LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 786, 31 March 1905, Page 4

LITERATURE.

IN THE GENERAL MANAGER'S y i* 5' 11 At five o'clock they were still at it, and the work they had gone through, surprised Meradith himseli , yet her" hand was as oimlble and her • touch was as certain as when she ' heron, and he was wondering how ' Ion? 3he would' last, when Maxso« 3 came in. " I guess we atl hit the - lunch-qounter this evening, I ho ro- •' marked. " That good (or nothing : coon,of a cook got left back there .f at Jtsviell^frherp. they •: cut its: off the T fljer." She looted at him and won--5" dcrod, for she had not known that they had been cut off from anything W "Well," began the general nianaK ' get, and a conference followed that seemed likely to end in nothing, till the girl, with alarm at her own £*- audacity, projected herself into it. £r Her proppsiypu was vehemently ve- »£. lMa*byMaxsoii as «hsur:r, IWt tl.e general manager heard her plea. -C •• Let me try," she coaxed. " I 4, know aill about homa cooking, and I ttelieve 1, can manage this, tf you r .will show mo a little." J £ " All right/' he said, taking posS?-'> session of her. as Maxson stepped ft'- ifrck. We can do bettir Aan John P- and I know it." '£~~ There was fairly room for one in that Mltle gallery, but they both \ crowded into it. and. pretty soon they found Ufe provisions and the Js. can opener, and got the range fire jr going, so that things foogan to take "i" on a promising look. The girl pini " ned up hvr skirt's albout her and took on a very housewifely look as she % got out t'hu flour and I>egon to daibtile in ill with bar# arms. The gencml manager insisted on peeling the

£„■ potatoes,; at least,,tout, she: told haul jp they were hot to be peeSed. "Ho was - bo much in the way that she finally ,■»* stopped shorty laughed and said: " Excuse me, please, but won't you ' let me call you when I need you ? " The shyness was gone ; there was a pi flash of girlish mischief in her eyes, pnri after he looked at her a nioN ment iie went, like'a school-boy sent home. PsJ Of" all the dinners ever sfervod in jpt , the general manager's car, never had •J there been the equal to that one. V" There might have been'better broiled steaß, or baked.potatoes, or tea i biscuit, or dessert.but oirt while Meradith had had the car. g-.p The s?rving, he knew, had never, been approached, for Edith Gordon herself, insisted that she should wait , upon them, rp ' Then, while Meradith' lingered at fe the table, ilaxson, with profusion of - attention, made.her, sit down in the place he had hjmsqlf -left;,; and devotr himself to waiting upon her. Ho jgt-overwhelmed her kith, officious scrips'"'*' til from protest she fell to. Jaughing,; qnd the general manager iff* ' commanded him in his sternest man- §£-- ner, " Dun, behave yourself, or I will Wt .take charge of this taWe myself. I jt? 4 ' am not going to have my clerk worK*t tied by your foolishness." After it this they drew into conversation. Ki Meradith and she, and a very pleasrant talk it proved, while he sat and forgetfully tojfed with a half y* loose button %>nmi» ODat as he leaned; !r back in his chair and waHched Ijer. She rose, begging-to be excused,.arid i,' stepped to her stateroom. When she came back she had a needle and t - thread. * ■ May I sew it 'on properly;! " she I; * .Wegged. It may got lost," you f~. Jmoyc.'f, : , i vr . •; "'That's'right, Miss Gordon," crieil ~ Haxson. ' mend him up, poor old gSjj' Wpless hachelor ; he's always get- ' . ■" ting out of fix ; so help me Charlie, ; it kfoka gQo£ to see'ypu fall into, jg; " competent hands once in a while." ' The girt blushed, and turned so that her face was hidden from them h~ troth, Meradith on his feet as she i 1 plied her needle near his heart. I'nT der pretence of raiding his unlighted cigar to his mouth, he nmde shift Pi to shako bis fist over his l:eaJ at tHaxson, showing him at the same time a countenance so fero-'ous that it would have terrified uny other man anto abject silence ; l-u; his man-. . nor was reverence itself when she Pgßjr- toent her face close to his and bit El'--- the thread. Then she slipped lack to y her stateroom, and the instant she t was gone Meradith's eyes fastened en Maxftoa, fairly glowing. Dun," he said que.stioninnh , 1 scan- - xing Haxson's face, "do yo'i " " | Uaxson deliberately lit his cigar, and then leisurely; returped him look i ' for look. " Xo," he said calmly ; no£ at all." He seemed perfectly t s ißantefested. * - iv Well, then, v said Meradith, his i£■ firm face growing ffrmcr, and his ■y eyes gleaming', I do." And with that she came back, f immediately behind' her entered the , train conductor with a telegram. The general manager took it, read itn and pondered deeply- Finally ho (, looked up, to find' the girl's gaze ii,- 'directed straight at his face. He seemed to rouse, almost as though. ' be had been drowsing. He rose and said : " Will you take a letter, Miss Cordon ? " and then led the way| ; to'the office at the front-end. There be sat down at his desk,, resting his : elbow oK its edge and holding his bead in his hand, while she waited. , pencil poised, for a long time.- He .was apparently so lost in thought that he had_forgotten her, but at v last he looked up and said, niost s- irrclevantly< ■" Maxsbn told you it would be thFee weeks, did he? " She looked at him, woijjJering. " Vwfr work for me," be explained. <k' " OH. yes,"- she saitii. •' She caught f. a meaning from his words that madej Iwr (gfovv "y®ry; gobbr. ; She was C. afraid of what was coming, if-. " That was when I expected to bo i" rambling all over tho West," he ?• said, his : vtrtce i. plainly suggesting - that he meant to announce sometbing..distinctly painful to then). i "■ But this message here, and he Waved it before her wide, timorous cjes, " tells me that what I was coming out here to do has all been, done. We shaUbein Denver in an far hour, but we sliall go no further. We turn, round herCand go straight bade to-morrow noon." f She began to understand, and -her ft i~y- lace became pitifully auxiou.s. " If wc had gone on, as T expecteil," the B ener al. manager said, " f shoqld : ■ have needed "you all the 1*; Wine." So then he shoubl need h\-r i") 'jg* longvi* She strugigled hard to wink the tears, bat she felt them §f&' soming. He was going off : W?*: '" j 4 ?* l il would have bet-n a beautic* 1* or - vou —and for all ojf us"! " he said. " The mountains are bojfe/ Denver and the canons and Bp »'*- ST; there are strange Sgpj-. eiues in the mountains, and interand beautiful things to sec £g£**lmost every step of the way. And ■MgSjlrtter om, beyond, all fife moun■Hp t ? ere IS the sea, and olher it is. olxßf* snjwusr. it

would I>avc been a fine trip " Ho stopped thort because Ihe wistful longing of her face and the telltale gleam of her eyes tied his tongue. Then ho said very gently, leaning toward her and holding lier eyes with his : "■ 1 wonder if you woiiH have cared to go on and sec it all. Would you ? " Should she indeed ! Since it was not to be, nor the three weeks of work, nor the. chances it was to bring, nor tho money, she could not answer for starting tears and tlio tightness of her throat, but she only .odded her assent.: " Because you know, Edith," the general manager said, leaning still nearer to her. and taking her hand in,THs, and slipping the pencil from it <amJ holding it close in his own "we cannot sac all this now, but we will come back soon and see all this, and more, shall' t we ? "

He raised her lingers to his lips and kissed them. Shall we not Come again dea.r ? " lie was asking, while to her his voice seemc.i far away, and the little room whirkd about her. "In the car? Just ourselves? And see it all? Kdiih, dear! When fhall it lie? When will you marry me ? " 'Hien he knelt by her chair, and hdM licr, .softly crying. In his aims till she could find her voice, and he sure shv had heard him and not the oice of a dream. (The End).