The Holly chieftain., 1897-12-24

teners in the room above. Thorndyke
turned to the old mountaineer ~You
see. row. Mr.. KiIgrow, what these men
win do. Your safety lies in keeping
out of their reach. Come with me and
I'll let you out the tack way."
When Kilgrow had gone. rhorndyke
went down to the sitting-room, but
neither there. nor afterwards at supper.
did Duncan or Protheroe refer to the
unwelcome visitors; and Thorndyke
knew that the wary Scot had succeeded
in satisfying Protheroe's curiosity
without duplicating Kilgrow.
The young engineer brought letters
for Philip. one of which was reserved to
lie read In the privacy Of the attic bed
room. It was from Helen. and Philips
conscience bit him when he tore II open.
Then be smiled ut his misgivings as he
read through the closcly-written pages.
"The Mortons were here TO dinner last
night" she wrote, land they wanted to
know all about you: where you were and
what you were doing. You know best how
little we could tell then but they thought
II odd that you should prefer the wildB Of
Alabama In summer to Lenox or Newport.
They have taken cottage Just below us
brought his yacht around from Mount
Desert-I won't say Bar Harhor. That Is
gossip OF the time and place. and could
NIL pages with 1t. but suppose you care for
none Of these things now. And really
don't know Just what you do care for: you
| seem farther away In Alabama than you
would II you were In Europe: but fancy
that is because we are SO utterly unfamiliar
with your present surroundings
Ono thing must tell YOU. however.
H1x - 49, Afx ~ W.
Ruyter girls. Arthur Haxtell and his
brother Tom. Dorothy and John Berkeley.
and one morc-havc undertaken to redeem
the frivolities of our corner of Newport by
forming reading circle. We read none
but new authors, and then we pick them 70
pieces with a refinement of criticism that
would humble the most conceited beginner
II he could only hear us. think It's pity
that some of them can't: don't your
wish you could be here to help us. believe
you would make a distressingly acute In
Quisitor, and the fact that you once tried
your hand at authorship would lend Pc
culiar zcst to your censurc. II It be true that
the best critics are the unsuccessful
writer's. Apropcs. what ever became Of
your much-rejected manuscript? should
like to submit 1t as the effort Of one of the
submerged.
II suppose you have no present thought
of coming back to civilization. From what
you say In your letters infer that you are
enjoying yourself. after some primitive
fashion. and, better than all else. that your
health Is improving. Because can believe
tho latter. I can continue to spare You
while the need exists and since the separa-
tion has to be. 1t Is better that we should
bear 1t contentedly. should be sorry to
have the good effect of DR.. Perevin's pre-
scription marred by any repining Of mine.
and SO long as you feel that the out-of-door
life Is helping you. hope you will not let
any strained sense OF your duty to your
mother or to me make you nbridge IT, We
shall get along famously without our preux
chevalicr. and you are not to suppose that
we are obliged to go about uncared for be-
cause you happen to be buried in the forests
of Alabama.
Write often. II you feel like It, but don't
let It become bore. There Is nothing more
dreadful than having to write to some one
fcctionatcly, as always. HELEN.
"P. ST. have been invited to Join party
| on Derrick Morton's yncht. and II you dom,
hear from mo again for two or three weeks
you'll know have accepted and that post
offices nre not to be had for the asking"
Philip put the letter down with a
smile that was more than half q sneer.
When one sets out to make himself the
advocate Of an unworthy cause, mental
short-sightedness stupds ready TO dis
tort and confuse the Judgment; and In
the case Of Q letter. the dispassionate
Journalism of written language lends
itself easily to inferentiai misconstruc-
tion.
How could ever have fnncied that
she had any warmth or depth apart
from the intellectual side OF her char
ncter?" he asked himself. I'm sure
don't know, any more than know why
I always took 1t for granted that we
were divinely appointed to be the COM
ponent partsof fthat mysterious creation
which the marriage service declares to
be one person, but which NIL experience
says is still more than ever two. Could
Elsie Duncan write such q letter as
that to the man She loves? Would she
turn neat phrases and Bah! the
comparison is absurd! And yet. or the
other hand, it isn't fair to blame Helen
because l don't happen to be the one
man In the universe who is capable of
calling out the best there Is in her; and
] don't blame her. She may find the
right man yet; it's barely possible this
cruise in Morton's yacht will turn out
to be more nearly divine appointment
thnn an agreement made by our fathers
while we were in swaddling-clothes."
Thus Philip. in plausible attempt
to justify himself. How should he know
that the cool. and dispassionatc letter
was only part and parcel OF the hard
task Helen had set herself in the begin
ming? How was he to guess that she
had steadily resolved from the first to
say nothing that would tempt him to
turn back to his hurt? by what inner
prescicnce should he have been enabled
to read between the tines the passionate
yearning that was SO resoluteIy effaced
in the written words? As he stood at
his window looking out into the calm
stiffness of the mocnlit night. what
good angel was there to tell him thnt at
another window in far-off New England
the writer Of that letter knelt with wet
eyes, beseeching the Merciful One to
protect and preserve the absent lover?
There was none; nor was there any in
ward monitor to hin. that propinquity.
The charm Of an innocent face. and
simple outpouring Of womnnly SYM
pothy had united with his own moral
and physical weakness to turn him
aside from the plain wsy Of rectituds
and honor.
tro BE coNT1NurD.l
Must BE sa Astroiogss.
Ignorant people think that N as
tronomer Ia also an astrolo0er Sir Jnhn