The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-03-25

telligent, but she had quick susceptible
tiles; there was that in him which
alarmed them and yet fascinated them.
'He awes me-" she said later in the
day to Andries. $50 often one cannot
follow his meaning, but one always
feels his reserve of power"
1t was grave speech for q light
hearted lover of pleasure. Andres
heard it with veXation, but he was
loyal to the man who had saved his life.
He is a person of great intellect"
he answered; 1--WE are pigmles beside
him. But"
but WHAT"
'He used his brains to save my body.
So | must not dispute the virtue of his
use of them. But sometimes | fancy
that he has no heart. l think all the
forces in him have only nourished his
mind, which is immense But his
heart, perhaps, has withered away,
getting no nourishment. He would
say | talk nonsense; but ] think you
will understand what | mean"
II think understand" said Veronica,
thoughtfully
She had thought very little in her
careless young life. She had begun to
think more since these two men had
come into II.
'Andreis merits more than you give
him." said her duenna to her. "Ilow
long will you keep him in suspense?
You ought to remember what he'll it is
In waiting to abide"
"A hell?" said Veronica. with the
color in her face. "You mean u para
disc"
"A fools paradise, | fear,' replied
the elder woman. And what does
that other man do here? He told me
he was due ut some university in Ger
many"
How can | tell you why either of
them stays" said Veronica, disingcnu-
ously, as her conscience told her.
"Nenice allurcs many people, especially
in her spring season.
$50 does a woman in her spring"
said the elder lady, dryly, with an inn
patient gesture.
You are angry with me"
mo. my dear. 1t Is as useless to be
angry with you as to be angry with a
young cat because in it's gambols 1t
breaks IL vase of which 1t knows moth
/ ing OF the preclDuSneSS.
Veronica Laranigra did not resent or
reply. She knew the vase was pre-
ciuus She did not mean to break it but
she wanted to be free awhile longer.
Mutual love was sweet, but 1t was not
freedom And what she felt ashamed
Of was a certain reluctance which she
felt to allow Damer to see or know that
she loved a man Of so little Intellectual
force as Andrcs, a man who had moth
ing but his physical beauty and his gay,
glad temper and kind heart.
| DO you want nothing more than
these" the gaze of Damer seemed in
her imagination to say to her.
Andreis was delightful to her; his
beauty. his gayety. and his homage
We're all sympathetic To her. She knew
that he loved her, but she prevented
him telling her so; she liked her lately
acquired liberty; she did not want Il
declaration which would force her to
decide in one way or another what TO
do with her future. And she was af-
feCted without being aware of it by the
| scarcely disguised contempt which his
companion had for him. 1t was seldom
outspoken, but it was visible in every
word of Damer, in every glance.
He is beautiful, yes" he said once to
her. 80 IS an animal"
do you like animals?"
81 do not like or dislike them. The
| geOlOgist does not like or dislike the
stones he breaks up, the metallurgist
does not like or dislike the ore he fuses"
You are what they call a physiol-
| ogist?" she said once suddenly.
Il am" replied Damer.
She looked at him under her long
silky lashes as a child looks at what it
| fears in the dusk of fading day. He
| attracted her and repelled her, as when
/ she had herself been a child she had
/ been at once charmed and frightened
/ by the great ghostly figures on the
| tapestries, and the white and gray
busts of gods and sages on the grand
winged staircase of her fathers house
| in the Trentino. She would have liked
| to ask him many things, which of mys-
/ terry and of horror, but she was afraid.
| After all, how much better were the
sea, the sunshine the dog rose, the bar
| carolle, the laughter, the lutte,
TTO Re Continued