_,__
—__
" LOVE on rem?
fl JESSE LEETE.
(“You must have thought me lost,”
' lie said apologetically. ~“I have been
watching the packing of three large
boats with the trunks of two Baltimore
schoolgirls. They ought to have char-
tered a good—sized steam launch! But
at last I got your luggage, and now all
lsl‘ready. W‘ill you come?”
There was something in Cecil Hart-
ley’s manner toward women which ex-
actly hit the happy medium between
soldness and oflicious “fussiness.” Per-
haps the charm lay in his evident
p pleasure in rendering whatever ser-
vice lay in his power. No woman ever
felt under any burdensOme obligation
lo him for such service; on the con«
irary. she felt she had conferred a
favor and was happy accordingly.
Both Mrs. Armytage and her niece
experienced this subtle charm as they
were carefully handed down the slip-
! pery, swaying accommodation-ladder,
and helped to their places in the broad,
fiat-bottomed harbor-boat which al-
ready held their modest supply of lug-
L‘age.
Mr. Hartley had just seated him-
iclf near them, and their boatman—a
leap. bright-eyed old Genovese sailor——
was in theact of preparing to push
off from the ship's side when an un-
expected and startling development of
the situation occurred. A crowd of
lril and swarthy Arabs, returning
ii ,me in the 'steerage after having ta—
ion part in some “Wild East” exhi—
gition, made a sudden rush for the
raugway. broke through the cordon of
ship‘s oflficers and flung themselves
pell-mell down the accommodation-lad-
' tier, fighting frantically among them~
telves for the chance of a free passage
(ashore. Yelling and ges’ticulating
fike madmen, scrambling on each
ather‘s shoulders like a herd
of unruly cattle, one after
smother leaped from the ladder into
the boat in which the terrified ladies
were sitting, while their less fortunate
iellows clung with "long, dirt-begrimed,
slender yet sincwy hands to the boat's
gunwale;
The danger was obvious and immi-
nent, and for a minute Cecil could do
nothing to avert it. He had been
forced right into the stern by the first
unexpected rush, and before he could
fight his way to the front of the fray
a dozen Arabs had made good their
, footing in the boat, and a dozen more
ra-ere recklessly struggling for a chance
in do the same.
There was not a moment to be lost.
Already the gunwale was all but level
with the water’s edge. and the boat—-
tub though she was—lurched perilously
under the weight of the standing,
swaying crowd.
Cecil seized a boathooke—primitively
large and heavy—and with one well-di-
.rected blow fhe laid low a big, brutal-
l.)oking fellow, who already had one
mot within the boat.
With a wild howl of rage and pain
the rascal fell backward; his com-
g-anions, demoralized by the sudden
attack, released their hold on the gun-
wale, and the old boatman, with all
speed, seized the favorable moment to
push clear of the ship’s side.
So far the victory was Cecil’s. But
ire had to pay its price. The blow had '
been a vigorous one. His footing, the
rret and slippery seat, Was narrow and
treacherous. There was a brief, wild
struggle to recover his balance, then
aleash, and amid shrieks of laugh-
ter from the repulsed Arabs, Cecil
vanished head-first below the waters
, pf Genoa Harbor.
IV.
‘ As they saw Cecil’s well—aimed blow
about to descend, both Mrs. Armytage
end her niece involuntarily closed their
es, and when they ventured to re-
;en them the tall form of their de-
liender was no longer in sight, but
the boat was so full that they felt no
i-neasincss about him, supposing him
3:) have found a place nearer the bow.
Slowly the overladen tug crawled
along on ,her shoreward way. Even
the Arabs were perfectly quiet now,
for they could see the danger in which
3. single reckless movement would
[lace the lives of all. The ladies held
liieir breath in terror. They dared not
so much as withdraw their garments
item the close contact of their rough
neighbors.
“Don’t look so dreadfully frightened,
lasiiss Thornton! So long as you all
lz-eep still. you will be all right. And
iven if an accident were to happen.
why I am, all ready for it!”
' Where did the voice come from?
alirace looked up and down, and round
the boat, and everywhere but the right
l-lace. till a little chuckling laugh
Luidcd her eyes to where Cecil’s drip-
~; ing head was rising and falling on a
right windborn Swell.”
“Why, now you lock more frightened
than ever! Pray don‘t! It isn't a
tziarter of a mile to the shore, and i
puld do it "on my head,’ I assure you!"
The sentences reached Miss Thorn-
' bu’s ears in detachments, as the
nvimmer shouted a few words at a
line between the slow, powerful
strokes which kept him easily abreast
of the boat. A master of all swim-
mer’s “dodges," he had already rid
himself of coat and shoes, and was.
to all appearance, thoroughly enjoy-
mg his involuntary bath.
Still, Grace would have tried to
Screen the dripping head frOm her
aunt’s view had she dared to move an
inch from her place. When Mrs. Ar-
' mytage, however, at last discovered
' whence came the shouted words, she
seemed to be more puzzled than
alarmed. ‘~ .
. "Why? “’hatz' It can’t be. But,
{'1qu n v Elvin o c azn’r-Tn
ves, it really is Mr. Hartley! Dear me.
"111d do you really prefer going ashore
in that—that very uncomfortable fash-
ion?” '
“Very much so, since the only al-
ternative would be to go to the bot~
tom of the harbor.”
“One never knows what young men
will do next!” said Mrs. Armytage, re-
signedly.
Grace laughed in spite of her anxi-
ety—and, after a minute’s reflection,
Mrs. Armytage laughed too.’
A few minutes more, and the trio
stood together on the broad marble
steps of the quay. Cecil turned to
his waiting companions. ,
“Now, Mrs. Armytage, I am again
at your service. Where do wish to
go?” .
“Never mind about us,” broke in
Miss Thornton, with unusual impetu-
osity. “You must take care of your-
self now."
“Yes, certainly, Mr. Hartley. It is
is our turn to think of you now.
\Vhich is your hotel?” ' ‘
There was a graciousness in Mrs.
Armytage’s tone which emboldened
Cecil, and he took his courage in both
hands. :~
“May I venture to say—the same as
your own?” Dripping, dishevelled
hero that he was, Cecil’s smile had
still its old. charm—it had been as good
as a fairy gift to him from the hour
he first smiled up into his mother’s
face. It won the pardon of his audac-
ity now. For a. moment Mrs. Army-
tage seemed to be taken aback by this
fulfilment of her own recently uttered
prophecy, then she met the honest,
smiling eyes, and her heart reproached
her for her cruelty.
“Well—perhaps—-under the circum-
stances. Yes, I think it would really
be as well. Then I shall be able to see
that you take proper precautions
against a chill." » -
Five minutes later the three were
safely ensconced in the omnibus of
their hotel, Mr. Hartley completely en-
veloped by a great travelingrwrap and
seated at a respectful distance from
his dryer companions. Presently the
equipage entered the Via Garibaldi!—
the famous “Street of Palaces”——and,
after clattering under a lofty archway,
drew up within the courtyard of a
grand old palazzo.
* * it ' t :1:
How artful Love can make the sim-
plest of us! Cecil Hartley was by na-
ture an entirely honorable and
straightforward young Englishman,
yet on the first day at Genoa his con-
duct displayed a depth'of duplicity of
which his most intimate friend would
have declared him incapable. \Vhat
was a swim in a summer sea—the
Mediterranean in J-une!—and the sub-
sequent dampness, to a healthy young
fellow of eight-and-twenty! 1? A hot
bath and a change of ra-iment, and he
stood in no more danger of taking cold
than a water-spaniel.
Yet now he listened as carefully to
Mrs. Armytage’s varied precautions
against “taking a chill” as if he had
been already in the first stages of con-
sumption.
So he retired to hls. bed without. a
protest—he would have stayed there
for a week to please her—and sub-
mitted meekly to a great many more
coverings than were at all comfort-
able, and drank—with thanks—a hot,
medicinal concoction, which the kind-
hearted woman prepared and brought
him with her own hands. And then
he fell asleep—to dream such pleasant
dreams. For good or for ill, the fates
had decreed that he was not yet to be
separated from Grace Thornton.
V.
A long, wide-sweeping stretch of
gleaming sand incloses a crescent-
shaped bay of clear, blue water. 011
the right a high and rugged promon-
tory runs far out to sea, tapering to a
narrow point which bears a tall white
signal-station. On the left a lower
and gentler headland, covered to its
summit with verdure, and crowned by
the beautiful ruins of an ancient
church. To seaward the view has but
one break, a small, oddly shaped is-
land rising high above the water some
two miles from the shore.
Nestling close to the water’s edge
lies a little old Italian town, with
quaint pink, blue and yellow houses,
tottering gray walls and churches
marked by .tall, slender campaniles
and Moorish tiled cupolas. 0n the
narrow space between the town and
the 'sea a score of-weather-beaten fish-
ing-boats are drawn up. and a line of
ruddy nets are laid out to dry in the
sunfthat glorious southern sun which
does indeed seem a giant rejoicing in
his strength.
The picture has a noble background.
An amphitheatre of terraced and olive
clad hills rises high into the cloudless -
sky, the lovely curves of their sum-
mits clearly defined against the bril-.
liant azure. Here and there a few
white villas peep out from among the
gray olives. a few scattered farm-
houses. and two or three small moun-
tain villages, little clumps of close-
huddled houses, each with its church
and campanile, clinging like wasp
nests to the hillside.
Over all, to-day, peace reigns, undis-
turbed. Another few weeks and the
now silent shore will resound with the
laughter and voices of merry crowds
of bagnante from Turin and Milan,
and the now deserted sands be the
playground of troops of dark-eyed
Piedmontese children. But it is, as
yet, only early in June; the "Inglese."
who in winter seek refuge here from
the fogs of their native land, have all .
returned to their English homes; the
Piedmontese summer visitors have 'not
yet arrived. For one brief month in
the yearAlassio really belongs to the
Alassians.
left to them in all the fullest glory of
c
. . . . . ,' q no
Certainly their ancxent City is so WW0 . ,
i ' 'day, <_‘;ll‘l‘l€-d my easel about for me
.1"; year’s changing aspects. It is not'
yet too hot for comfort, though the de-
licious warmth penetrates every re-
‘ess ot‘your being, and you may live
-ut of doors from earlyxmorn to dewy
-ve, .--nd far on into the soft, sweet
sight. \ | .
The _> mainwstreet _ofngla—ssio:lon;
rarrow, arched overhead with but—
tresses to guard against the shock of
gossible earthquakes—runs .parallel
with the shore, and as you traverse its
shady length, every fifty yards or so
you may look down still narrower
crossways and feast your eyes on the
bewildering blue'iiess of sea and sky,
for there, framed“by the narrow, high-
chhcd opening, lies the tideless sea.
* *- * a: , as
I'nder the brief black shadow cast
by a fishing boat drawn‘up high and
dry on the sand“ Mrs. Armytage sat
reading. ,
A little nearer the sea, in the full,
ritiless glare of the June sunshine-
Miss Thornton had pitched her camp-
stood and easel with the laudable in-
tention of recording on canvas some
memento of thelong, irregular line of
ancient buildings which turned its piC<
tur.sque back so confidingly to the
sea, reserving for the main street the
dull monotony of the front view.
‘Perhaps it was despair at the di'fli-
culties of her task, the impossibility
of doing justice to those opaleseent
gleams on the shimmering sand that
prevented Miss Thornton from mak-
ing any satisfactory’progress with her
sketch that morning. Every few min-
utes her eyes wandered widely from
their legitimate point of view and
turned to scan the far-reaching curve
of the bay with a furtive, half ex-
pectant glance.
After all, she was taken unawares,
for Cecil Hartley, looking delightfully
cool in his fresh white suit, strolled
down behind her from a contrary di-
rection. That it was not the first
time the little comedy had been re-
hearsed was evident from the half-
guilty start and slowly rising color
with which Grace recognized the fact
that a shadow had fallen upon her
canvas. Only a few scarcely coherent
remarks, doing little credit to the in-
tellectual powers of either, had passed
between the two, before Cecil, with a
sudden return to the realms of com-
mon sense, discovered that it was
really dangerous for Miss Thornton to
sit any longer in that blazing sun.
She had the grace todnesitate, or to
pretend to do so.
“Do you really think so? I don’t
think it is any hotter than yesterday!”
-“I am sure it is. Why, today the
thermometer stands at—at—well, it's
that horrid centigrade in my room.
Nobody can make head or tail of that,
you know——and I know it stands at
something really alarming. Do come
and let me find you a shady corner
somewhere. You are looking quite—-
quite”—
“Quite red in the face, you mean.”
“Yes—red as a lobster,” returned
the young man coolly. "If you have
no regard for your own complexion,
somebody else must take care of it for'
you. You’ll get a sunstroke if you sit
there longer. And I spotted such a
capital bit of shade just now. Do
come and try it!”
The eager hopefulness of Cecil’s eyes
was not to be resisted. Miss Thorn-
ton _rose meekly and abandoned her
sketching paraphernalia to the mercy
of— the intruder.
“I am just going to sit in the shade
for a little while, Aunt Anne!"
Mrs. Armytage gave a little acquies—
cent nod, without lifting her eyes from
the absorbing pages of her novel. The
two young people strolled leisurely to-
ward the artfullychosen shady. nook,
and there Grace sat down on the warm
dry sand, While her attendant knight
stretched himself humbly at her feet.
For a while the two chatted on in
friendly fashion about art and litera-
ture, poetry, science, religion and all
the other trifling matters which stand
apart from the one great fact of life—
as life appeared to their eyes on that
fair! J une day.
But presently there came a long,
dangerous pause, broken at length by
Cecil, with a remark quite foreign to
the previous conversation.
“It was just awfully good of you—-
and Mrs. Armytage—to let me come
on heref“ he exclaimed in a sudden
burst of gratitude which somewhat
startled his companion. But she only
laughed“ and answered with careless
lightness: '
“I do not see how we could have pre-
vented it.’ We certainly have not ac-
quired any monopoly of Alassio—nor
even of all the hotel!” ‘
“That’s all very well.
rould I have-inflicted myself upon you
like this if you hadn’t given me per-
mission? And I say again, it was aw-
fuly good of you. If only you knew
what it meant to me”—he broke 01f
suddenly. His companion gave him
no help, and presently he resumed in a
calmer tone. 4
. “I wonder what I should have done
if you had shunted me for good and
all at Genoa? You might so easily
have done it, as soon as I had been
dried and dbsedl” ~ I
“Probably you would have conun-
ued the even tenOr of your way, and
seen all you intended to see when you
started. As it is, you have .soent'more
than half your holiday already here,
seeing nothing and doing nothing ex-
cept waiting 'upon and amusing—two
strangers!”
The young man’s face flushed hotly.
“That is not kind of you, Miss Thorn—
ton! Why do you remind me so cold-
ly and cuttingly how slight a claim I
have upon your kindness?”
“A slight claim do you call it, Mr.
Hartley? Did you not risk, if not your
life. at least a very bad cold, in our
service and defence, that ,day at Ge-’
And have you not, day ’after
.. , t
I
[But how
under a sun hot enough to: entitle you
to say you have been ‘through fire and
water’ for us?” i ‘ ,
Cecil changed his position, so that,
as he liiy resting on his elbows, he
could look up into the girl's laughing
lace.
“[10 BE CONTINUED]
' N a young girl’s life
I there comes a time
when the careless
innocence of child-
hood changes to the
modest, blushing
maidenly self - con-
,. sciousness of a15-
"‘ proaching maturity.
‘ The eye is brighter;
the form is rounder;
there is a touch of
shy coquetry in the
, glancez—the girl has
r' become a woman.
‘ ‘ , i She has entered that
‘ . critical period so'full
iof happy possxbil-
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> about with the phy-
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fidangers peculiar to
~ Ilplie: sex. .
' It has been said
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—.~_.
Dr. Pierce is the Chief Consulting Physician .
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his cat work. “The People’s Common Sense
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cover cost of mailing 0mg, Will bring a copy
of this useful book. A dress, World's D19
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W"
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