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THREE FRIENDS
19
"Agreed!" cried the three.
'They shook, and pledged long life to the new club in a final round of beers. Jim was in deadly earnest ; Bill was good-naturedly acquiescent, from force of habit, and to Ned, young and heart-whole, the affair seemed only a pledge of loyalty to his two friends, a contract to continue his present care-free existence, which suited him very well.
If Ned hadn't been obliged to work an hour overtime the next day, and so taken a short cut that led across j a foot-bridge that spanned the canal, in order not to keep Jim and Bill waiting at the little, round table in the corner, everything might have been different. But the little, blind god — who, somehow, manages to keep track of every one, in spite of his infirmity — had been on the trail of handsome Ned for some time, and, now, grasping his opportunity, he perched himself on the rail of the bridge and fell to sharpening a dart.
Ned did not recognize the dart when it hit him — no man ever does, the first time — he felt simply a strange, new sensation and found himself looking straight into the blue eyes of a young girl whose arm he had rudely brushed with his dinnerpail, as she had attempted to pass him on the narrow bridge.
"Excuse me, miss,''' he said, confusedly; "I was rushin' along so, I didn't notice that you was comin'."
"That's all right," she replied, shyly; "I wasn't paying much attention, either ; I was thinking how pretty the sun looks on the water. ' '
NED IS THE FIRST OFFENDER
Straightway, a miracle took place within Ned's soul. From a lightminded, prosaic factory lad, he was transformed to an earnest, absorbed student of nature's beauties. He stepped to the side of the bridge — her side — and gazed down at the water, reflecting the golden sheen of the sunset.
" 'Tis pretty, aint it?" he said. Then his gaze turned from the water to meet her fluttering glance. For a moment his eyes held hers, then her long lashes drooped to. touch the cheeks which were swiftly turning a deeper pink, and the little, blind god, chuckling, poised himself for flight; his work there was finished.
At the little, round table Bill and Jim waited, wonderingly, draining their schooners, while the froth on Ned's bubbled itself away in sheer impatience at his lateness. They ordered more, and drank again and again, but still the third beer remained untouched, still the third chair remained unoccupied. Ned explained, next day, that he had to work late, and was so tired that he went straight to bed when he got home. He did not deem it necessary to state that he had been d layed, for two blissful hours, on t1. old canal bridge, or that he had gc: home with his brain so full of whirlin thoughts about a pair of blue eyes and a curling mass of yellow hair that he had entirely forgotten his accustomed chair in Slattery's place. The explanation was accepted, readily enough ; it was not unusual for a man to work late and be tired. But when