Evening star., 1897-05-01

iauSnIng at 4er GQw? She half rose at the
thought, but-a-sound of horses hoofs in
the stable yard arrested her She ran to
| the window3 w4Sfeh gave upon 1t. and
crouching down beside 1t, listened eagerly.
aatn one sns snedsn1 sse
beard the staAae4Rn say. Mrs. Barker is
here" Her haart. aeaDed. Van Loo had re-
But here the hss Rsooice soi of the other man,
which she HAD not yet heard. arose for the
first time Clear Shd distinct. Are you
quite sure? 1 didn't know she left San
| Francisco" ..:TA
was George HarEsrs, her husband! Very
| well," he con4inded, you needn't put up
| my horse forEthe- night. I may take her
hack little iateridn the buggy"
| In another moment she had swept down
the passage add burst into the other room.
Mrs. Horncastle was sitting by the table,
| with a book in her hand. She started as
| the half-maddened woman closed the door,
| locked 1t behind her, and cast herself on
her knees at her feet.
| My husband is here" she gasped. What
shall do? In heavens name, help me"
rs Van Loo still here?" asked Mrs.
| Horncastle, quickly.
mo; gone. He went when came"
Mrs. Horncastle caught her hand and
looked intently into her frightened face.
| Then what have you to fear from your
husband?' she said abruptly.
| You don't understand. He didn't know
was here. He thought me in San Fran
! cisco.''
Does he know it now?"
Yes. / heard the stableman tell him.
Couldn't you sayI came here with you;
that we were here together; that 1t was
just little freak of ours? Oh, nor
| Mrs Horncastle thought moment.
Yes" she said, well see him here to-
gether.''
"oh,. no. Nor' said Mrs. Barker. sud
denly. clinging to her dress and looking
fearfuily toward the door. II couldn't.
couldn't him Saw I'm sick tired
out, gone to my room"
But you'll have to see him later" said
Mrs. Horncastle, wonderingly.
Yes. but he may go first. L heard him
tell them not to put up his horse"
Good" said Mrs. Horncastle, suddenly.
Go to your room and lock the door, and
I'll come to you later. Stop. Would Mr..
Barker be likely to disturb you If 1 told
him YOU would like to be alone?"
No, he never does. l often tell him
that"
Mrs. Horncastie smiled family Come,
quick, then" she said ''for he may come
here first
Opening the door, she passed into the
half-dark and empty hall. Now run!"
She heard the quick rustic of Mrs. Barker's
skirt die away in the distance, the opening
and shutting of door. silence, and then
turned back into her own room.
She was none too soon. Presently she
heard Barker's voice, saying. "Fhank you,
can find the way his still buoyant step
VII Tic SldiTCdSeS anu tHeH saw his Drown
curls rising above the railing. The light
streaming through the open door of the
sitting room into the half-lit hall had par
TALLY daZzled him, and, already bewildered,
he was still more daZzled at the unex-
pected apparition of the smiling face and
bright eyes of Mrs. Horncastle standing in
the doorway.
You have fairly caught u.s. she said,
with charming compoSure, but had half
mind to let you wander round the hotel
little longer. Come in" Barker followed
her In mechanically, and she closed the
door. Now sit down. she said gayly,
"and tell me how you knew we were here,
and what you mean by surprising US at
Barkers readyAcolor always rose on meet
Ing Mrs. HorpRastle,- for whom he enter
out some fear. Of lher worldly superiority.
He flushed. bowed, and stared somewhat
blankly around, the room, at the familiar
walls. at the chair from which Mrs Horn
castle had just risen, and finally at his
wtfe's gloves, which Mrs. Horncastle had
a moment before ostentatiously thrown on
the table, seeing which, she pounced upon
1t with assumed archness, and pretended
to conceal 1t. t.-.T.. .:r< -
IT had no idea my wife was here" he
said at last, 'and l was quite surprised
when the man told me, for she had not
written to me habout 1t. As his face was
Frightening She for 4tt1e first time noticed
1nat 'nas his snd franz ss eyes had an distracted
sss Eae!ioR On aa his [ySn1thfpl forehead. Still
ureDf meeting yo9 Eorg Ionry eame here
a14 sPGss my Eat G sns 3as
and who should haye reached Hymettus
early this afternoon. But now 1 hear he
came all the wayqby coach instead of by
rail, ard got off at the cross-road, and we
must have passed each other on the diff
sferent trails. So my journey would have
gone for nothing, only that / now shall
have the pleasure of going back with you
and Kitty. 1t will be a lovely drive by
moonlight
Relieved by this revelation, it was easy
work for Mrs. Horncastle to launch out
into a playful. tantalizing, wtty-but,
grleve to say, entirely imaginatiye-ac-
count of her escaped with Mrs. Barker.
How, left alone at the San Francisco Hotel
while their gentlemen friends were enioy-
Ing themselves at Hymettus, they resolved
upon little trip, party for the purpose of
looking into some small investments of
their own and partly for the fun of the
thing.
What funny experience they had. How,
gar wretch had been boring a European
fellow passenger who was going to Hymet-
tus, finally asking him where he had come
from at last, and when he answered "Hy-
mettus," thought the man was insulting
him
But" interrupted the laughing Barker.
that passenger may have been Demorest.
who has just come from Greece. and surely
Kitty would have recognized him.
Mrs. Horncastle instantly saw her blum
der, and not only retrieved it, but turned
1T to account. Ah. yes! But by that time
poor Kitty, unused to long journeys AMI
the heat, was utterly tagged out. was
asleep and perfectly 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 arriy-
ing 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 Barkers face
during this lively recital might have
pricked the conscience of Mrs. Horncastle.
but for some reason fear it didn't But
it emboldened her to go on IT said I
promised her that would see she wasn't
disturbed. but. of course, now that you,
her husband, have come, If
Not for worlds" interrupted Barker.
earnestly. Il know poor Kitty's headaches.
and never disturb her, poor child, except
when I'm thoughtless." And here one of
the most thoughtless 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 suppressed hysterical de-
sire 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