The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-02

look with sc0m on any human oeamg l( This, by the way, she should have thought of before Indeed, ifyou care to give it, believe that we shall be grate- ful for your help"
 "Thank you," said Dick, his anger melting as incomprehensibly as 1t had arisen. "l am at your service"
 He sat up that night with Hartley, ful- filling mechanically whatever offices were required of him, but thinking very little of the invalid, and good deal of Iris Enderby and his own social status. He tell to drawing the most invidious com. parisons-" tIenchant parallels" as Hem " Kingsley calls them-between him. self and his old companions, who had walked in the light as persistently as he had walked in the darkness between himself and his own relatives, leading un' impeachable, if prosaic, lives in the west end. When he gave place to Mrs. Hart ley. and slept al last. 1t was to dream Of bishops, prayer books, and church insti- tutes, everything calculated to awaken a sense of sneaking deficiency, and he woke still drawing invidious comparisons between himself and all of them. II Iris Enderby was to have this startling effect on his moral nature, he thought the less he saw of her the better accordingly, he fell into long ndintsresting speculation as to whether she would ever be per suaded to tolerate him. He would find out.
 There passed five strange, wild weeks, the most miserable, the most Iapturous in Dicks life. It is not pleasant for a man to be scorned, knowing that he de- serves scoEn but before a week was over l Warrington was so madly in love with Iris Enderby that he thought he would rather be scorned by her than worshiped | by any other woman. He did his utmost, humbly and consistently, to win her toler- aiion. To do him justice, it was always her federation, never her love. Dick had most of the vices in the calendar but there was no cold blooded calculation about him, and but little self-conceit. He knew that he had nothing to do with Iris Enderby, yet he was fain to concili- ate her by word or action, by the delicate courtesies that please women. He had been a gentleman once, he said bitterly to himself; he would try to fall into the old ways agaiH for the last time. It was easier than he had thought.
 But Iris never changed. She was al- ways courteous, sometimes kindly; but the look of scorn in her eyes seemed to Warringtons embittered vision never to pass away.
 For five weeks he saw her daily-deft, tranquil, gentle. the light of that dark time at the end of those weeks Hartley died. His death was sudden at the last, and only Warrington and his wife were with him. Iris, who was to have watched that night, came an hour later. When she entered with flowers in her hands, for she had brought fresh ones every day to please the invalid, Warrington was alone in the room. A dull pain was upon him, heavier than his grief for the dead man, the hard, bitter consciousness that he should see Iris no more. He rose as she entered, and though he did not speak, his look warned her of the truth and she glanced hastily at the quiet face on the pillow. Her lips quivered, and the roses dropped from her hands and were scat tered, spots of glowing color on the dingy | floor. Warrington, hardly knowing what he did, fell on his knees and began to gather them up, with a wild longing to speak at all hazards, to call her his saint, his divinity.
 "Give me a rose," he said huskily. The girls voice faltered as she an- swered him but it had ring of indig. nation in it that touched him to the quick.
 "This is no time to talk of roses," she said passionately.
 "Oh, you do not understand" he ex- claimed hotly. "You have no pity for the living"
 He did not glance up as he spoke, or he would have seen a strange look pass over her face. It passed like a shadow was gone she turned away, and the next moment he heard her voice, all sympathy, speaking to Mrs. Hartley Then, feeling like an arant coward, he slunk back to his own room. \ Iris left an hour later. Some relatives of Mrs. Hartley's had come, and she could do little more. Dick reappeared as she was quitting the house to offer his services as escort.
 "Thank you," she said, not unkindly, walk alone"
 "It is very late," urged Dick.
 "l am not nervous" she said in a cool touc Ot uismlSsdi, duu nc IciI odCk. buI he was not to be baffled so easily. Iris might walk solitary if she liked but she could not prevent his following at suit able distance, at all events. till she reached the main street He took no pains to keep under cover, fof he was reckless and, indeed, had she turned, his tall 6g- ure and careless gait would infallibly have betrayed him. But whether or not some instinct warned her of the truth, l cannot tell but she never cast glance behind, not even when her quick footsteps brought her into an alley rather too riot ous for her liking, and he saw her hesit ate once or twice. But further on, when they entered Garrick street, he himself hastily lessened the distance between them, for things were beginning to look ominous. Hall dozen sailors, British and foreign | hut all drunk and all verv much excited