The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-02-06
"aood evening, 1 M4 duncan. Are You

"uood evening, Msffl.:tDuncan. Are you
out Cunning for eraNtfkendss'
-Ha. m. tlen, {. n sla,incan, In tones
Of expostulation; .:,,yg,5 no be een,pli-
catin' auld Jamie p RA IN for resistan'
the officers . the. h i would ye. Rob
bie?'' "sn
what offfcersf ga4hosef fellows?
They're no more efsesfB than you are.
What were they tryjn&to do"
Duncan took thedengineer into the
house, aud his reply WIS lost to the lis
teners in the room above. Thorndyke
turned to the old mountaineer. You
see, cow, Mr.. Kilgr&8SAs{5; what these men
wifi do. Your safefflies in keeping
out Of their reach. Come with me md
I'll let you out the back way"
When Kngrow had gone, Thorndyke
went down to the ,.sitting-room, but
neither there, nor afterwards at supper,
did Duncan or Protheroe refer to the
unwelcome visitors; and Thorndyke
knew that the wary Scot had succeeded
In satisfying Protheroe'R curiosity
without duplicating Kilgrow. .:
The. young engineer brought Letters
for Philip. one Of which was reserved to
be read in the privacy of the attic bed
room. It was from Helen, and Philips
conscience bit him when he tore 1t open.
Then he smiled at his misgivings as he
read through the closely-written pages.
1.-THE. Mortens were here to dinner last,
night" she wrote. and they wanted to
know all about you: where YOU were ami
what you were doing. You know best how
little we could tell them, but they thought
1t odd that you should prefer the wilds Of
Alabama IN summer to Letiox or Newport.
They have taken cottage just below us
for the season, and Derrick Morton has
brought his yacht around from Mount
DESERT won't say Bar Harbor. That is
gossip of the time and place, and could
fill pages with It. but I$suppose you care for
none of these things now. And really I
don't know just what you do care for; you
seem farther away In Alabama than you
would If you were in Europe; but fancy
that is because we are 50 utterly unfamiliar
with your present surroundings.
One thing I must tell you, however. A
few of us here-Derrick Morton. the van
Ruyter' girls, Arthur Haxtell and his
brother Tom, Dorothy and John Berkeley,
and one more--haye undertaken to redeem
the frivolities Of our corner of Newport ny
forming reading circle. We read mono
but new auLuOIS, AtlA L1lcIl We PlSn AANAA'o
pi, .es with refinement Of criticism that
W uld humble the most conceited beginner
1, he could only hear us. 1 think It's a pity
that some, of them can't: don't you? l
wish you could be here to help US. believe
you would make distressingly acute IN.
quisitor, and the fact that you once tried
your hand at authorship would lend Pc
culiar zest to your censure, If 1t be true that
the best critics are the unsuccessful
writer's Apropos, what ever became OF
your 1nuch-rejected manuscript shoulo
like to submit 1t as the effort of one OF the
submerged
~ suppose you have no present thought
of coming back to civilization. From what
YOU say in your letters infer that you are
enjoying yourself. after. some primitive
fashion, and, better than all else, that your
health is improving. 'Because can believe
the latter, I can continue to spare you
while the need exists; and since the scpara-
ton has to be- 1t is better that we should
bear 1t contentedIy. +; should be sorry to
have the good effect Of DR.. Perevin's pre-
scription marred by ianyRepining OF mine.
and SO long as you feel that the out-of-door
life Is helping you, I hope you will not let
any strained sense Of your duty TO your
. shall get along famoustfy Without our preux
chevalier, and you afanJt to suppose that
= we are obliged to go about uncared for ne
cause you happen to bspuried in the forests
Of Alabama.r - 'iiS
write often If YOU feel like it, but don't It
dreadful than having 10 write TO some one
when you want to. Do, something else; ~:
/. fectionately, as always, HELEN.
"P. ST. have been invited to join party
on Derrick Morton's yacht and II you don't
hear from me a gain for two Or three weeks.
yotl'll know have accepted and that post
offices are not to be had for the asking.
Philip put the letter down with
smile that was more than half sheer.
When one sets out to make himself the
advocate of an unworthy cause, mental
short-slghtedness stands ready to dis
tort and confuse the Judgment; and in
the case of a letter, the dispassionate
Journalism of written language lends
itself easily to inferential misconstruc-
ton. =,
GLOW could I ever have fancied that
she had any warmth or depth apart
from the intellectual side of her char
acter?' he asked himself. I'm sure
don't know, any more than know why
] always took it for granted that we
were divinely appointed to be the COM
ponent parts of that Mysterious creation
= which the marriage service declares to
be one person, but which all experience
saws is still more than ever two. Could
Elsie Duncan write such letter as
that to the man she loves? Would she
turn neat phrases and Bah! the
com parison is absurd: And yet, on the
other hand, it isn't fair to blame Helen
because don't happen to be the one
man in the universe who is capable OF
calling out the best there is in her; and
/ don't blame her. She may find the
right man yet; it's barely possible this
cruise in Morton's yacht will turn out
to be more nearly divine appointment
than an agreement made by our fathers
while we were in swaddling-clothes."
Thus Philip. in a plausible attempt
to Justify himself. How should he know
that the cool and djspassionate letter
was only part and parcel OF the hard
task Helen had set herself in the begin
ming? How was he: to guess that she
had steadily resolved from the first to
say nothing that would tempt him to
turn back to his hurt? BY what inner
prescience should he have been enabled
to read between the lines the passionate
yearnng that was so resolutely effaced
in the written words2 AS he stood at
his window looking out into the calm
stiffness of the noonfit night, what
>lt<> 4o11 l,;,o hat a{