Show I 3 aily Short fiction Fiction Story 5 MODERN DANTE DANTEe i i e BY JEAN CRIMMINGS I 1916 by McClure Newspaper Newspaper News News- paper Syndicate I hen Pa Paul l came home from college I discovered a lamentable fact his fact his I Shown e town and the home people were behind the times Their was ivas so narrow The mighty 1 ns 3 of the day interested them so sod soe r e nd d there seemed no one with m he might discuss the things he het t earned TOs Is greed for knowledge Paul had lebow missed grasping the simple little grain of truth that I g leaven the whole lump of learna learn- learn i to a useful possession the possession the reaU- reaU I j p t of how pitifully little of all aU there fio fo know any anyone one atom of human- human uld ever hope to discover elders elders smiled indulgently know- know merely a stage of develop dev nt through which he must pass to emerge with a much humr hum- hum saner conception of his own nd r Stance ante even in that small o t aY ut Elsa who had learned to love lance when he was just a freckle faced jer er er boy grieved over him sorely a 1 she could not help admiring his and the refine- refine l n ved appearance Of manners he had acquired she Burned the loss of the dear simple comradeship that had hade nd girl y jr e theirs before he went away Circumstances had not offered her here e same advantages but Elsa was n no noll o olard ll lard 1 rd and her quick wit perseverance MS good practical course of home homed idy d dy in spare hours about which she not a word to any anyone one had ten hen her also something to to- show showe for fore e ears they had been separated orated tt It in the presence of this s w Vo aul she felt so e shy and tongue tongued d hat he in his condescending su- su saw only what he had ex- ex to find find finda a a rather pretty but little country girl who a good deal and seemed to find difficult to discuss even the weather d the changes chang round around ground town intelli- intelli nt with him uncomfortable Paul caul had had si whenever during his college days I had remembered the childish bethal be- be thal ithal pact existing between them and style of the girls b had bad d since met had gone far to dim ld the remembrance of Ele El- El I e and now after in her plain little p ingher ing leer her again om gowns gown he felt more than ver nat hat he had his puppy ove i he called it to himself IB R dl linot not mean to be a snob He Heas Heas as st trying to be honest with him- him J 1 eve ove would not be enough for form m W with his broadened outlook melt the need of intellectual com- com l as well he told himself Appreciating something of all this sa kept out of his way as much as assi aible si ible le too hurt and proud to try to tod toder der and andl d er own She was an orphan uns l s invalid aunt who was fond of I. I ad taken her as sort of a com- com lio ilon and to help with the younger I Id Idren en n. n Pauls Paul's home since his moth- moth i th had also been with his aunt h hand and nd Elsa could not avoid seeing seeing less Jess of each other but the old d der intimacy was gone and neither d dl any attempt to resume or to ale aleBo al- al e eBo o 0 their former relations It hurt hurte e elly ly but Elsa managed to assume a admirable pretense of indifference lne pe day while dusting the library came came acro across s a marked copy of a akly akly akly kly Journal In whose columns read- read were Invited to discuss matters of Instructive or general interI Inter- Inter fAlong I ng one margin were s 's Pauls Paul's Ul s handwriting and folded n- n nas wras vas as a half sheet which she saw alliance I glance was his written opinion in W r. r to one of the correspondents hail ha had signed it ft using as a pen name name I te e and Elsa smiled rather y Fas as she saw that It was waR a discus discus- sion lion of the time timeworn worn topic Platonic affection She saw too with a quick little stab of miserable jealousy that his correspondent correspondent correspondent corre corre- was a girl calling herself Judith Suddenly her face flushed and anda I a defiant gleam came into her brown browneyes browneyes eyes eyes I Alls AIls fair fail in love and war she told I herself and d deliberately In spite of a guilty shrinking she read both the printed letters and his written answer through Then with bent head and flying fingers she too she too covered half a sheet of note paper Once she stopped to consult an encyclopedia on a nearby shelf 0 Pauls Paul's letter waS printed the following following following follow follow- ing week and the week after an an answer answer to it from a new writer was published which gave rise to a spirited d debate between himself and his new corre corre- It pleased his sense of the fitness of things to note that she signed herself Beatrice after the famous Platonic friend of Dante Thereafter poor Judith went unread and neglected and there was never an issue of the paper in which some matter of mutual interest was not discussed between n Dante and his new-found new B Beatrice atrice Presently also the sharpening of wit against wit save gave ave place to sentiments that flavored of other than the strictly Platonic Paul was completely carried away with this girl with a mind so In tune with his own I 1 dont don't care what she looks like he told himself It is her inner self that matters I must meet her some someI some way She Is the girl for me I Feeling in honor bound he went to Elsa before letting the matter go farther and awkwardly asked to be re released released released re- re leased from any mistaken understanding understand understand- ing that might exist from the old days Her too ready acquiescence did not flatter his vanity She too had Iad given her heart elsewhere she told him with a beautiful quick color in her cheeks and a happy light in her eyes He was surprised to notice how lovely a girl she was growing to be also that her dainty silk blouse and tailored skirt had a chic smartness that was new to the old Elsa Esa and was immensely becoming A sudden unreasonable Unreasonable unreasonable un Un- reasonable pang of egret went through his heart at having relinquished his hitherto undervalued right of way war Perhaps it was the forgotten dimple dimple dimple dim dim- at th of her mouth that re recalled recalled re re- called old tender memories by peeping out just then At any rate fate from that time on he found himself constantly seeking her companionship tho the more ardently that she persistently avoided him Elsa had learned a thing or two not taught in books Paul was at his wits wit's end When he thought of Beatrice he ho felt that he would never meet her equal as a companion companion companion com com- panion and nd congenial mate But as the we weeks ks went by DY he came to know with a sureness that that filled him with miserable despair that it was Elsa he and always should want This new alluring unattainable Elsa whom he had lost by his foo foolish ish egotism One day a dejected and humble Paul followed her into the garden where he had caught glimpses of her white dress here and there among the tall rose bushes With the sunlight on her hair among the waving tendrils of which she had tucked a dark red rose she looked so dear and altogether desirable to him that suddenly catching her wrists he blurted it all out then and there there how how he loved her and wanted her and must have her and that it was just that they had drifted apart and everything else was a mistake Had she entirely forgotten the old sweet days And did she truly love this other other oth oth- er man whom she had never since mentioned Very very dearly she told him gravely Pauls Paul's heart sank You have never told me his name he said gloomily Then unexpectedly she reached up and whispered Dante in his ear Paul grasped her shoulders staring down at her in amazement Yes I am Beatrice she laughed but we can never be anything more to each other because we believe or orgy ory Iv In platonic friendship Oh Oh do do we he chuckled taking her in his arms I I |