The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-10-10

Grey paid visit to his laboratory,
where he adjusted several scientific in
struments, made note as 10 the prog
ress of three separate infusions of bac-
terra, cut half dozen sections with a
microtome and finally resolved the diff
ficulties of seven different gentlemen
whowere p1rsuing researches in as many
separate lines of inquiry Having thus
conscientiously and methodically com
pleted the routine of his duties, he re-
turned 10 his carriage and ordered the
coachman to drive him TO the Lindens
His face as he drove was cold and impas-
sive, but he drew his fingers from time
TO time down his prominent chin with
a jerky, twitchy movement.
The Lindens was an old fashioned,
ivy clad house which had once been i'm
the country, but was now caught in the
long red brick feelers of the growing
city. IL still stood back from the road
in the privacy OF its own grounds. A
winding path, lined with laurel bushes,
led TO tho arched and porticoed en-
trance. To the right was lawn. I'm
der the shadow Of hawthorn a lady
sat in "A garden chair, with n book in
her hands. At the click of the gate she
started, and the. professor. catching
sight of her, strobe across the lawn in
her direction.
"Whatl Won't you go in and see Mrs.
Esdaile?" she asked, sweeping out from
under the shadow of the hawthorn. She
was small woman, strongly feminine,
from the rich coils Of her light colored
kasr 10 l.,. Il. IL.
peeped from under her cream tinted
dress. One tiny well gloved hand was
outstretched in greeting, while the
other pressed thick, green covered vol
ume against her side
Her decision and quick tactful man
ner bespoke the mature woman of the
world, but her upraised face had pre-
served a girlish and even infantile ex-
preston of innocence ia its large, fear
less gray eyes and sensitive, humorous
mouth. Mrs. O'James was widow,
and she was two and thirty years of
age, but neither fact could have been
deduced from her appearance.
"You will surely go in and see Mrs.
Esdaile," she repeated, glancing up at
him with eyes which had in them some
thing between challenge and caress.
Il did NOT COME to see Mrs. Esdaile, -
he answered, with no relaxation of his
cold and grave manner. Il came to see
you.
Il am sure should be highly hon.
ored, F" she said, with just the slightest
little touch Of brogue in her accent.
"What are the students to do without
their professor
81 have already completed my academ-
ical duties. Take my arm, and we shall
walk IN the sunshine. Surely we can
not wonder that eastern people should
have made a deity Of the sun. 1t is the
great beneficent force Of nature-man's
ally against cold, sterility and all that
is abhorront TO him. What were you
reading?'
''Beale's Matter and Life.
The professor raised his thick eye
brows. "Bealer' he said, ard then
again in a kind of whisper, "Bealer'
"You differ from him?" she asked.
1T is not l who differ from him.
am only monad--a thing of no mo-
ment. The whole tendency of the high
est plane of modern thought differs from
him. He defends the indefensible. He
is an excellent observer, but a feeble
reasoner / should not recommend you
TO found your conclusions upon Beale"
81 must read Natures Chronicle to
counteract his pernicious influence"
said Mrs. O'James, with a soft, cooling
laugh. Natures Chronicle" was one
of the many books in which Professor
Ainslie Grey had enforced the negative
doctrines of ecientiio agnosticism.
1T is n faulty work, - said he. 81
cannot recommend it, / would rather
refer you to the standard writings of
some of my older and more eloquent
colleagues ~
There was pause in their talk as
they paced up and down on the green
velvetlike lawn.
Have you thought at all, " he asked
at last, 'of the matter upon which l
spoke to you last night?'
She said nothing but walked by his
side, with her eyes averted and her face
aslant.
II would not hurry you unduly," he
continued. 81 know that it is matter
which can scarcely be decided offhand
In my own case it cost me some thought
before | ventured to make the sugges-
tion. / am not an emotional man, but /
am conscious in your presence of the
great evolutionary instinct which makes
either sex the complement of the other. "
lyon believe in love, then?" she |
asked, with a twinkling, upward glance.
II am forced TO. Z"
"And yet you can deny the soul?''
How far these questions are psychic |
and how far material is still sub ju- |
dice, " said the professor. with an air of |
toleratiou. "Protoplasm may prove to
DO the physical basis Of love as we'll as
of life. .
"How inflexible you arep' she ex-
claimed. "You would draw love down
to the level Of physics.
'Or draw physics up to the level of |