Show SERI L STORY J LIL EJ alj awl MIL 0 by N MEREDITH NICHOLSON illustrations by rr RAT WALTERS IV 1908 by th memia T two wo gentlemen say goodby good by iba F anything really in te resting should happen J lil to me g I 1 think I 1 should drop dead declared ardmore as he stood talking to griswold in the railway station at atlanta 1 I entered upon this life under false pretenses thinking that money would make maka the game a easy but here I 1 am 97 7 years old stalled at ale the end ot at a blind alley with no light ahead and to be quite frank old man I 1 dont believe you have the advantage of me the matter with us anyhow tho the mistake we make replied ed griswold is in falling failing to seize opportunities tuni tunit ties les when they offer you and I 1 have talked ourselves hoarse a thou sand band times planning schemes we never pull off we are cursed with indo ind a cislon the trouble with us we never see the handwriting on the wall or it if we do its just a streak of hieroglyphics and we dont know what it means until we read about it in the newspapers but I 1 thought you were satisfied with the thrills you got running as a reform candidate ter for alderman in now york last year it was a large stage and the limelight struck you pretty often you get enough no doubt be glad to run you again 11 ardmore glanced hastily about and laid hs his hand heavily on his friends shoulder dont mention it dont think of 0 it no more politics in mine the world may go hang it it watts tor for me to set it right what I 1 bantis something different a real adventure something with spice in it I 1 have bought everything money can buy and now im looking for something that cant be tagged with a price theres your yacht and the open sea suggested griswold sick of it sick to death of it youre difficult old man and mighty hard bard to please why dont you turn explorer and go in for the south pole perfectly bully ive thought of it a lot but I 1 want to be milre sure ive cleaned up everything else first its always up there waiting on ice fee so to speak but when its done once there will be nothing left I 1 want to save that for the last call you said about the same thing when wo we talked of that first evening we met at the university club and now the grand lama sings in all the phonographs and for a penny you can see him in a eating his luncheon I 1 remember very well that night we were facing each other at a writing table and you oa looked up timidly from your you r letter and asked me whether there were two gs in aggravate and I 1 answered that it depended on the meaning one g tor for a mild case two tor for a severe one and aad you laughed and we began talking then we found out how lonesome we both were and you asked me to dinner and then took me to that big house of yours up lip there in hi fifth avenue and showed roe me the pictures pc tures in your art gallery and we found out that we needed each other yes I 1 had needed you all right tl and ardmore sniffed kniffi ed dolefully and complained of the smoke that was drifting in upon thern them from the train sheds 1 I wish you always be leaving me you yea ought to give up job and amuse me youre tho the only chap I 1 know who talk horse or automobile or yacht or i who want to spend whole evenings discussing champagne vintages but youre too good a man to be wasted on a college professorship better let me endow an institution that will make you president there might be something jn that it would make me too prominent so eo thit that when we really make up our minde to go in for adventures I 1 should be embarrassed by my high position posit loh As a mere lecturer on the Li beling of sunken ships in a law lair school IM the most obscure person in the world and for another thing we risk the tit of tainted money it would be nasty to havo bave your great grandfathers grand fathera whisky with the mohawk indians indiana chanted in a college yell VOL the crid surged past fet allew m ta ti the iha washington express and A waiting porter picked up tip Gria wolds begs bags wish you go gc 7 7 haye bare three lewra to wait walta sald mid ardmore looking kt at ble watch and the rial J atra awo I 1 know Is out af q tawn did you say aay you were going to 0 new orleans for demanded gris wold taking out hla his ticket and moving toward the gate 1 I thought you exhausted the creole restaurants long ago 1 the fact la Is faltered ardmore coloring im looking for some one out with it out with it commanded his friend im looking for a girl I 1 saw from a ca cat window day before yesterday I 1 had started north and my train stopped to lot let a southbound south bo bound and train pass somewhere in north carolina the girl was on the southbound south bound sleeper and her window was opposite mine she put aside the magazine she was reading and looked roe me over rather coolly and you glanced carelessly in the opposite direction and pulled down your shade of course like the well bred man youage you are 11 interrupted grin grig wold holding fast to Ard morea mores arm as they walked down the platform 1 I idad did na such thing I 1 looked nt at her and she looked at me and then my train starred 11 1 well trains liae haxe lia e a way of start irk ing 9 does the romance end here then just nt at the last moment shi she winked at me lt it was a cinder ardy the me us use td nt soft raft coal on railways Is one of the saddest facts of american transportation I 1 need hardly remind you mr ardmore that nice girls dont wink at strange young men it done I 1 1 I would have you know professor that this girl Is n u tatty laly 11 dont be so BO irritable and let me summarize briefly on your own hypothesis you stated stared at a strange girl and she winked at you sate safe in the consciousness that she would never see you again and ana now you are going to new orleans to took look for her ben she wall probably meet you at the station with tier ber bridesmaids and 1 wedding cake alfready all ready for you and you think this will lead to an adventure you defer finding the pole for this for this poor ardyl but lid did she toss her card ard c 1 from the win dow doat why new orleans why not minneapolis or tangor Tl angor me ate im not an ass asa grissy I 1 caught the name of the sleeper you know all named like yachts and tall buildings the name of 0 her car was the alexandra 1 I asked our conductor where it if was waa bound for or and he said it was the new orleans car so I 1 took the first train back ran into you here hera and the whole w hole story to date 1 I admire your spirit new orleans Is much pleasanter plea santer than the polar tee fee and a girl with a winking eye to be overlooked inthis in this vale of tears what did this alleviating balm tor for tired eyes look like it you remember anything besides the wicked wink she was bareheaded and her hall hair was wonderfully light Ight ighland and fluffy fuyi and atvas it was par tedla andt led behind with amack ablack ribbon in a great L ive positively Positive lv got to work c bow she rested her cheok check on her hand her elbow on the windowsill window sill you know and she smiled a little as the car moved off and winked do you understand her eyes were blue grissy big and blue and she was waa perfectly stunning th there eye are winks and winks ardy observed griswold with a judicial air there la Is the wink inadvertent to which no meaning can be attached there la Is the wink deceptive usually given give behind the back bach ofa of a third person and a vulgar thing which we will not associate with your girl of the alexandra and then to be brief there Is the wink of mischief which Is observed occasionally in persons persona of exceptional bringing up then are moments in the lives of all of us when we lose our grip on conventions on morality even the psychology of this matter la Is very subtle here idere you are a gentleman of austerely correct life here to Is a delightful girl on an whom you flash in an out of the way corner of the world and she riot not wholly displeased by the frank admiration mi ration in your eyes for you may as well concede that you stared at her well elvell I 1 suppose I 1 did ell d look at her admitted Ai ardmore dmore reluctantly pardonably no doubt ast as you would look at a portrait in a picture gal gallery of course this boarding beardin 9 school miss who had never before lapsed from absolute propriety felt the conventional world brumble beneath her as the train started she could no more have resisted the temptation to wink than she could have refused a caramel or an invitation to appear as tei leist girl at a church wedding thus communication la is established between soul and soul for an instant only oay and then you arp arf cut off forever perhaps in the next world ardy and ardmore aran orb had often adea iced thernis elyes as aa hopeless pur of the elusia elu altre the enato unattainable tie lie J possibly or at heaxt wt ardmore 1 I 1 i had bad and griswold had entered into the spirit of this sort of thing for or the joy it gave ardmore they had dis cussed frequently tho the call ol of soul to soul tho the quick glance lasting between perfect strangers in n crowded thoroughfares and had fruitlessly speculated as to their proper course in the event the call seemed imperative A glance of the eye Is one thing but it is quite another to address a stranger and offer eternal friendship the two had agreed that while soul call or no soul call a gentleman must keep clear of steamer flirtations and avoid even the most casual remarks to strange young women in any circumstances cum stances a gentleman of breeding and character may nevertheless fol low the worlds long trails in search of a never to be forgotten face the fact Is that ardmore was ex cee shy and a considerable experience peri ence of fashionable society had not diminished this shortcoming gris wold on the other hand had the virginians gir gin lans ians natural soda social instinct but he suffered stiffer gd from a widely diffused impression that much learning had made him either indifferent or extremely critical where women are concerned ardmore shrugged his shoulders and fumbled in his coat pockets us as though searching for ideas an austere composure marked his countenance at all times and the real dis of ills bis clean cut features tits his way of tilting back his head and star ing dreamily into vacancy had bad established for him a reputation for stupidity that was hs wholly undeserved please limit the discussion to the present world professor when ardmore was displeased with griswold graswold he called him professor in a withering tone that disposed of the academic life we shall limit it to new orleans or the universe as you like im disappointed in you grissy you dont take this matter in the proper spirit im going to find that girl I 1 tell you 1 I want you to find her ardy and throw yourself at her feet be it far from me to deprive you of the joy of search I 1 thoroughly admire your resolute spirit it smacks of the old heroic times nor can I 1 conceal from you my consuming envy it a girl should flatter me with a wink I 1 should follow her thrice round the world she should not elude me anywhere in the Copernican system it if it were riot not the nobler part for you to pursue alone 1 I should forsake my professorship and buckle on my armor and follow your standard with ape the winking eye eya vor for my M battle cry tl and griswold hummed the words beating beatin gIlme time with his stick much to Ard mores annoyance in my ignorance griswold continued 1 I recall but one allusion to tt the tha wink in immortal song it if my memory serves me it is no less a soul thim than drowning browning who sings all heaven meanwhile condensed laite kato one eye which fears to lose the wonder should it winic you seem worried worded ardy does the wink press so heavily or the matter the fact Is wm im in ln trouble my ITY sister says saya ive got to marry which sister mrs airs atchison Atch lson you know nellie ashes a nice girl and ashes a good elo als ter to me but ashes running mo me too hard on this ashes going to bring a bunca of girls flown down to ardsley in a few days and she shell stay until I 1 make a choice griswold whistled then as we say in literary circles youre up against it no N wonder youre beginning to take notice of the frolicsome hoarding school girl who winks at the ahe world I 1 believe id rather lather take chances myself with that amiable i sort than marry into your newport transatlantic set well one things certain grissy youve got to como come to ardsley and help me out while those T cople are there nellie likes you slie she thinks youre terribly intellectual and all that and if throw in im a word now rind and then why why I 1 may be able to protect you from the crafts and assaults of your sister you tou seem to forget ardy that im not one vt of your american leisure class tm im always delighted to meet mrs atchison Atch lson but im a 4 person of occupations I 1 have a consultation sul tation in tomorrow to morrow then me for charlottesville we hava examinations coming on and weilo I 1 like to play with you ive positively got to works work TO BE CONTINUED S |