ure slowly turned and, as the old
heart-breaking, heart-recompensing smile came to her lips and eyes, the
girl silently held out both arms to him.

Finally he found time to ask: "How long have you been here?"

"Six weeks," she answered. "And it's been lonesome."

"Your answer, Cara," he whispered. "What is your answer?"

"I am here," she said. "Don't you see me? I'm the answer."

THE END

* * * * *

BIOGRAPHIES

* * * * *

TWO POPULAR AUTHORS

&

SOMETHING ABOUT THEM

* * * * *

[Illustration: Charles Neville Buck]

CHARLES NEVILLE BUCK

Though still a young man--he has only just passed his thirtieth
year--Charles Neville Buck, the author of "The Lighted Match," has
travelled far and done much. Although it was as late as January, 1909,
that he first settled down to write for the magazines, he has made
already an established reputation as a short story writer, and promises
to make an even greater name as a novelist. His first novel, "The Key to
Yesterday," was one of the successes of the last publishing season, and
we shall be greatly surprised if "The Lighted Match" does not prove
still more popular.

Born in Louisville, Ky., he visited South America with his father, the
Hon. C. W. Buck, United States Minister to Peru. Since then he has
travelled in Europe, covering the ground where he places the scenes in
"The Key to Yesterday" and "The Lighted Match."

After graduation, Mr. Buck studied art, and for a year was the chief
cartoonist on Louisville's leading daily paper. He then turned to
editorial and reportorial work, which brought him into close contact
with Kentucky politics and the mountain feuds. In 1902, while still a
reporter, he was admitted to the Bar, but never practised.

Successful as he is at the short story, it is in the novel that Mr. Buck
does his finest work. The novel rather than the short story gives scope
for those little touches which make for style and atmosphere, and it is
at these that Mr. Buck peculiarly excels. The vivid interest of his
plots is apt to blind the reader to this merit, for Mr. Buck's novels
have what some consider the only virtue of a novel, that they can be
read for the story alone; but it is there, nevertheless, and