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Reno — a Book of Short Stories and Information by Lilyan Stratton
page 50 of 177 (28%)

At dinner Eileen was presented to young Holbrook. I happened to be a
guest at dinner on that particular evening, and noticed a slight
effort on the part of the new arrival to interest the young man.
However, young Holbrook was cordially polite only. After dinner they
sauntered out on the piazza and chatted, for some time. During the
conversation, Eileen got the impression that if he had expressed his
opinion about divorces, it might not have been altogether
complimentary. He had grown up in Reno and for more than fifteen years
had seen the divorcees appear and vanish, and oh!--what a tale he
could have told.

However, he evidently thought this woman different or at least out of
the ordinary, and he was right; she was a most unusual and unusually
interesting woman.

They drifted into a rather serious conversation; they spoke of the
old-fashioned chivalry; the profound respect men had for women in the
old-fashioned bygone days; he spoke of his father with so much
reverence, dignity and pride, and this boy-man with all his premature
experience, gave Eileen glimpses into a soul, into his soul, which was
pure and clean and good.

Eileen was rapidly becoming interested in this young head of the
household; she found herself listening most attentively to every one
of his words. After hearing nothing but silly wordly chatter for
years, it seemed good to listen to this man who seemed to have
absorbed all the romance and mystery of the land of his birth. At one
time he would speak like a boy of twenty; the next moment like a man
of forty; always there seemed to be present two personalities, one the
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