Your eyes as eyes as they too often otten are are are- Oh no nol no I It Is true that I ha have e ne never er had hada a romance lomance romance You and married married and very young joung Oh Oh what is young joung love The urge urge- of the race A blaze that ends In babies or ashes Romance You have other have other men havo have loved you jou ou European men the men the typo type my lot loft was cast with with may may be romantic In their extreme extreme youth youth youth-I I have never been attracted by men in that stage of development so Imay I Imay Imay may only suppose suppose but but when aman a aman aman man has learned to adjust passion to t technique there theo is not much ro romance romance o i-o- mance left in h him m Are you waiting for YOur jour romalice ro romance ro- ro mance malice then Have you come to this more primitive civilization to find it it She raised her head an and looked him full fun In the eyes No I did not believe in the possibility then May I have o a highball 1 Certainly He lie took toole his drink on the other side of ot tho the room It was several minutes before he returned to the too hearth Then he ho asked without looking at her How do you expect to find romance If you shut yourself up I r wanted nothing less As little as as I wanted It to be known that I Iwas Iwas Iwas was here bore at all alt That damnable mystery Who Who Whore are re you you 7 Nothing that you have havo Imagined lt It Itis Is tar far stranger stranger stranger-I I fancy It would cure you Cure me Yes Do you jou ou deny that mat you love me No by God I 1 don dont don't t But yoU iou take a devilish advantage I You You must know that I had meant to keep my head Of course you are playing with me- me with me your our cursed t technique Unless lie He reached I her In a stride and I stood over her Is Is it possible possible possible-do do you you you-you- you She pushed back bade her chair and I stood behind it Her cheeks cheek were j very pink her eyes startled but but very soft I do not admit that yet jet yetI I I have been too astounded I astounded I. I I went vent away to think by myse myself myself- where I was sure not to see you you you-oS but my mind seemed to revolve It circles I 1 dont don't know 1 I dont don't dont know I j You do know You are not the I woman to mistake a passing interest interest inter inter- I Iest est for the real thing I Oh Ott does a I woman ever ever I I never wanted to be as young as that I again I should have believed it 1 impossible if I 1 had given the mattel matter matter mat mat- I ter tel a n thought thought thought-It It is so long I 1 had I Iwas forgotten what love was like There was nothing I had buried as deep And there are aie reasons reasons reasons-reasons reasons reasons' I follow you vaguely But ButI I think I understand worse worse luck Ive I've hated you jou more than once I Continued on page 5 I BLACK OXEN Continued Continued from page 4 4 You Tou must have known that I Be Believe believe be- be e- e lieve you jou are aie deliberately leading me mo on on onto to make malte a fool of myself I I 1 am not Oh I am not me meI Do you love I 1 I I want to be sure I have dreamed I I-I I I have leisure you see sec This old house shuts out the world world Europe Europe the p past t. t The war might have cut my life tife Jn fn n two If It it had not been for that that that-that that long selfless interval Id I'd like you to go now VIII Will you ou marry me me It It may be I cant can't tell Not yet et Are you OU content to wait walt I I am not But Ive I've no intention of taking you by force although I Idon dont don't t feel particularly civilized atthe at atthe the tho present moment But Ill I'll win you and have you if yO you love me Make Malte no doubt of or that You may have ten thousand strange reasons they they count for nothing with me And I Intend to see you every day Ill I'll call you up in the morning Now I go and as quickly as I can get out I lie He plunged down the steps into a snowstorm Even during his precipitate precipitate pre pre- retreat be ho had realized the advisability of telephoning for a taxi but had bad been incapable of or ortho the tho anticlimax He pulled his hat over his Ws eyes turned up the collar of his coat and made his way ha hastily hastily has has- tily tHy toward Park avenue There was not a cab in sight Nor was Iwas was there a a. rumble I ix in the tunnel no doubt the cars were snowbound sn He hesitated only a mo moment nent ent it would hardly take tak him longer to toI walk to his hotel th than n to the Grand Drand I Central station station- but he be 1 crossed over overto overto to Madison avenue at once for I It t I was bitter walking and there W was wasa 5 j a bare chance of ot picking up a cab returning from one of the hotels But the narrow street between its its' its high dark walls looked like a de deserted deserted deserted de- de mountain pass rapidly filling filling filling fill fill- ing with with snow The tall taU street lamps shed shed a sad and ghostly beam They might have b been en the hooded torches of cave dwellers sheltering from enemies and the storm in those perpendicular fastnesses Fardown Far Tar down a red sphere glowed dimly exalting the Illusion H He almost fancied he could see the outposts I of primeval forests bending over I the tho canyon and wondered why the Poet of or Manhattan had never immortalized immortalized immortalized im im- a scene at once so sinIster sinister sin sin- ister later and so lovely ely And no stillness of a high mountain mountain mountain moun moun- tain solitude had ever been more Intense Not Kot even a muffled roar from trains on the tho the distant Ls s I Havering- Havering wondered if it he really were in New York The whole evening evening eve eve- I e ning had been unreal enough Certainly Certainly Certainly all that was prosaic and ugly I and feverish had been obliterated by what it was no flight of fancy to call white magic That seething mass of humanity that thaI thao to o often looked as if rushing hither r and thither with no definite purpose driven merely by the obsession of speed was as supine in its brief privacy as its dead In spite of ot the fever in him he felt curiously uplifted up up- and lifted lifted and glad to be alone There are moods and solitudes when a aman aman aman man wants no woman however much he may be wanting one particular particular particular par par- woman But the mood was ephemeral he had been too loo close to her a moment before Moreover she was still sed She seemed to take shape slowly in the white whit whirling snow as white and imponderable A Nordic princess princes drifting northward northward northward north north- ward over her steppes God Would he ever get her Ithe if It he did not I it would be because one of them was qualifying for tor another incarnation I Continued tomorrow |