San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-01-16

answer comes we can arrange a visit
unless" he added, with laugh, "they
fold their tents and silently steal away
meanwhile-with some of our horses"
II should hate to be disappointed,
she reioined. II do not bear disappoint-
ment well, even in small things. And
you know"-she paused an instant-'I
have had great ones"
For while they galloped on in ST.
lence, the detour bringing them into the
Shoubra road, their path back to the
city. But they were not now the sole
night riders on the desert. The Bedouin
at the tombs, still watching them, now
gave rein to his steed, glided out of the
shadows and sped straight for the dis
tant tents. But, looking only at the
companion by his side, Latour took no
note of him; only spoke abruptly and in
consequently:
sit seems to me but yesterday"
"To me it has seemed so ever since we
came" Edith answered instantly, as
though continuing a steady converse
ton. 1T may be that the air about us
dwarfs those long ten years to nothing
ness, but somehow l seem to have lost
reckoning of all those days between
West Point and-this!'
':And was their memory so pleasant
to your"
Eyes; the memory was pleasant. spite
Of the pain it gave" she answered sim
ply.
''Painw Latour echoed. "Why, you
were brilliant, envied, ever surrounded
by men'--
Whom despisedw she broke in pas
sionately. "Adrien Latour, were you
blind then? Are you blind now? Boy
though you were in those days, expert
ence should clear your vision as you
look back at them!"
The man did not answer. A thrill
went through him, half hope, half dread.
The white moon, higher overhead. re-
aected from the yellow sands in saffron
CLEAN. In that silence Latour seemed
to hear the wild beating of his own
heart, and twice the words forming in
his brain had rushed to his lips. But
twice those portals of speech remained
closed. AT last the woman spoke, and
again as though continuing subject:
Yes, there is a world of things from
those days that l recall so well. You
remember one walk around Filtration,
when you answered my badinage about
Arthur and Guinevere? When we part
ed, four hands crossed; and, as you re-
minded me just now-I am married."
81 recall the day as clearly as yester-
day." he answered. when the hands
crossed, you said, Farewell, Sir Launce-
lotr"
Would you have had me say, Wei
come, Sir Launcelot?"
A hot flush rose to the mans face.
He drew "a quick breath, about to speak,
when she went on, quietly:
"Ah, we were younger then, in years;
very children, in world knowledge.
Since 1 have lived ages in experience.
Now know that the legend of Guine-
we're does not belong to ancient Britain.
Indeed, it is no legend, but the crystal
lizing of living, bitter truth. 1t be-
longs to all nations today, as it ever has
and ever will! Who may say but she,
that archetype of woman"-she waved
her whip to the Sphinx, towering grim
and hoar in the moonlight beyond the
river-''was tie Guinevere of some i'm
memorial Arthur"
"Who knows, indeed?" Latour replied.
You yourself have told me that woman
is the riddle Of the ages"
Eyes, she went on; "a Guinevere in
ancient Memphis may have inspired the
Titanic poem yonder. In Rome she
would have spoiled the pretty moral fable
by listening to the Tarquin. In France
and England today she is the victim of
CONVEYANCE, that octopus grasping all
that is best of us to crush relentless in
its Shiny tentacles. In Paris she may
drive her pony pn9ton IN the Bois, Ia
riene du demi-monde: in London she
only lunches with his Highness of
Walesp'
There was bitterness in the tone,
though it fioated low and musical upon
the desert night; and the eyes that held
him in their darllening gleam grew
blacker still as she added slowly:
"Who among us, without SIM dare
cast the first stone at her? | shall not.
pity her-sympathize with her!"
By def touch upon the bit she checked
her speed so suddenly that the man had
to throw his mare upon her launches to
keep beside her. f..
They were close upon those magnifi-
can't rne,,1o,-ials in Sararanic architect
ure, reared to departed glories of that
line of Memlook sultans who seized the
Egyptian throne in mid Thirteenth cent
ury and held it 300 years.
In tho ,uhita rnnn,linht the frettad