The Everlasting Whisper

ed spots in her cheeks and was nervously tense. The abrupt approach of Brodie with his repulsive face-at a moment when the world swirled away from

relief that she heard the door close, shutting her in with familiar, homey objects and faces, opposing its barrier against the wilderness and a man who was a part of the wilderness. She kne

n like King and Brodie could never converge harmoniously; that there was too much at stake; that it was well to be ready for Brodi

and flirted as even Gloria Gaynor had never done before; she had made Gratton sure of her and his eyes had smouldered and his chalky pale face had flushed; she had sent him off, gnawing at his nails; she

e doggedly to set them to the proof. He held that when Baldy Winch had made him a cabin in so inaccessible and distant a spot as the crest of Lookout Ridge, it had been because Winch, the sole survivor of those hardy spirits who had been of Gus Ingle's party, was of a mind to make sure, day after day, that no other men went where he had been. Perhaps he knew that he alone remained alive; that the secret was his; that he had but to wait the winter out, to sit through the spring thaw, and then go back to claim his own. A man like Baldy Winch, as King en

erpoweringly over him. At such moments he fancied that a girl came stealing through the trees to him; that she slipped her hand into his own; that she lifted to his her soft eyes; that something within the soul of him spoke to her and that she answered. His pulses quickened; a great yearning as

ss were two things he hated in a woodsman, and always he found them in Brodie's wake. Also he found bottles. Further, he was of the opinion that he could go in the dark to the particular ca?on in which the illicit still

lowing morning. For he came upon a little brown cub whimpering dismally. King made the rebellious little fellow an unwilling captive-and smiled as he thought of Gloria. Gloria had talke

AR

, in its own way, don't you think? Another kind of a wilderness. I wonder if you would come down-if I asked you to? I'll say it very nicely and properly, like this: 'Miss Gloria Gayno

ORI

th," said Kin

th Spalding at the Gaynor mountain home and devoted hour after hour to taming the cub. On the eleventh he was in San Francisco. Before he had taken a taxi at the Ferry Building it had dawned on him that his best suit of clothes was somewhat outwo

ns made by to-morrow afte

ng, turning before the long gla

ifle tight just h

lau

isfied, you are, ar

e clerk, an odd thing in a man who sold clothing and therefore

"Don't care for clothes and is rich enough to get b

t the St. Francis, getting a shave and hair-cut. A manicurist saw his hands an

rinned. "There's a fo

isdom. "He ain't the kind that knows he's got a

. Gaynor had not arrived yet, though he was expected this afternoon or in the morn

oud evening regalia; how he had strutted in it, dances and dinners and theatre-parties! But briefly and long, long ago. It was like a half-forgotten former incarnation; or, rather, like the unfamiliar existence of some other man. He

ed at a florist's for an armful of early violets, and growing mo

" said the chauffeu

ere was an unmistakable air of revelry about it; faintly the music of a new dance tune, violin and piccolo and

this sort of thing. But also, most of all, he had counted on Gloria, and his hesitation

ened it wide for him, saw the cu

is the matter, Fri

ith a worshipful youth. Gloria came to the door,

m, that probably because he had never answered her letter she had forgotte

to him, her two hands offered,

ome," she

himself along in her wake. Him King did not notice; King saw only Gloria. As of old she set his pulse stirring re

e all for the little brown bundle of fur at King's feet, that beg

is gift seemed out of place. As he let Gloria's fingers slip through his he looked at the young fellow, a boy of Gloria's own age, in the doorway. Perhaps the full evening dress had something to do

k and lodge him for the night in the garage. But Gloria, discovering that she could pat and fondle the little

tful present of all!"

exact as to the proper evening appointments. At first they were disposed to look on King as "the man who brought the cub," an

r. King again." Gratton, whom King remembered with small liking, came up and shook hands, and looked at King in a way which did nothing to increase the liking. Be

d clothes were veiled, and never utterly impolite, but he was conscious of them. He was conspicuous because he was different; outwardly in garb, inwardly in much else. There was no one here whom he knew; he had never felt that he knew Gloria's

at certain moments of mental distress that all of Gloria's friends were wondering about him, where he came from, "what his business was." He was tanned, rugged. He was not of them. He fancied, sensitively, that among themselves they laughed at him. As he sat with Gloria and found little to say, he was conscious of her eyes probing at him when she thought that he did not see. He looked away, a shadow in his eyes, and chanced to see Gratton. Gratton, who had struck hi

er ear, saw Gloria toss her head, saw her cheeks flush. Then Gratton laughed and she laughed with him. They danced wonderfully together, swaying together like two reeds in the same gentle wind. Oth

of the porch seeking to get a grip on himself. In a moment he would go in and say good-night to Mrs. Gaynor; he'd say good-night to Gloria; he wo

he remained unnoticed in the da

y handsome. And distinguished-lookin

etty?" Her dancing partner pr

ls' laughter. Then

Or handsome! She means the s

there a pric

aughed again. Then Gloria came a

is

y, "he is an old friend of

he girls lingering a l

he other, bantering a

ountains this spring. And that it looked like lov

ettered, spontaneous,

the same, that she'd

d stirred uneasi

said emphatically. "Why

*

-night. She was glad that he was going, and he knew it though she made th

oing s

briefly. "Goo

, you mean,

d-bye," he

aving them together, conscious of the quick lo