The Delta independent., 1897-02-24

proppfd to the exact aEgic OF rest1ui
ease with pillows the girl ransaeked the
ancient bookcase for something to read
to him. Philip saw and protested.
"You mustn't waste your time cod
ding re-" he said; '.just bring your
work and sit here where l can see you.
I'm not half rs sick as I might be. and
il you start in humoring me now there's
no telling what you'll have to endure
Later on"
She brought her sewing and sat down
beside the lounge. Il don't believe
you'd be very hard to manage"
That's because you don't know me;
my r,ot!,rr could tell you how e1acting
I can be. though say it's chiefly her
fault for not letting me shift for my
self"
Elsie held her peace for Q moment
and then asked: "Does your mother
know what you told me yesterday"
About my health? No."
Don't you think it was cruel not to
tell her?"
"No. Why should add months OF
suspense to Il sorrow that will be long
enough and bitter enough at the best?"
Isle won't lock at il that way; and
IL the sorrow comes it will he oil the
harder to bear for not having known.
And that's at least one good reason why
you shouldn't give up; you know you
sold you hadn't any yesterday"
'Did /? Perhaps / should have made
an exception; but I was thinking Of
other things just then"
Whercupon the "other things" sum-
moned by name, came back to demand
reconsideration. Philip resisted, inter
posing the inertia of Illness between
himself and the nagging Of the self-cx-
amining impulse. 1t was much pleas
anter to lie back nmong the pillows
watching Elsie's sl;illful fingera- ply
the industrious needle-pleasanter and
more restful. After n time he said:
You ore oil very good and kind to me
here"
Elsie looked up quickly. "Ishouldnt
think you'd say that-after i made you
sick dragging you all over the noun
tain"
"It isn't your fault that haven't any
more vitality than o transplanted chiri-
panzce; nnd, besides, the tramp was my
own proposal"
But I do blame myself. You didn't
know how far 1t was over TO the Pocket,
and did" AA
That's nothing; II I wasn't SO nearly
done for little walking wouldn't put
me down."
"You mustn't get discouraged. Think
o: what you have to live for, and just
make up your mind you wont give up"
'1s there SO much?"
l..
good to be done and evil to be pre-
vented? You found one thing ysster.
day."
"Yes. II can only live long enough to
set 1t right"
She caught at the hopelcssness In his
voice, and answered 1t out CT . heart
full of pity. "You oughtn't TO Ispk at
1t in that way. Why can't you turn Hr.
kilgrow's trouble, and everything else.
into 20 many stepping stonaA - curry
you across to where you can feel the
solid ground under your feet ngainT'
There VIVA q swift undertow of in
ference in her question that carried
him quickly out into the rea OF i'm
pulse. do you really mean that? Do
you think should be justified in taking
the help need wherever l find it?'
'Why not? Isn't it right and neces-
sary that you should? Father says II
we will look around us we'll always find
something TO make bridges out Of. no
matter how deep or how wide the
stream is"
"And you think there II hope for me;
don't mean for . mere existcnce-
that alone isn't worth fighting fr-but
TINT ! could win come Of the better
things IL I should gird myself for the
battle?"
Surely you could. What Is there
that you couldn't win, with health and
strength and the will to win it?-noth-
ing that u worth having"
The fervor of her own appeal carried
Elsie out Of herself. and, remember
ing only that a man before her needed
help, she answered out of the depths
Of q compassion which WINS os profound
and comprehensive as Il was imper-
sonal. She saw, Us only a woman can
see, the besetments that were drag
ging Philip down into the quagmire
OF despair; and the passionate desire
to rescue, speaking in hcr voice and
eyes, gave Thorndyke his first glimpse
of that sexless shrine hidden deep in
the heart Of oil womanhood, upon whose
altar burns the light Of pity and compas-
sion for all the world-o light which u
not divine only because it IL human.
To the woman who first reveals her
self to any man in her true character
of ninistering angel 10 given the power
to bind and loose, and the opportunity
which Elsie had unconsciousiy grasped
had never been offered to Helen save
at the moment Of parting, when Philips
abruptneA had forestalled 1t. II was
inevitable, therefore, with Elsic's words
ringing in his ears, and with the con-
sciousncss that he had been permitted
to zee the light of that sanctuary which
IL closed to all but the suffering and