The Globe-republican., 1891-01-28

around MS w1ther1ng form. he would
lock his love up in the dungeon of hi,
soul and have fun with the misery of it
Then when Brown came back, full o,
misgivings no doubt, he would take the
wanderer by the hand, and say. with Z
hollow cough: Il have been faithful te
you, old man. but am a martyr to my
love-"
II say, young fellow" cried Ray, in
terrupting Russell's meditations at this
point, ''if you stare at me any longer in
that soulless fashion, without saying
any thing or listening to what Pm talk.
ing about. I shall think you've gone
crazy"
They had been sitting on the deck OF
the yacht, face to face, and Ray had
been talking in lively and as he sup
posed entertaining fashion, for about hall
An hour. when it had suddenly dawned
upon him that Russell's face had taken
on an expression Of deep misery wholly
uncalled for by any thing that had been
said His question brought Russell back
to a rational frame of mind, and he was
able to conduct himself at the villa as II
nothing unusual had happened.
1t was his last visit there during the
season The Rays came back to their
town house in the following week. Rus
sell called within few days after their
return, and his welcome was the same
as ever. There had been no change in
the household But not many days
after that ne fancied that he noticed =
difference. There was an indefinable
something in the bearing Of Mrs. Ray
and Alice which puzzled him at first,
but which he soon explained in q man
ner fitting closely to the observed facts.
1t seemed evident that the secret of his
talk with Gilbert Ray had leaked out;
that it had at last become the general
property of the family. He could not
believe that Ray had told Alice; she
must have overheard something which
betrayed the truth. At any rate Rus
sell was quite certain that she knew
how matters stood, but that was as far
as his perception could get in her direo-
ton. Mrs. Ray, he felt sure, approved.
With all possible respect to her, said he
in his heart, she doesn't know any bet
ter, and couldn't be expected to, by any
body acquainted with her plastic mind.
Her husbands approval was quite
enough.
Alice, however, was riddle much
harder to read. Sometimes he thought
that she was disappointed at his delay;
and again he imagined that she was ly-
ing in ambush, waiting for a chance to
tell him what a traitor he was. He
thought of all the cruel things she
might say; how she might show him
the difference between himself and
Brown. with balance heavily in favor
of the absent; and she might say that
she would prefer Brown even if he re-
turned from Central Africa with a ring
in his nose and confirmed habit of
Russell fancied her re-
fusing him in SO many different ways
that he began to be afraid some slip of
the tongue would launch one of them
upon him, even as his acceptance by her
father bad come by accident He began
to resent this refusal which was only .
fgment of his Imagination. and his res
olution to seek her society no more
melted in the heat of his i'll temper.
BE determined to show her that her
charms had no power to tempt him, and
to make her understand in some way
that her father had committed . piece
Of stupidity. Meanwhile, despite all
this raging in his soul, his bearing to-
ward her was frank, courteous and
as it had always been.
The Society for General Culture had
survived the summer, and its members
had come back from the shores of the
salt sea with an added thirst for knowl-
edge. One of the girls hsd also great
idea to propose at the society's first
1t was not original, but it
was the latest fad In societies of that
kinda revival of an ancient custom.
She suggested that they find some
poet and help to win recog-
nition for him. Russell must know one,
md it would be such fun to encourage
the poor fellow and help him by judi
,ious criticism and little money, till
It last he could get his poems into the
Russell reflected . moment, while .
great and amusing scheme filtered
through his brain.
81 know the man." said he, at last;
''he is deserving fellow, but without
some help his genius will never be
known"
The man whom Russell had in mind
was the janitor of downtown building,
= young fellow with about as much idea
of poetry as wooden Indian. But ma
ture had given him an ideal exterior
the long hair, the thin, hungry-looking
visage, and the eyes which forever fixed
themselves on vacancy. Russell had
often remarked what a perfect picture
Of the traditional poet this man was.
The yearning look in his eyes might
have expressed the craving of genius
for the ideal, but in reality it was the
hardened expression of covetousness.
more matter-of-fact, hard-fisted. I'm
pursuer of the glittering dol
lar it would have been impossible to I'M
agine. In the building where he worked
be was known as Cupid, on account of
his cupidity.
Russell's plan was to hire this man to
ol