Omaha daily bee., 1897-05-02
EVEN BARKER NOTICED 1T.

Il had no idea my wife was here he
said at last, land l was quite surprised
! ten to me ABOUT it." AS his face was
Frightening, sic, for the, fist time, noticed
that his frank gray eyes bad an distracted
look, and there was a faint line of contrac-
tion OH his youthful forehead. "Still less"
he added, did l look for the pleasure of
meeting you. For l only came here to in
quire about my old partner, Demorest, who
arrived from Europe a few days ago, and
should have reached Hymettus early this
afternoon. But now | hear he came all
the way by coach instead of by rail, and got
off at the crossroad, and we must have
passed each other on the different trails. So
my journey would have gone for nothing,
only that l now shall have the pleasure of
going back with you and Kitty. 1t will be
, a loNe ely drive by moonlight"
Relieved by this revelation, 1t was easy
work for Mrs. Horncastle to launch out into
a playful, tantalizing, witty-buI, l grieve
to say, entirely NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of her
escapade with Mrs. Barker. How, left alone
at the San Francisco hotel while their gen.
tleman friends were enjoying themselves at
Hymettus, they resolved upon a little trip,
partly for the purpose of looking into some
small investments of their own and partly
for the fun of the thing. q
What funny experiences they had. How, in
particular, one horribly inquisitive, vulgar
wretch had been boring a European fell
low passenger who was going to Hymettus,
finally asking him where he had come from
last, and when he answered "Hymettus, !"
thought the man was insulting him
But" interrupted the laughing Barker,
that passenger may have been IDemorest,
who has just come from Greece, and surely
Kitty would have recognized him."
Mrs. Horncastle instantly saw her blunder,
and not only retrieved 1t, but turned 1t to
account. All, yes! But by that time poor
Kitty, unused to long journeys and the heat,
was utterly tagged out, was asleep and per-
fectly unrecognizable in wells and busters
on the back seat of the coach. And this
brought her to the ~point-which was that,
she was sorry to say, on arriving the poor
child was nearly wild with a headache from
fatigue and had gone to bed, and she had
promised not to disturb her.
The undisguised amusement, mingled with
relief, that had overspread Barker's face dur
ing this lively recital might have pricked
the conscience of Mrs. Horncastle, but for
some reason / fear it didn't, But it EN-
boldened her to go on. Il said l promised
her that i would see she wasn't disturbed,
but, of course, now that you, her husband,
have come, if"
Not for worlds" interrupted Barker earn
estly. II know poor Kitty's headaches, and
| never disturb her. poor child, except when
I'm thoughtless." And here one of the most
thoughtful men In the world In his sensitive
consideration of others beamed at her with
such frank and wonderful eyes that the arch
hypocrite before him with difficulty sup
pressed a hysterical desire'to laugh and felt
the conscious blood flush her'to the roots of
her hair. you know" he went on with a
sigh, half of relief and half of Renaissance,
that | often think I'm a great bother to a
clear-headed. sensible girl like Kitty. She
knows people so much better than l do,
She's wonderfully equipped for the world,
and. you see, I'm only lucky as everybody
says. and | dare say part of my luck was to
have got her. I'm very glad she's a friend
of yours, you know, for somehow ! always
fancied that you were not interested in her,
or that you didn't understand each other,
until now. It's odd that nice! women don't
always like nice women, isn't 1t? I'm glad
she was with you, for | was quite startled
to hear she was here, and Couldn't make 1t
out. | thought at first she might have got
anxious about our little sSta;e who is with
me and the nurse at Hyniettus. But I'm
glad il was only a lark!llI shouldn't won
der" he added, with a laugh Nalthough she
always declares she isn't oneinf those 'doting
idiotic mothers that she found 1t a little
duh without the boy, for all she thought 1t
was better for me to take him somewhere for
a change of air"
The situation was becoming more difficult
for Mrs. Horncastle than she had conceived.
There had been a certain excitement In It's
first direct appeal to her tact and courage,
and even. she believed, an unselfsh desire
to save the relations between husband ana
wife il she could. But she had not caleu-
lated upon his unconscious revelations, nor
upon their effect upon herself. she had
concluded to believe that Kitty had, in a
moment OF folly, lent herself to this hare
Drained eseapade, but 1t now might be pcs
sible that 1t had been deliberately planned.
Kitty had sent her husband and child away
three weeks before. Had she told the
whole truth? How long had this been going
on? And II the soulless Van Loo had de-
serted her now, was 1t not. perhaps, the
miserable ending OF an intrigue rather than
it's beginning? Had she been as great a
dupe OF this woman as the husband before