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few years interposel:cd etw\cen himself
aind happiness !
ITheodora's hand crcpt downl( and
rested in the clasip f his firm, brown
,ne. She felt, at least, that sentiment
that is akin to lPve.
"Don't take it so hard. please," she
said, gently. "It's all for the hist. I've
reasoned it out very\ wisely all Iby miy-
self. Soiic dlay y!u'll be glad I didn't
marry you. It would be very nice and
lovely for a while-but, just think! In
only a few short years what different
tastes we would have! O(ne of us would
want to sit by the fireside and read, and
maybe nurse ncuraltia or- rheumatismn
of evenings, while the other would bee
crazy for balls and theatres and late
slippers. No. my dear friend. While
it isn't exactly January and .lay, it's a
clear case of October and pretty carly in
June."
"I'd always do what \ou wanted me
to da. Theo. If y( i wanted to- "
"No, you wouldn't. You think now
that \ u w 'ubl. l t ',,u w nihlnt.
leaste Ilt Psk me an re.
The Captain had lost his battle. Iflut
he was a gallant warrior,. and when he
rose to make his final adiens his mIiuni
was ri nly set and his shoulders were
squlared.
Ic nltoo the train for the North that
nihlt. On the next cvenin- he was
Lackl i l his room. xwhcre his swoxcd was
halging against the wall. Ic was
dre'ssinL for dinner, t in his white tie
into a very careful haix. And at the
same time he was induling in a pensive
solilo(ity.
'an mn h nr, 1 bclicve Theo was
right, after all. Noboll can dctii that
she's a peach. ln she must be tx ent-
cight, at the very i<indcst calculatiki,'
For you see., the (Captain as I lly
nineteen, and his sw\\rd had never b:cfn
drawn except on the parade grc und at
C'hattanoo.ai. which was as near as
he cvcr got to the Spanish-Arnerican
THE SMILE OF THE DESERT
By Cloudesley Johns
1.
T 1 l desert smiled, as a tiger can
smile, fascinating and terrible.
It has stran-e beauties all its
own, the desert. not only in the wonder-
ful phantom lakes with which the heat-
haze fills the dry basins where water
used to be. nature's most terrible lies;
thcre are other things. The heat-haze
blots out the horizon, above which rise
the tops of a group of high buttes, fifty
miles away. yet plainly visible in the
clear and intensely dry air; for to-day
the heat-haze lies lo\v on the plain
wher tle the emperature is barely a hun-
tdred detreces, and the upper air is (quite
c,,il because it is still winter and cl.
storms raging anlil the sno)\y peak-i
of the ran-e breathe chillily over the
desert.
'The tops of the butts which you can
sec, appear suspended in the air-
ilnuntains floating in the sky. The effect
is strange and sublime. At other times
yiu might see those yellow-blue su-
nits of desert hills do strange tricks,
s :arin and advancing and retreating,
(,!- groupig themselves into stately tow-
ers and minarets, and yoti could imagine
many things. The heait-mist sways and
twists them so by forming- a writhing
background and throwing a fliiimsy and
e\-er-changin.q veil before them. On
III
-AISLEEA ", S