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Show OUT UNDER THE STARS After He Had Told Helen Whole Truth. By S. E. KISER. For three hours Helen Sibley had been waiting at Northport Junction. Luckily the evening was pleasant, so that she was not compelled to sit In t!:e stuffy, dingy little station. There v. as ju. . one pretty thing about North-port North-port Junction, and that was Helen. If the train for which she was waiting ever came and ever departed again, North port Junction would resume its habit of being about as unlovjly a spot as one might find within the temperate tem-perate zone. While Helen remained the place would possess one uttraction; that would have lent distinction to a far core Important and a far more splendid splen-did center of activity than the Junction Junc-tion was ever likely to become. The operator in the bay window that Jutted out into the point of land between be-tween the branching tracks evidently had an eye for beauty as well as an ear for Morse. As Helen walked up and down the platform he watched her and became thoughtful. He wondered wonder-ed why It was that nature bestowed her gifts so lavishly upon some girls and treated others so shabbily. The beauty that Helen possessed might have made a dozen plain girls fair if it had been distributed among them. Such was the operator's reasoning. The operator at Northport Junction was a philosopher. But Helen was not thinking of philosophy, phil-osophy, and if she had noticed that the operator was eagerly watching her the fact neither added to her pleasure nor caused her annoyance. For some reason she was thinking of Tom Harlow. Har-low. Perhaps it was because of the loneliness of her surroundings. It was nearly a year since she had refused re-fused to listen when Tom had said that ho could "explain everything in good time," and for months she had thought that she was never going to have any interest in him again. Thinking of Tom naturally caused her to think of Mrs. Danforth, the pretty, pret-ty, young grass-widow who had come between them. There was something mysterious about Mrs. Danforth. Peo- mi ii 3 She Was Thinking of Tom Harlow. pie talked about her, but nobody seemed seem-ed to know Just why. She had come to Springfield a stranger and she had been careful to leave her past behind her. It had not taken her long to find riends.and she was quickly admitted to the best social circles. With plenty of , money, she lived at the most fashionable fash-ionable hotel, she entertained lavishly, lavish-ly, and her clothes were the talk of the town. Then, one day, she disappeared, disap-peared, and on the following morning Tom Harlow told Helen that it had become necessary for him to go to Chicago. Chi-cago. - A week later he returned, but a substantial sub-stantial citizen of Springfield had returned re-turned beforo him. The substantial citizen had seen-Tom and Mrs.' Danforth Dan-forth together in Chicago. Of course Tom had assured Helen that It was all right, but he had not explained. He had merely promised to do so "in good time." And Helen had naturally decided that the "good time" .could never come. So Tom went away. She thought over all this as she impatiently im-patiently waited at Northport Junction. Junc-tion. A dozen times she tried to fix her thoughts on other things, but always al-ways they turned back to the old subject. sub-ject. She became angry with herself, at last, and more for the purpose of trying to forget Tom Harlow than with the hope of obtaining information she went into the station and asked the operator if it was likely that the train for Medford would arrive on time. "She's Just reported fifty minutes late," the operator informed her. "There's a washout up the road." Helen turned away with a fer'htg of hopelessness and went outside again. When the long train stopped at the Junction Helen saw a man step down from on of the Pullman cars away at the rear. She paid no attention to him, supposing he was a passenger who had merely stepped off to get a breath of fresh air, but after the train had gone on she noticed that the man was walking slowly down the cinder path beside the track toward the station. sta-tion. For a moment she gazed at him, and then hurried inside. It was Tom Harlow, carrying a suit-case. Selecting the darkest corner in the station, Helen sat down, turned her back toward the door, and waited, hoping hop-ing that no one would come in and fearing something that she could not have explained. Her corner wag sa dark, and she remained so silent that Tom entered without noticing her. "When does the train leave for Medford?" he asked at the ticket window. win-dow. "It's pretty hard to tell," the operator opera-tor replied. "She's reported fifty mln-utes mln-utes late, but there's a washout up the road, and she may be held up all night." ' That's encouraging," Tom remarked. remark-ed. "What I've seen of this place doesn't make me yearn to spend the night here. Where's the town?" "This is It." "Isn't there a hotel of any kind?" "No, nothing in that line except the farm house half a mile down the track, where the night operator and 1 board." "I suppose there's no hack?" "None that I've ever heard of." "What time do you light up here? They ought to let you use plenty of oil in such a lonesome place as this. It's getting pretty dark." "Just a minute. Here's my call." The operator turned to his instruments instru-ments and Tom Harlow waited at the ticlnt window, hoping there might be encouraging news concerning the train for Medford; but he was doomed to be disappointed. "I guess you may as well make up your mind to hang around aere all night," said the operator after the instrument in-strument had ceased clicking (he spoke rather loudly for Helen's benefit) bene-fit) ; "they say the track Is washed out in half a dozen places. There's been a cloud-burst." While Tom drummed with his fingertips finger-tips upon the ledge of the ticket window win-dow the operator lighted the lamp in his oince and then proceeded to illuminate illu-minate the waiting room, which served for both men and women. For a moment after the light had been turned on Tom Harlow looked si-len si-len at Helen, who sat with her back toward him, her head bent and her face hidden in her hands. The operator opera-tor turned to his Instruments, which were clicking frantically. "Helen," Tom said very tenderly after aft-er he had paused beside her. She looked up at him, and he saw that there were tears In her eyes. He reached for one of her hands, but she drew away from him and shrank a little farther into her corner. ' Helen," he said again, "I've come to explain to you. I supposed you were already at Medford. I was going go-ing there to tell you." She stood up, and when he again attempted at-tempted to take her hand in his she did not object. "Let's go outside," he suggested, "outside, under the stars, where I can tell yor everything where nothing will be between us and heaven." The operator was busy, and did not notice that the waiting room was empty. "You see, Helen, It was necessary for Mrs. Danforth to take somebody into her confidence," Tom said. "For some reason she selected me. Her former for-mer husband, who was a scalawag, had informed the secret service agents that she had been smuggling jewelry. It was merely a case of blackmail. Sue had refused to support him and he tried to get her to buy him off." "But why didn't you tell me before?" Helen asked. "She had asked me not to tell anybody any-body until she gave me permission to do so." "Then she has given you permission and you have seen her again?" "No, I have neither seen her nor heard from her. The man has made a confession, and the whole story Is in the papers." She walked away from him, crossed the platform and stood for a long time, looking at the silent hills that lay ueep in the gathering shadows of the night. At length she turned, came half way back to him, and then stopped. He approached her, held out his arms, and asked: "Don't you believe I have told you the truth, Helen that I have told you all there is to tell?" She did not speak, but put her arms about his neck and laid her neck against his breast, while his arms closed about her. Thus for a long time they stood beneath the stars. When they returned to the waiting room the operator Informed them that the train for Medford would arrive In ten minutes. At Medford Helen had friends, and at Medford there were preachers. (Copyright, 19U. bar W. Q. Chapman.) |