| Show A GIRL GIHL mrs ills mason sat ind anil watched the girls girl lit in a furtive sort of way ay in fact it might have been called a rude sort of way if it had been boi u anybody else but bur sirs mrs mason widow of the llie late col hannibal mason of the united army that lute resting fact lu lit addi tiou alou to tier her own excellent pedigree as one of the baltimore Sta stanleys Stan leys uleys prevented mrs masons loins doing anything rude of course though she hail been i sitting on the hotel gallery for quite tit an hour with her embroidery hoops it in her tap lav looking over her ber glasses at I 1 the young woman ind and young man inan who sat side by side leaning over the binis I 1 As to the man ho he was mrs mra masons son EOD Sta stanley nicy a 1 I good looking enough young fellow with fair amoo smooth t h imir hair which he be parted in the middle it a pair liar of blue eyes that had a look of ills his mothers in ili them and a mouth that developing lie ile was a youngish sort of a man mail with nn an air of the college student about him still the girl was it well known summer type there were tints about the roots of the yellow hair that gave evidence of a prehistoric exIst existence cuce when it had been inrid colored instead of blonde her round q had a shade more color in them t thin I 1 rin seemed necessary her lips wore were full and rosy and parted when site she lan laughed bed which Is to say often over teeth perfectly oven even and milky white she wore a i grass linen bicycle suit stilt a pink shirt waist with white col collars lars and cuffs and a four ln in hand tie lie now and then as flie he talked she tapped thu the bannister with the pointed toe of her tan boot in a way that showed an unnecessary length of the llie leggings that encased incased tier her slender ankles it was after a particularly vigorous tap of this kind and a little louder burst of laughter than usual in which her sou son joined in a boyish u unrestrained sort of way that mrs mason got up and strolled slowly town down the gallery toward them carrying tier her embroidery lbook ts in tier her hand and looking well over tier her glasses far out to sea say you arent a bit nice tills this morning and I 1 dont like you so there sure sure and she tapped the banisters and laughed again that Is what mrs mason heard as it 17 za IL I 1 I 1 OX ON THE GALLERY she walked up and when she put her slim white blue veined hand on her sons shoulder Jer she caught a gleam of what had been a wink on the girls face and a sort of shamefaced shame faced bravado on his bis so you arent going coins out on oil your wheel the girl said getting up and shaking out tier her skirts with her hand no stanley drawled too hot sure said the girl with a i cant I 1 laugh aught or it will lie be afterwards well so long mrs maion stood and watched thu the girl over tier her glasses as she walked noisily across the board veranda randi ve and disappeared down the steps dont you yon think you ire are wasting sting your time stanley stanica T 7 she salil said putting her hand on tier her sons shoulder Jer again oh ob dout dont bother mother ho he said but he did not look up at her A fellow has to have a little run fuu but what about the girl she went on and tills this time thile she stroked his fair smooth hair oh ob that Is a good one stanley lan langhied lans glied bed as he be threw back his head and turned his face up to his bis mother but dout dont you lose loo any sleep over tier her she s a summer girl you know the rolling of the rubber tires was inaudible on oil the asphalt but a moment later inter shera wis was the quick tins ling of a bicycle bell and the girl lifted tier her grass linen cap is as site she sped on toward the board walk had she bearil bear st stanley in wondered ind and lie bit his smooth lip ind and wished lie he might run away after tier her and find out but his mothers mo thera hand band was on his arm what did you siy say tier her minme was oh maloney Mn loney lie ho said maloney maloney sirs mrs mason said and tier her tone spoke volumes birdie maloney meantime miss birdie maloney was wheeling wheel ilig away on oil her big high gh grade hike bike her rosy chocks cheeks bur burning it a deeper red and tier her heart beatin beating g a rapid tattoo beneath the tight folds or of her ber pretty pink waist only 1 1 I summer girl she said ind and there was a sparkle of merriment in tier her voice well we shall see what miss birdie saw innus no do difference jut ju now perhaps lint but what mrs mason saw that evening find and tile next hext morning and in fact every evening in and morning thereafter was ju jo it t miss birdies self and stanley danch dancing together wheeling together calkin Nal klu together rowing together ind and bathing together thero there was nn all odd soil of fascination about the girl that made tier her popular lit in the hotel she danced dance m well ell ind and sang well A ell catchy soil of alls alis that smacked of the roof garden and tile the concert hall the guests had eyed tier her suspiciously at first and said the half old maid half widow looking individual whom alloin she called aunt an and who might have been her mother had a snappy sort of air about tier her as if slie she were accustomed to giving change at a ticket v w aindow hut but by ind and by some of the less loss ultra relented and said miss birdie might be quite nice after all and she certainly was and lr if I 1 do how bow is it to end what will your mother say I 1 1 I dont care what she says stanley broke in 1 I 1 want you for my wife hot honestly os tl y I 1 do miss birdie was twirling the diamond on OD ills his little fine fin finger e r it had been ills his mothers ring lut but a moment later he had lipped it 0 off ff and when they sot got back to the hotel that thai night it was miss BIrd birdies les linger finger and not ills his that wore it 11 miss iss birdie sat very deni demurely through breakfast the next moil linz ira mra anson who was waa opposite tier lier at I 1 table thought thou slit for the first time that hint there was an air or of refinement about the poise of tier lur hoid boad but as it they loft left the table the sirl girl rose too atis hing tier her chair back with downcast down cist eyes A moment liter later site had slipped or arm arin through stanleys Stan leys iud and looking into I 1 mrs masons faco face lit in a way that was quite innocent and almost sive sweet e t silo she said 1 I 1 thought you would like to be told the very first otic one stanley and I 1 are ensig cd she had bad spoken quite gently but in a voice that was audible to the whole A hush fell over the dinisi room and those who heard wondering what mis mason would do siw saw her turn to her son find and licari heard tier say quite clearly I irom froin tills this day forth you are no son of mine then a I 1 moment later site she had bad lifted her proud head and swept by miss birdie maloney as if she hid had been the dirt beneath her feet but tit the girl was no iio whit disconcerted twirling the ring upon tier her finser finger so that the diamond unshed flashed conspicuously she too passed out with ili an air as aa lofty almost as mrs Ila masons sous own the seene scene lud had not been 1 a I pleasant one only the gossips were glad of the episode there here were inere some abo bo heard what passed assed who said they admired the girls spunk and that she was serving the old lady tight there wore more men those alio had tolerated miss birdle themselves who pitied the proud woman whose pride lad irad bc been cai trampled X al 1 IN gy ayn k s 1 I HAVE BROUGHT YOU YOUR youit SON very pretty the majority of seashore people are not over particular anil and the summer girl Is seldom more it than ian a vita alta sort ot of creature n life size reproduction ot of a young woman who can flirt or dance or tip the wink maybe but who passes off of the canvas at the end of the season going nowhere in particular never to reappear hut but mrs mason was not the ordinary sort of a seashore visitor and to tier her miss birdie maloney was not quite the ordinary ummer summer girl rather was she a siren who was likely to get her son into all manner of trouble if she go the extreme length of erf actually marrying him I 1 mrs mason was a lady ind and she could not help showing it cut but also she could not help hell showing just a shade more haughtiness of manner than usual when she passed miss birdie and her snappy ticket punching aunt lu in the hotel corridors or on the board walk and there was a spirit of perversity in the gill that made tier her toss tier her yellow head more saucily at such times and smack tier her pretty gum chewing lips wore more audibly in ili the meantime stanleys Stan leys mouth was developing there was getting a little firmer set to the coiners conners of it and a I 1 little stronger look of his mother in ills his blue ebes birdle birdie told him one evening that he was getting to be quite a man they were sitting alone lu fit the little pavilion on the fishing pier the lights of As i bury park gleamed behind them and straggled in faint rays far out to sea where now and thou then a spark showed where it a yacht lay iny at anchor just bolow below the breakers surged and dashed throwing their salt spray quite up into their faces of course im a man stanley said catching the girls hand and bonding bending toward her she laughed softly ind and tier her pink waist over tier her heaving bosom rose and toll fell quite close to his shoulder 1 I am a man ile he went on and I 1 love you ile he had bad said that before she waited a moment and I 1 want you to marry me birdie honestly I 1 do A ion long breath surged through miss birdie Malo noys relaxed nostrils and parted lips sure she said softly sure hs he answered and he be took tier her hand in his and his lips brushed her face miss birdie let her ban hand rest lit in his a moment and then somehow she got his hand in hers so we a are re edgag acl sho she said very gently it you will only say so birdie and there was more than a spark of manliness in the boys tone in the lust dust by the girls nui audacity lacity no it had not been a pleasant scene but before night everybody iu in the hotel knew of it of course mrs ills mason had not appeared it at luncheon but at dinner she came down as proud aud and stately as aa ever but there were circles about her eyes and lines about tier her mouth that had not been there before miss birdie ind and stanley led the german that ev evening elting and the girl contrived to make it an ovation and cong congratulations rat li ions were shoveled upon them mrs mason from her patroness chair saw and heird heard nothing she sat as if carved from stone but the heaviness of her heart was almost beyond hearing bearing the next morning mrs airs mason was sitting alone on one of the benches on oil the board walk she had gone up lip to eighth avenue that she might avoid the crowd the water was cold and there was a heavy sea on and fewer bathers than usual were in the surf gy by anil in by even those few came caine in hurrying to tile the bath house or sitting on oil tit the sands sand cold and suddenly there was a cry for help that last fallat feeble cry of the terror stricken that is like no other note ever uttered and which pierces like a sword thrust tile the oar of the hearer the bath X I 1 I 1 k A 0 i L I 1 1 I MEANT WHAT I 1 SAID I 1 HAVE N HIM RACK TO YOU ors ers on the saud sand aud add the the idlers on I 1 the lie board walk hurried hurr lei to lo the waters edse edge callans ind shouting s kh outing and I 1 pros outly someone meone to called it Is stanley mason seo see there beyond tile the last pst poet mrs irs mason sprang to her feit feet with a wild cry that rang out above tile the tumult and above the surging sur gio of tile billows bili at 1 I t her feet save abc my lily child she cried sive my child the mothers heart had bid t coken nut but ills his case was almost hopeless far out beyond the ropes she could seo the boy still bilu 9 with tile the breakers would no one so go to ills hia rescue the crowd waa ara 9 few feland and all were timid call the bachin master they shouted and people ran aliber and thither but i it was a long ion V way ay to the gul ettl station ind and nobody lid anything oner once twice the boy had bad gone un der cier N oh save my child and the mother ann arloss the tha fiieda until the water dalhed about tier her waist rea reaching ellIng be her anus ains out across the waves god I 1 would no one cue KO go to him suddenly through the he thick 01 the hn cruwe atis pushing it ings it 1 win asa n girl irl in a grass crass linen bicycle gull III imd 1 nd pink shirt waist silo she had stripped OT 0 tier her leggins leggans and in tier her ton tan boots and toss tosh od ed oft off her jacket and tier her hat hut hm that thai was nil all A moment later aie it into the guv curf and swam out arm ovi arm in long ions swee sweeping strokes come back tor for god cods cake or you roii will bo be drowned sonic some one ed but the girl did not swe vc re tho the people on tho the shore held their breath but the girl kept 0 on n and tit at last a big white cap broke and beat at their feet they saw miss midi 1 maloney aloney il swimming into land brin vIll 4 stanley along alons with tier her 1 I liae brought bruu slit you your son sn she sh said a moment later as she I 1 lio d the boys limp body at his mothers fem bem there was waa a touch of cletion defiance ce lu in the girls voice but the flood gates vere lier opened in the mothers heart and sin file held out her arms and thre threw w then them around the lie girl there was no pride 1 then lit in the tearful mothers eyes no lo scorn in the poise of hot her tine flue gray head miss birdies look of defiance faded b be tore fore the softening picture pic tuie tute and without a word she slipped away leaving tho the mother with her son 44 that afternoon miss birdie hoard heard j a gentle rap on her door and opened it to see sec mrs mason stan dlug diu without 1 I wanted to speak to you said mrs 1113 mason looking about tier her at the t tum bled room drawers and trunks were i ere standing open and the bed bcd was plied piled with dresses there were evidences of packing all about 1 I have come to ask you to forgive me said mrs mason putting her slim white hand on the girls shoulder oh you do that birdie q said gut but I 1 want to do it mrs ars mason v wont ent on 1 I 1 want you to forgive tile me I 1 have misunderstood you yon perhaps I 1 have not been quite jt to you yon but I 1 1 love my son lie he is nil ill I 1 have in the 1 world yes the girl said you love him too perhaps his mother sa id you have promised to be ills his wife you have rask risked ed your life for or him hill I 1 1 I have promised to marry him im I 1 have risked my life for him the girl repeated slowly then suddenly she broke into a short laugh that was not pleasant to hear 1 I have bake risked my ay life for him what Is that to do T what bat is my life worth what Is my iny life V worth to such as you you who hare bar scorned me ind and trampled upon me I 1 gadut meant to do anything about it but since you have come I 1 may as all tell you it if you had acted differ different enty I 1 have lone done ahat I 1 did it you had treated me onee once just once as if I 1 were anything but dirt beneath your feet I 1 have made you suffer is as I 1 lid did but I 1 help belp it it made me DIC moan mean I 1 nei gocr er thou slit I 1 was menu mean before but you ninde made me so and aad I 1 just wanted to 8 see ee your proud head humbled iut but I 1 am ain satisfied I 1 tool took your son oil away from you but I 1 have ghon elnen him back to you I 1 meant what I 1 said this morning down on the bench beach I 1 have given him hack back to you 1 what do you mean that you will not marry him that you do not love hi in mrs masons heart stood still |
