Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-02-25

well out OF the light upon which Ron.
ny lay, at the girl who had risen from
the low chair at his side. A terrible
sense that since he was no longer her
Ronny now it mattered little if he We're
Cyntlia's or Lesiey's, and that in any
case it was Lesley's work, made her
voice sharp as she said:
'.She is going TO marry Yelverton.
Mary Stourbridge, who has been over
to Malircourt, has written to tell me
So"
She moved to the balcony. The 81
lence in the room was absolute. Then,
still cruel, Lady Appuldurcombe left
the balcony, and without glance at
Ronny went away.
Cynthia kneeled down beside him,
ard his deathly face, damp with sweat,
was turned toward her.
As he looked ut her, so good, so beau
tiful, so true, no whit altered to him by
his great calamity, only loving him the
more for it, strangely enough the very
line flashed through his mind that once
had formed the subject Of 4 prayer in
hers:
SWttt 10 SNOIie on INC SVCr.
For with both of them it was a much
loved song, and her smile had never
failed him as girl and woman. A quick
revulsion against Lesley. against her
heartlessness, her caprice, her inability
even to wait to see if recovery were pos
sible to him, flashed through Ronny,
and with groan his head fell forward
on Cynhia's breast. Those moments of
physical weakness, of heart desertion,
accomplished what no effort of stubborn
will to love gratefully could have done
for with the instinct of tired child
to its mother, of escaping from pain to
a haven of warm forgetfulness, Ronny's
arms closed feebly but tenderly about
the girl, and with his lips seeking hers
he fell into a long sleep.
And so, with her cripple safe in her
strong young arms, no more an outcast,
Cynthia, for at least little space, en-
tered into loves kingdom.
That night she wrote to Lesley-her
first letter since their compact made in
Grosvenor pace:
APPULDURCoMBE HOUSE, Tuesday.
hear you are going to marry Roger Yelver-
ton, Lesley, and / know you would rot do it
unless you loved him, and pray God you may
be happy. If Eonny ever recovers we shall be
married. IL not, have the privilege of wait
ing upon, of seeing him, ard that is all ask
You do not know what this il, because, ] think,
You never really loved him, and i thank God
for it. CYNTHIA.
Thus the woman who had stolen JUS
titled herself to the woman she had
robbed.
And broad awake Ronny was think
ing. with that ugly silhouette of his
male attendant so hatefully suggesting
weakness to the once strong man show
ing at distance: "Oh, my God, what
have done-what have I done? What
if she has set herself far apart from me
Need l do the same by her?
To reach n nerve far down and
deaden it, " she said once, "supposing
that she did care little, and that now,
III her reckless wild way, she is trying
to reach that nerve to deaden it, He
groaned aloud in his despair, and his
attendant rose, thinking him in pain.
Cynthia-Ronny lay for long while
regarding her image, which was not
abhorrent to him now-even that faint
scent Of wood violets was merged in her
strong vivid personality. He had chung
TO her as death clings to life, seeking
to warm himself by her fire and strength,
and his mother herself had not been
able to give him that sense of safety, of
comfort which in his darkest hours
Cynthia had afforded. And now she
was to be his nurse for life, and Lesley,
swift and sure footed, was to run before
the wind like Atalanta, with Yelverton
pursuing and overtaking her, and-and
"a sudden silence spread over the
chamber, and the attendant, rushing TO
his side. found that Ronny had tainted.