Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-05-20
NJ.

ram Impossible 10 De feStralueU.
And in her misery she thought she
had been very clever end cunning, and
that she had guessed rightly: while, in
truth, as guileless as n child, she had
been. as it We're. hypnotized by his
magnetic gaZe. and had spoken the
very words he had intended she should
Litter.
She felt nothing Of this: she SAW
him still as her brother-friend. frag-
lie, affectionate and unhappy, dreading
10 wound her, anxious TO screen her
from the truth for fear of hurting her.
and yet not crafty enough TO conceal
1t when she pressed him ton, closely.
This vas how he appeared to her. Not
for N instant did she suspect that she
was as a fly wrapping itself closer and
closer in the SPIDERS tolls.
Bcrtie himself. after this scene. failed
TO see clearly that he had pulled the
wires; that he had been the first 10
faint her confidence with the poison OF
s, spiciOn: that he had brought about
the catastrophe as they anne out OF
the Lyceum; that he had compelled
Eva to follow the clew he had chosen
To suggest. Dimness shrouded the
clearness o. his mental vision. as a
breath clouds q mirror; the lucid crisis
81 his faculties was past. This was all
the outcome OF circumstances, he
thought; no human being of his own
free will could work such things out
How easily everything had come
about, how simply, without a hitch! 1t
was because Fate had so willed il and
had favored him-he had no part in il.
Nor was this ~self-deception; he really
thought SO.
In the evening after their last inter
view. Eva went. very late. to seek her
father In his study, where he sat read
ing his books on heraldry. He sup
posed she had come 10 bid him good
night, as usual; but she sat down fac
ing him. very upright, and with a set
face like n sleep walker.
Father, l want to speak TO you"
He looked at her in surprise. In the
Olympian peace Of his genealogical
studies. in the calm, e~motionless exist
cnce of a hale old man, who finds a.
solace for advancing years among his
books, he had lever discerned that a
drama was going on close beside him.
played by three beings whom he saw
every day. Aud he was startled by
his daughters rigid face and tone of
suppressed suffering.
Are YOU i'll, my child?'
"Oh. no, I am quite well. But 1 want
to ask you something. / want to know
if you will speak to Frank"
'To Frank"
Yes. To Frank. The other even
ing we We're coming out OF the L.yce-
UNI" And she, told him the whole
story. sitting straight up in her chair.
with that strange look In her face, and
a husky. subdued voice; all about the
yellow-haired Oma and her own sus-
picions and d~istrust. 1t was wrong OF
her to doubt Frank, but, really. she
could not help Ii. She would fain have
quoted BERTHE rs evidence, but BERTHE
had, after all, said nothing definite, so
she did not see how she could bring
him into court, and did not, therefore,
mention his name.
Sir Archibald listened in dismay. He
had never suspected what was going
on in his daughters mind: he had al
ways supposed that everything was as
clear as the sun at o
"Ard-what them" he asked, In
some embarrassment.
".iE9 tlen--I want you to speak to
Frank. Ask him. point blank, whether
he still lsyes this woman, who has
\ played some part In his past life;
whether he cannot bear to give her up;
whether that Is the eason be is always
so silent and gloomy when we see him
here. Get him to speak out. / would
rather hear my doom than live in this
dreadful suspense. And TO you, per-
hans, he will clear it all up, so that
things may 60 On us they were before.
Say nothing OF my d~istrust;if Il is not
Justified by the facts it might make
him angry. Ii is too bad for me TO us
pcct his truth, and 1 have tried to
bring myself to a better mind; but 1
! cannot succeed. There is something
in it, | know not what. There is some
thing in the air about me-oh! what, L
know not-which whispers to- me-. DO
not trust him. do not trust him. | can
not understand what it Is. but I feel il
in me. all about me. Ii Is a voice in
my ear: sometime S and eye which
GaZes at me. At night. when l can
not sleep. it looks down on me; IL
speaks to me; / feel rs If / were going
crazy. Perhaps 1t is a spirit. But do
you speak 10 him. papa. Do that
much for your child. / am so very,
very unhappy"
She kneit at his feet and laid her
head on his knees, sobbing bitterly.
He mechanically stroked her hair, but
he did not in the least understand. He
loved his child, but his affection was
more a matter of tender habit than OF
sympathetic intelligence. He did not
understand her: he bought her foolish
and fanciful Was ii for this that he
had given her n first-rate education,
let her read all kinds OF books. and
made her know the world as it was
/ stern. practical and selfish, a struggle
in which each one must endeavor TO
conquer and Sc ure a place aud a
STARE of happiness s, by sheer, calm de-
termination. He had his own corner
in 1t. with t,s books and his heraldry;
why did she let herself be a victim to
nervous fancies2 For II was all nerves
nothing but nerves! Cursed things
were nerves How like her mother she
was, in spite of Ter liberal education.
Dreamy, romantic, full Of absurd int
aginatlou He speak to Frank? Why
--l - "a mn