W “‘7 LOVE in: "MONEY? .‘ FY JESSE LEETE. .— 1, . Smoothly and almost silently the big white liner Cameroon was gliding into her berth in the outer harbor at Ge- noa. Slowly and surely she slipped through the soft darkness" of the sum- mer evening, patiently- threading her way among toe crowd of smaller craft which lay at anchor,all around. By common consent her passengers had hurried over dinner that evening to breathe the cool, sweet air on deck, and catch the earliest glimpse of “Ge. ' noa la Superba.” The Cameroon was anchored too far out for any sound from the shore to reach her; and when once her screws had given their last weary throb, there fell a silence so profound that it smote almost painfully on cars now :for' many days and nights accustomed to the ceaseless multitudinous noises of an ocean-going steamship. Among the passengers assembled on .her deck was a tall, broad-shouldered young Englishman, whose genial face and general air of good fellowship seemed somewhat at variance with the solitude it pleased him just then to af- fect. .-‘:.s he stood there, leaning against the high bulwarks, his head bored 1.) the balmy night breeze, his expressive face told plainly that the beauty of the surrounding scenery was not wasted upon him. Yet it was . 'equally evident that something was\still ' lacking to complete his enjoymentof that beauty. His bright blue eyes wandered continually from the distant fairyland to scan the passing groups of pasengers strolling up and down the deck, and more than once he nearly started forward, as some graceful, girlish figure glided out of the dark- ness into the brilliant radiance of the electric lights. But each time brought a new disappointment, and he returned once more to his attitude of patient expectation. Presently, apparently weary of the fruitless waiting, he flung away his second cigar half smoked, and, with quickcned steps, descended the com- panion and went toward the ladies’ saloon. Near the door he halted. At the far end. of the saloon a young girl sat reading. The soft, clinging folds of her plain gown stood out in striking relief against the background of crim- son velvet, and the rays of the lamps overhead fell softly on the shapely head with its crown of chestnut coils. [For a minute the young man stood silent in the doorway, unwilling to break up the pretty picture. Then, as though some visible current had passed from mind to mind, the young lady raised her head suddenly, and a faint blush overspread her cheek as she found his gaze fastened upon her. The intruder came forward at once, and addressed her with a chivalrous grace and respect which proved him to be the gentleman he was. "Pardon me for disturbing you, but really you ought not to bury yourself down here in this hot saloon, tonight of all others. While you are here por- ing over a book you might read at any time, every one else is on deck enjoy- ing a sight which may never fall to your lot to see again.” . The girl laid her book down and rose. She was tall and slender in fig- ure, and when she spoke her 'soft, clear voice and cultivated accent fell pleas- antly on the listener’s ear. “The fact is,” she said, “that my. aunt has gone to bed early with a. se- vere headache, and I did not care about coming up on deck alone.” The young man bowed low with half-laughing, easy grace. “That is an obstacle easily removed, if you will so far honor me. May I have the pleasure of showing you Ge- noa by moonlight?” He offered his arm. The young lady rested the tips of her fingers lightly on his sleeve, and together they proceed- ed to the upper deck. As the girl’s «eyes first encountered the beauty of the surrounding scene a low cry burst involuntarily from her lips. Then she stood for a long time motionless and ‘silent, gazing across the dark, gleam- ing waters at the fairyland panorama till, as if satiated with beauty, she turned at length to her companion with a little sigh of delight. “I am more than grateful to you, Mr. Hartley!” Each had learned the other’s name from the ship’s list of passengers, but this was the first time either had be- trayed that knowledge. The young man's heart gave a. throb of pleasure at the sound. “It is I Who am under obligation to you, Miss Thornton,” he answered warmly. “A pleasure shared is al— ways a pleasure doubled. Don’t you find it so yourself?” Miss Thornton hesitated, and looked doubtfully at her companion. ' “I scarcely know,” she said present- ly. “Yes-I suppose so -no doubt it is true. But my life has always been a rather lonely one. And of late—cir- cumstances—my peculiar position”— She checked herself abruptly with a ' look of unmistakable annoyance. “You were saying”— ventured Mr. -Bartley gently; but she did not com- plete the interrupted sentence. The young man stole a quick glance at the delicate, moonlit face beside him. He could read nothing there; a veil of im- penetrable reserve had settled over it. II. .. Cecil Hartley and Grace Thornton had known each other for one week only. Yet it was already difficult for Cecil to recall to memory the world as it had appeared to him before the hour when his eyes first encountered the face which more than realized his every ideal of womanly beauty. Grace Thornton was what is usual- ly termed a “striking” girl. You might easily see her a dozen times before you‘ realized the charm of the broad, low brow, from which the rippling chest- nut hair was drawn lightly back with- out suspicion of curl or “fringe”; the thoughtful eyes, so full of expres- ~w:.,.... “I \ '-.r‘ ~"—-- color; the finely moulded cheek and chin, and the sensitive, delicate mouth. The whale face was pure and true as the shades of evening. ' A certain niaidenly dignity characterized all her actions and lent a grace to all her movements. Of course to lose one’s heart at sight is unwise; to lose it to a strang- er of whose antecedents you know nothing is the height of folly. But Ce- cil Hartley, “level—headed” young Englishman though he was, and a barrister to boot, had a Celtic strain in his blood which sometimes played him strange tricks. By the third day out from Southampton he had settled it firmly in his own mind that he would win Grace Thornton for his wife, or he would die a bachelor. And when Cecil Hartley set out to do a thing he. usually.‘ accomplished it. Eight days only between Southamp- ton and Genoa! But in eight days courage and perseverance may accom- plish much, and Cecil’s “luck” was no- torious. That luck and the good offices of a well-tipped steward now made him Miss Thornton’s next neighbor at ta- ble. On her other hand sat a refined, intelligent-looking lady of fifty, whom she addressed as “Aunt Annie”—en— tered on the ship’s list of passengers as Mrs. Armytage. On the strength of this table ac: quaintance Cecil gradually and can- tioiisly assumed the right to minister in various little ways to the comfort of the two ladies, who had no attend- ant with them. He carried their chairs assiduously from side to side of the deck as exigencies of sun and wind demanded; he annexed books and re- ‘views and illustrated papers in all di- rections for their benefit; 'he bribed- --the deck-steward into serving stray cups of excellent tea, made from his own private supply, at all sorts of un- hallowed hours—and When it grew hotter he even succeeded, none knew how, in getting the ice-room unlocked between meals—that last triumph over the conscience of a good chief steward. ' Yet to-night as he stood in the moon- light beside the lady of his dreams, he . asked himself despondingly what, af- ter all, he had accomplished? True, all his civilities had been accepted with an easy and graceful courtesy which left him no room for complaint. In rough weather he had even been per« mitted sometimes to give the support of his arm during a perilous transit. But this 'was the extreme limit} reached. . Both ladies were perfectly friendly and pleasant in their hearing to all around them; but by no amount of self-deception could he flatter himself that he had' made the least approach to real and lasting intimacy. A quiet front of steady, silent reserve resisted his most patient efforts. ' The line of demarcation was a sim- : ple one. On all topics of general in- terest—art,'literature, travel, even poli- itics and religion—both ladies would converse freely. The most distant ap- proach to personal matters sealed their lips instantly. Where they re- sided, whither they were bound, what brought them to Italy at a season when the English in a body had deserted it, were subjects which no crafty calcu- lated communicativeness on the part of their fellow-passenger ever tempted ' them for a moment to approach. Nor could Mr. Hartley form any position. Apparently they were not wealthy. No maid accompanied them. Their dress, even to an unsophistica- ted male eye, bespoke a rigid regard for economy. All their personal be- longings were of the simplest and least costly description. Ladies, undoubt— edly; but the term nowadays admits of wide interpretation, and no casual mention of friend or acquaintance ever gave the smallest flew to their place on the social ladder. Of course he puzzled himself now by night and by day over the strange reticence of these two apparently sim- ple and frank-hearted women. Why should should they shroud their move- ments in such impenetrable mystery? Why so sedulously conceal every trace of their identity? That the strange si- lence was purposely and carefully maintained there could be no doubt. It would have been so easy, so natural for some chance word to have set his mind at rest. Not for a- moment did Cecil’s allegi- ance waver, or the purpose of his heart change. Only his time was so short. The days had slipped by like a dream. The last night had' come, and what had he accomplished? Would he next day be driven to say “Goodby” in ignor- ance of all which could give a hope of future meeting? ' Once again Cecil strove to break through the spell which that strange silence laid upon him. He could not do it; the veil of maiden dignity which enshrouded the girl beside him was too impenetrable. Even on this last evening her steady reserve stood be- tween them, high and impassable as the walls of J erico, and not to him was it given, even then, to sound the silver trumpet call which should lay them low. '. ' It sion that you scarcely noticed their. more definite idea as to their social. his) E vi” 1: o (3. Yet there is no wall so strong that '2 lover cannot find some Chink, and be- thcy parted for the night one sin- gle fragment of \ knowledge had awarded Mr. Hartley’s patience. Some ung:.arded word of hers gave him the opening, and he boldly ventured an in- terrogation. - “Then—have you lost both, your par- ents, Miss Thornton?” “I never knew my mother, and just two years ago my father died. He”—.— , Again she checked herself abruptly. Had the simple fact she mentioned been a state secret she could scarcely have looked more annoyed by the mo- mentary lapse. ' “The night air grows a little chilly,” she said hastily, “and it is time I went below. We must be up early to-morrow 'morning. Good-night.” “You will not surely refuse to shake hands. Miss Thornton? Just once-— this last evening?” a T here was a charm in Cecil’s sunny. manly face which few men and fewer women could resist. Yet, plead- ing though both voice and smile were now, Miss Thornton hesitated before accepting the froffercd hand, as though she were debating with herself whether she dared, even in so small a matter, exceed the bounds laid down. Cecil felt his pulse quicken during the momentary pause. Then the blood rushed warmly to his cheek, for sud- denly, impulsively, frankly, the ' girl laid her soft warm hand in his, and lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. One brief moment they stood thus, then she drew her hand gently from his clasp and was gone. . ’ . ~ III. By 8 o’clock the next morning on board the Cameron all was hurry, bus- tle and confusion. The quay accommodation of Genoa is limited in extent, compared with her trade; so the Cameron, having but few passengers entered for that port, was not permitted that day to come alongside, but remained at her an- chorage in mid-harbor. Just at the mo- ment when Mrs. Armytage realized that there was no hope of a nearer ap- proach, to the shore, Mr. Hartley hap- pened to be at her elbow. “Is it really true,” she asked in evi- dent dismay, “that we shall have to land in one of those dirty little boats, and with all our luggage, too?” , “I am afraid there is no alternative. But the boats are perfectly safe, and perhaps not quite so dirty as they; look. Still, it would certainly be awk- ward for ladies to be handed over_ alone to the tender mercies of these insatiable boatmen. If you would al- low me the pleasure of seeing you safe-V ly ashore”— a Mrs. Armytage hesitated, and glanced uneasily at her niece. That young lady, who was standing behind Cecil, gave an almost imperceptible gesture of assent. and, with an air of great relief the elder lady accepted the proffered assistance. “Thank you," she said warmly, “you would really be doing us a great ser- vice.” “Then will you go up on the upper deck, out of the way of all this tur-, moil, and wait till I fetch you, please? How many packages am I to find?- Four only? Marvelous! We shall soon be away, I see.” , The two ladies were well pleased tof retreat as enjoined, for around them confusion was ever growing more con-' founded. They watched this scene for} some minutes, from the upper deck in' silence. Presently—apropos of noth-- ing—the elderly lady laughed softly to. herself. Her niece looked at her in-, quiringly. . “I was only thinking my dear Grace. how admirably we have observed the law of the Medes and Persians laid down for our stay aboard. ‘Not a sin-: gle acquaintance to be begun on any, pretence whatever.’ We left South-‘ ampton a week to-day, and already we have as devoted, a; cavalier as two er- rant dames could desire; and one whom I feresee Some difficulty in shak- ing off. That is a young man of con- siderable determination and energy.” 1 Miss Thornton smiled somewhat con-' sciously. “Circumstances alter cases, you know, Aunt Annie! Just look down at that par den‘onium, and confess that you are thankful to have a cavalier at hand.” - “Certainly I am thankful. The law was of your making, not mine. I never professed to be an esprit fort, and the incomprehensible yells of those bar- barous boatmen might daunt a braver woman than I shall ever be. Surely they do not imagine they are speaking Italian?” > “Oh, no; it is the dialetto genovese. Mr. Hartley has been here before, and understands it fairly well. He and a. college friend kept a small yacht here, all through one long vacation, before he left for Oxford.” , Mrs. Armytage looked out a little cu- iiously at her niece. . i “You seem to have found out a good deal about Mr. Hartley in a very short time, Grace. Do you think you are acting quite wisely? Remember we know nothing of him but what he has ' told us himself.” “And he knows absolutely nothing of us, from any source whatever, so we are more than quits, Aunt Annie.” “Are you'sure of that? Things get round very quickly and oddly some- times. He may know you~ better than you imagine.” . . “I am sure he does not. And I can- not be sorry we have made a little ex- _ ception in his favor. He has been so very useful—and so pleasant, too.” At that moment they caught sight of their self-appointed escort'coming toward them, hot, flushed, and with marks of the fray on his previously Efaultless attire, but cheery and go’hd- n:i-.;:._rtd as ever. I 6 . .y 4 .. Even Blacfsmfl‘hs who are supposed to represent great strength and perfect health, are likely to die of consumption. -M e r e muscul: nty isn’t always health Disease will dchlop rapidly once let the germs of consump- - tion get into a man’s system, ands it Will kill him certainly and surely if he doesn’t take the prope: measures to get rid of it. Exercise aria work and dieting and all that sort of thing are good enough In their way, but con- sumption is one of the things that they won’t cure. The bacrl‘ lus of consumption is a. living organism. Ii, is infinitesimal, but it is alive. The only way to get rid of it is to kill it. If it isn’t killed, it will develop and multiply. Germs are wonderfully prolific. 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