The Woman-Haters

p of the Rocky Mountains, remained indoors as much as possible, working when there was anything to do, and reading back-number magazines when there was not. Seth went, as usual, to

kins in an undignified dive for the bed. A tremendous snore followed the dive. The young man reg

at once. Either the doctor or the superintendent. If h

stirred uneasily, rolled ove

"Come back here!

looking surpri

laimed, "are

estion that is. Think I'm settin'

I didn'

y sayin' you was goin' to 'phone the doctor or the super

! you d

. Heard you wit

d you? You we

nless I was, could I? What ails you? Them stin

wn shook

walks in his sleep, and snores when

ering with his utterance. He swung his legs ove

art trouble. Three times today I've caught you peeping at me through the crack of tha

only just lookin' out t

e done it in your

was wide awa

en asleep between the door and the bed. And yo

-Aw, s

d, "provided you promise to keep this

at do you m

I fell over the bank at the Slough a while ago. I was not spying then, but you

in' on you for? Wh-what reas

ing our new neighbors-none whatever. That being under

d sheepish

uldn't help feelin' kind of uneasy. I-I ought to know better, I s'pose; bu

was good-looking? I di

've been young myself, and I know that at yo

is and a savage nod of the head. Brown had

hut the door," he re

. But don't you fo

tention of fo

you goin

at do y

hat things down here's changed, and yo

ot sure that I sha'n

ve me alone to-to . . . By time! I

ou needn't worry," he said. "I couldn't go fa

t an everlastin' shame that this had to happen just as we'd come to understand each other and was so contented and friendly! Well, there's only one thing to do; that's to make the best of it for

wer was sho

h slowly shook his head before he laid it on the pil

e bungalow tenants when he appeared at supper time. After the meal he bol

o have it. Simply because those female nuisances had seen fit to intrude where they had no business was no reason why he should resign

y, and, emerging upon the wharf, walked briskly back along the shore of the creek to where it

a wealthy father, heir to a respected name-which was NOT Brown-a young man with all sorts of brilliant prospects; could forget that he was now a disinherited vagabond, a l

a female figure in a trim bathing suit descending the bluff from the bungalow. It was the girl who had left him to fight the wasps. Her dark hair was covered with a

Good morning," she called. "Bea

, waded into the water. The next time the assistant looked at her, she was swimming with long, sweeping strokes down the narrow creek to the bend and the deep hole at the end of the wh

Brown growled an exclamation of disgust. He had no mind to cont

he called. "O

him, but d

answer, continuing

ut. Shouting might awaken the lightkeeper, and the latter would misun

ack to float. And, floating, the tide would carry her on almost as rapidly as if she assisted it. That tide did not need any a

short that she was surpris

claimed, "yo

pliment. There was no time for t

t be here," h

oked a

o you mean?"

the tide would carry you out to sea. C

ot. Instead she turned and struck out in silence. Ag

help you?

can m

his turn to be surpr

iet water of the cove and stood erect in the sh

S a tug, wasn't it? Thank you for warning me. N

ing Seth's tales of

fe enough her

anywhere this side of t

orious, and I began to be afra

h at flood," he went on. "I often go there then. W

ere going to say." She waded forward to where the shoal ended and the

ere," she said, pointing across

struck out for the beach. And, without stopping to

but he had to work hard. His competitor did not give up whe

n't you? I never could get that side

Just a knack. I'll te

? That's

Graham, for a girl, that I ever saw.

ght me. He is a splendid sw

don't mean Horace Graham

brother. But how .

bered that Cape Cod lightkeepers' helpers were not, as a usual th

t him," he

course! you met him here. I forgot that h

ten it, too, but he was

he said. She regarded h

loneliness and the quaintness of it all. That was what made me wish to spend a month down here and experience it myself. A

es

her odd, but, when you knew him, a fine fellow an

lady across the cove. And then it occurred to him, with startling suddenness, that he had been conversing very fa

said hastily; "good

rapidly back toward the boathouse

oon," she said. "You've promised to

quite unaware of his helper's unpremeditated treason. Brown's conscience pricked him, however, and he went to bed that night vowing over and over that he would be more careful thereafter. He would take care not to meet the Graham girl again. Havin

t remained in the house. Seth, at sup

and dumb asylum," was the lightkeeper's comment.

thi

ittle 'Stomach Balm,' hey? No? Well, GO to bed! Your

finding his best jokes received with groans instead of laughter, gave it up in disgust and retired. The young man cleared the tab

where and kept on trying for a position, for work-any kind of work? He might have starved while trying, but people who were starving were self-respecting, and when they met other people-for instance, sisters of fellows they

rown, under his breath

rising once more to an erect position, found himself fa

id. "No doubt I should feel the

n the kitchen and the hall leading to the lightkeeper's bedroom was shut. It was,

r. Brown," she o

red a good morning,

haven't picked up," conti

cked up

ns in?" inqu

he's-h

ee him,

-I

in a chair. "Don't let me interrupt you," she

ishes," declared

O

and doing scrubwoman's work

e to help. Is this the dish t

on't need any h

lped at doing dishes. I may as well make mys

e it, quite as a matter of course. Brown, sw

s on particular business?"

old me so many interesting things about him. By the way, was it

er question. "Was it last summer

remember. Last

anything that happened down here? So few things do

es

that's

Atkins? He's

Bascom and I first met you, you tol

s; at least the assistant coul

ns?" he asked, sharply. "He'

ven when you sw-that is, when you break a plate. You

deration for him-or for myself," he said grimly. "I didn

hy

sole reason that no women ever came here. Mr. Atkins is a woman-hater of the most rabi

ise, delighted surprise apparently, j

" she repeated.

o had declared himself a member of the same fra

bubbled with mischievous joy. "Oh,

"Very good!" he observed with grim deter

toward the latch, when t

aid. "Perhaps I had be

easure is-or will be-ent

I'll wait until later. I ma

anding on the mica slab which was the st

't swim y

I-I was

s

say something further on the subjec

scended the path to the cove, but she did not once look back. Brown threw himself int

summer; and now, after deliberately promising to teach her that stroke, I don't go near her. What a miserable liar she must thi

er of Eastboro Twin-Lights tiptoed silently to the bedroom of his superior and peeped in. Seth was snoring peacefully

uspicion in his eye, crept along the path to the edge of the bluff. Crouc

een. But the water itself did not interest Seth. In that water was his helper, John Brown, of nowhe

back up to the path until he was well out of possible sight from the cove, he ro

er tellin' me that he . . . And after my doin' everything for him that . . . Oh, by Judas

to the bright sunshine without, was shadowy, and Seth, for an instant, could see her but indistinctly. However, he knew who she must be-the housekeeper at the bungalow-"Baske

across th

harply, "perhaps you

the chair, and turned to face him. And now she was staring at him, her

y . . . SETH!

ed back until his shoul

ed; "good . . . LOR

arted out, and fled along the path around the cove to the bungalow. Atkins did not follow her; he did not even