, 1897-12-16

leaving the e1citSi villagers Fiji CIoS-
tered round the horror on the grass.
WENT back into the garden
Ii was as much q. she could do 10
walk now thar .he strain was past. tie
ing cnly a worna1 alter all, and the
green garden was going roEpd and
round in q din tnis, that s1Ielled Of
eunpowder and grew bLcker at every
step
He saw her falfer and stop and was
only in time to catch her in his arms to
prevent her collapsing on the lawn at
his feet The earth and sky might
wheel and melt into \ hlackening mist
at will. but a pair Of strong arms were
round her and her cheek Oh u p~rusecting
shoulder.
Strong emotions make us view the
world i'll a distorted light with our men-
tai as well as our bodily eyes, and there
was no David in the green garden be-
hind the high hedge. only a brave wo-
man, weak and trembling. with her
head OIL the breast of the man she had
rescued from worse than death-the
man who called her "Evey. NY dar-
ling and ~pasSiona,ely kissed her.
David Lancaster came home il the
cleaning half an hour later, with a
piece of salmon in a bass bag AID the
fifth Globe with all the latest cricket n
it.
Evey. up at her window. white and
trembling still, watching with half
averted eyes a figure pacing up and
down under the cedaTs. saw her husband
coming III at the gate, saw him join the
restless figure and tramp up and down
in company and knew the story was be-
ing told him, for with u kiss had come
awakening and shame, as it came with
the knowledge of good and evil into the
first garden.
some time later the two men ami
back to the house, and Evey's prefer
naturally sharpened ears heard Edward
ascend 10 his oom and David turn
down the passage to come to hers. She
stood i'll the middle of the floor in her
white gown, her hair slightly rufled,
her face drawn with the stress of emo
ton which she had undergone, her
hands-those little hands that had lone
SO much-hangiEg Imply by her side.
And David opened the door and came in.
She could not look at his face. but she
understood as he walked across the room
to where she stood and took her straight
and unhesitatingly into his arms that
somehow, III spite of all. he knew about
the kiss and had forgiven her. And the
kiss was all she could remembe. of her
past life.
When David Lancaster went up stairs
to his wife and took her to his heart
without asking for u word of explana-
ton IN her part. he did the one thing
that saved him and her and Edward
Nereker from shipwreck.
i read a story once in which the con
GLIDING sentence ran thus, And so by a
little thing was a woman saved from
he misfortune of IA great passion"
Edward Nereker. having done all that
lay il his power to atone for what had
happened. left the house early nexr
morning without seeing Evey again.
And her husband shook hands with him
at parting.
They have not met since. except casu- !
ally in society, and then they meet and
greet as friends. They had fallen q lit
tie way together and repented of it. and
with repentance comes revulsion Of feel
ing and with that the end Of all things
that might have been. withered untime.
ly in tho budding Of passions poppy
flowers.
So she was heroic in that she saved
him, and lie was noble in that he con.
fesscd his kiss to her husband. But
somehow it seems to me that the great
es: CT these three was David Lancaster,
who heard and understood and yet, hear
ing and understanding. forSave.-Black
and White.