| Show F I 1 STOR A ra FOOL FP FOR LO LOVE E by Y FRANCIS L LYNDE F A author Autho t hor of T the h G 0 aft dt rs etc coper gb gh by b J P L pp neo t co I 1 CHAPTER VIII continued but mr darrah chatted on affably ion committal and after a time win on began to i himself tor for sus the ulterior motive by no nord or hint did the vice president refer to the aggie pendent between the two companies or to the warlike incident of the morning and when he finally rose to excuse himself on a letter writing plea chiq hi leave taking was that of the genial host reluctant to part company with his guest ive I 1 ve enjoyed your conversation coave seh sell enjoyed it right much most happy to have had tae pleas ire of your company misheh winton may I 1 hope you will fareh us often while we are neighbors orb winton rose made the proper ac knowledg ments and would have crossed the compartment to make his adieux to mrs carteret but at that moment virginia taking advantage ot of adams handshaking with the rajah came between you re not going yet are you mr winton 9 don t hurry if you are dying to smoke a pipe as mr adams says you are we can go out on the platform it isn t too cold Is it ita not the words themselves thease ves but ner manner of baying aying them warmed him so suddenly that an arctic winter s night would not have been atory it is clear and frosty a beautiful ni ht he ie haste hastened to say may I 1 help you with 0 0 r coat she suffered him but in the height of the heart warming glow gave him a cold douche ic in a word to bessie wont V on t you come too bessie deara she ghe asked and winton bet et the whole battery of his will at work to fend off the threatened calamity happily it averted itself miss bes ie le was quite comfortable as she was md ind begged to be excused mrs car eret in her capacity of chaperon booked akande at Nir virginia ginta was met y a glance of the resolute brown eyes thich she had come to obey without fully understanding and contented herself a monitory don t stay bat ut too loul lori virginia it Is dreadful cold so presently winton had his heart hearts s lesire which waa was to be alone with virginia alone we say though the privacy of the square railed platform was that of it tie e ear only for the gathering room of the rosemary with ts lights and eyes gave directly upon he rear platform ir the tv cull full length windows and the glass ioor door now in whatsoever aspect the moun tain skyland presents itself and its aspects are numberless that of a starlit winter night when the heaven lights burn clear in a black dome for which the mighty peaks themselves are the visible supports is not the least impressive so for a little time a ve challenging awe in these two had much in common tongue and lip were silent and when they spoke it was of the immensities does your profession often open such wide doors to you mr wintoni it gave him an esq lasite thrill to I 1 now that her mood marched so even ly with his own outside of the work which I 1 have always evaded when I 1 could the doors are all pretty wide one year I 1 was on the mexican boundary survey surrey you can picture t those hose silent nights in the desert another time I 1 was with the geodetic on the coast since that winter the booming of if the surf has been the constant i rider tone for or me in all music ah ali yes in music you must love music if you can associate it with this I 1 do indeed I 1 wo ild build it the grandest of the temples though I 1 should be only a mite m ite lay worshiper in it myself she smiled that temple must al ways have two high priests one who prophesies and one who interprets I 1 can cant t play without a sympathetic lia lis tener 1 I wish you might play for me sometime you would have to be very exacting it if yo i could find fault with my iny appreciation would 19 B it we are riding away on my hobby after we e had fairly mounted yours he laughed mine is only a heavy carthorse cart horse not fit for riding be he said you should rit t ay that it is a man s work yours and he made sure ure there v was as i note of regret in her roice voice when she added no woman an ever share it with you or help you in it I 1 should be sorry to believe that tie he rejoined quickly the best part at f any man s work may be shared by the woman who wills and dares she gave mm him a flitting glance of intelligence how strangely chance whips us phout from post to pil ar two even ago I 1 was vms foolish enough to nell well you know what I 1 did ard now we have changed places and you a e elling me what a woman noman may do it if he dare but he wo id not admit the prem ses if the one oue were foolish so is he be othel but I 1 can I t allow that to tand dand I 1 shall always be the artter for what you said to me the evening I 1 don t know why you should you didn dian t need it in the least she pro tested if I 1 had known then what I 1 know now I 1 should have said some thing q itte different say it now it if yo i wish may lay 19 but I 1 have hav no right be sides it woul I 1 sound like the basest of incantations would if Ie verti eless I 1 should III e to hear it she nerved herself tor for the plunge her kunches uncle s plunge doubting do inting more than eer eier your part in the tire building of this other railroad Is purely a business at af fair is it not nota my aly personal interest 9 quite so a mere matter of dollars and cents you may say sh went on entirely missing the irony in his reply you did not inov the difficulties before you came herec omy only in a general way I 1 knew there was opposition and well I 1 m not just a novice in this sort of thing and it if I 1 may be allowed to boast a little I 1 knew my appointment was owing to mr air fallowell Cal lowell lowells s belief in my ability to carry it through you are not smoking she said haven t you byoir yo ir pipea she was finding it desperately hard to go on it if you don t mind he returned but when he had pipe and tobacco in hand she plunge I 1 again you say your interest in this other railroad your personal interest is only that of of an employed it if you should have another offer from some other company he smiled put yourself in my place miss virginia what would you doa she tried to think it out and in the process the doubt grew and over whelmed her I 1 I 1 don t know she faltered if as you say it is only a question at of so much money to be earned he ile started as it if she struck him with a whip that is not your argument it la Is mr darrah s then his voice took a deeper tone that thrilled her till she wanted to cry out don t say you want me to give up please don t say that I 1 I 1 have been putting you on a pedestal these last two days miss carteret you know well wel enough lenough what Is involved honor integrity good faith everything a man values or should value I 1 was only jesting when I 1 spoke of 0 the day pay that Is nothing I 1 can cant t believe you would ask such a sacrifice of me of any man the brown eyes met his fairly and it was not mr somerville darrah s confederate who said indeed I 1 do not ask it mr winton I 1 see now hov how impossible it would be for yoi to she stopped short and leaving the sentence in the air began again bit it it is only fair that you should han hae e your warning arning v and I 1 m going to give it to you my uncle will leave no stone unturned to defeat you he was vas still 1001 ing into her eyes and so had courage to say what came uppermost I 1 dont don t care I 1 shall fight him a as hard as I 1 can but I 1 shall always be his debtor for this evening do you understand 7 9 she broke the eye hold and turned away quickly kou lou must not come again she said but I 1 shall as often as I 1 may and as to the railway tussle mr darrah may take it out of me as he pleases from sunrise to sunset it if he be will only invite me here to dinner now and then in a flash her mood changed and she laughed lightly who would think it of you mr winton of all men I 1 should have sal sat I 1 you were the last to care so much for the social diversions shall we go inc it if we must bit b it not until I 1 have thanked you for bour timely hint of 0 yesterday morning it saved me no end of trouble the telegram 7 9 mr adams sent seat that and besides it was meant to be a scolding I 1 have no doubt adima sent the wire but be ire didn dian t walto it or it 11 he did he also wrote our invitation to dinner thoy are in the same hand you know she laughed again I 1 it I 1 quite time we were going in she averred and he opened the door foi fol her it if mr air john winton C L stood in need of a moral tonic tonte as adams hai hat so delicately intimated to miss bessle carteret it was administered it IL quantity sufficient before he slept oc or the night of dinner givings for a clear cleare eed ed free frei from all 1 eart trammell and abl to grasp the unsentimental fact th the enemy a new plan of campaign wrote itself bilte legibly hia his pic and choice amon the time I 1 lining filing ex ants the rajah could scarcely have found one more to his purpose than the private car rosemary in eluding in its passenger list a miss virginia carteret there would be more dinners and social diversions other like this ot of neglecting to look after the consign ment of steel which by the by wa not yet to be seen or even definitely heard from and in the end defeat all of which adama s substituting friendly trani frani ness for the disciplinary traditions of the service set forth in good bostonian Bost onlan english for the benefit and of his chief and was an all according to his deserts with scoffing and I 1 born yesterday yest erlay morty and I 1 m not so desperately asinine you seem to think was the besotted ones summing up I 1 know tho the rajah split haira hairs in a bust bus ness fight but he la is hardly lous enough to use miss carteret as a cats cat s paw but adams would not be scoff e I 1 aside you re off in your estimate of mr air darrah jack way aay off I 1 know the tz 14 HE OPENED THE DOOR FOR HER traill tradition tion that a southern gentleman Is all chivalry when it comes conies to a matter touching his womankind and I 1 don t controvert it as a general proposition but the rajah has been a fighting western railroad magnate so 0 long that his accent Is about the only southern asset he has retained it if I 1 rn any good at guessing be lie will stick at nothing to gain his end winton admitted the impeachment without prejudice to his own point ot of view perhaps you are right but fore warned Is forearmed and miss vir ginia ginta Is not going to lend herself to any such nefarious scheme not consciously perhaps but you dorrit don t know her i et it if she saw a good chonce to take the conceit out of you shed she d improve it without think ing overmuch of the possible conse to the utah company pshaw bald said winton that Is 1 another of your literary inferences I 1 ve met her only twice yet I 1 ven ture to say I 1 know her better than you do it if she cared anything for me which she doesn doean t aoh oh go to sleep said adams who was not minded to argue further with a man besotted and so the matter went by default tor for the time it wa was g very deftly done and even adams the clear eyed could not help admiring the rajah rajahs s skillful finesse of formal dinner givings there might easily have been an end since the construction camp had nothing to offer in return but the formalities were studiously ignored and the two tao young nen were put upon a tooting footing of intimacy and encouraged to come and go as they pleased TO BE CONTINUED |
