The Delta independent., 1897-03-10
the dusky corners of the soul-ehamber

the dusky corners OF the soul-chamber
hitherto obscured by the shadows of i'll
health and morbidness. The lgit was
not altogether welcome, though il ma
terially Iessened the distance between
the os,ensible Philip and Philip the
real. For one thing, it belittled the mo-
tive which was responsible for his
work. Allowing the promptings of
common humanity their full weight,
the fact remained that his enthusiasm
had for it's starting-point q desire to
win the approval of Elsie Duncan.
That was the new ideal, ard his slner
thought told him that it was wrctched-
ly inadequate; that it sprang from I'M
pulse and was degraded in the hour
of its birth by unfaith. Unworthy a.
it was, it was still an ideal, and Philip
loshed himself into small fury OF
self-contempt when he discovered t.,<t
it was no longer the motive for his
exertions; that Elsie's appreciation and
Kilgrow's wrongs were secondary con
siderations in comparison with the
strenuous urgings OF newly aroused
ambition squirting him or to wr:hg vio-
tory out of defeat for victory's sake.
He kept his room at Duncan's and
rode often up the valley, both for the
sake of the intimacy which the nature
of his quest made impossible elsewhere,
and because he honestly wanted to be
true to the new ideal, and he went
oftener and stayed longer VIXEN he be-
gan to feel the ground slipping from
under him in the small matter Of senti-
ment. He said rather bitterly that he
must he true to something; that he
should lcsc what little sell-respcct his
tickle precipitancy had left him il he
suffered himself to swervc from the
plain path he had chosen in the day of
illness.
For some of the doubts and much
of the dissatisfaction, Elsie was her
self answerable. She was frank with
out being confidential; she YVES afYcc-
tionatc and sympathetic, but she ncve,
gave him an opportunity TO add word
10 those already spoken. She rejoiced
frankly in his stubborn perseverance
in the Kilgrow affair. and she was
openly thankful when the tide of III
health began to cbb; but beyond all
this, Philip felt that there was bar
rier which he had never been permit
ted to pass. He told himself that it
was maidenly modesty-n nice refine
nent of wonianly delicacy which de-
Tended her from the ambiguity Of his
inpulsivc declarations; and in this be
lief he went about. seeking the OPP
portunity for palmer speech wh 'ch
chance or something else pers' s'entiy
denied him. Sometimes it was Els;e's
mood; oftener it was the presence Of =
L.; ;,J nis hnr Ilttn Or
wife, or Protheroe. After such battle
mcnts Philip scourged himself dutifui-
ly. heaping abuse on his own head for
not overriding such trivial obstacles.
lie insisted that he owed it to himself
no less than to Elsie that there should
be a clear understanding between
them; driven into words. the thought
would have been that he would be surer
Of himself when there was no possibn1
ty of retreat.
without doubt, and in the face of
much matter for thankfulness, Philip
was neither good enough nor bad
enough to he wholly comfortable. Like
most compromises, the coDpourding
with ones conscience leaves the main
question still unsettled; and as to ben
Gifts, IL was 10 the 2ivcr and not to the
receiver that the blessing was prom
ised. 1t is true that Philip had found
an employment that called out the bes,
there was in him, ard that in the bat
tic he had somehow stumbled into the
path that led away from sickness and
dependency; but at times he was tor
mented by the thought that he mad
paid too dearly for ambition and bet
ter health. II was IL he had sold him.
self for an extension of life and the
wherewithal to make it worth the hav-
ing.
Two grains Of comfort he had man
rged to sift out of the summers cEaN.
One was that Helen's sisterly letters
added no fuel to the fires Of conscience.
and the other was the news that the
bank in which the Thorndykc money
was invested was in difficulties. He
smiled at the thought that he was
able to extract comfort from this, but
| so IL was; the threat Of disaster made
| him throw himself with redoubled ar
dor into the case in equity. II might
easily happen that his attorneys fee
would be NIL that was left him when
| the day Of reckoning came, and under
the spur Of this prcmonition he tool.
counsel Of zeal and taxed his resources
yet more pcrsistently.
And in the matter of resources Philip
had developed a creditable measure of
| that ingenuity which is usually but not
always the handmaiden Of experience.
lie had attempted through various
| channels to make overtures to Prag-
more. He had tried to truce Gates and
his convenient witness. He had ran
sacked the old town, ferreting ont