Evening star., 1897-05-01

quite sure, miss" said the stableman,
for he was in the yard when Steptoe came
after missing the coach. He wanted bug
gy TO take him over to the Divide. We hadn't
one, so he went over to the other stables,
ard he didn't come back SO reckon he s
gore remember it because Steptoe came
by minute after he'd gone in another bug
gy and, as he was going to the Divide,
tCo, wondered why the gentleman hadn
gene with him."
And he left no message for me? He said
Lolmng! asked Mrs Barker, quite breath
He said nothing to me but Isn't that
Steptoe over there| when Steptoe came in.
And remember he said it kinder suddent-
as II he was reminded O. suthin he'd for
got, and then he asked for a buggy Ye
see, miss" added the man, with a certain
rough consideration for her disappoint-
| ment, that's mebbe why he clean forgot
tc leave message"
Mrs. Barker turned away and ascended
the stairs Selfshness is quick to recognize
selfshness, and she saw in a flash the req
| son of Van Loo's abandonment of her.
scme rear OF dicovery had alarmed him
perhaps Steptoe knew her husband: per-
| haps he had heard Of Mrs. HorncastIe's s
possession of the sitting room; perhaps-for
| she had not seen him since their playful
struggle AT the door-he had recognized the
woman who was there. and the selfish cow
ard had run away. Yes; Mrs. Horncastle
| was right; she had been only a miserable
| dCpe.
| Iiei CieehS DtdZeu as Sne entered the
room she had Just quilted, and threw her
| self in chair by the window. She bit her
| lips as she remembered how for the last
three months she had been slowly yielding
to Van Loo's cautious but insinuating So
| licitation from filtration in the San Fran
| cisco hotel to a clandestine meeting in the
| street, from ride in the suburbs to q
supper In a fast restaurant after the
fashionable and rich, as Van Loo had point.
ed out to her. Other fashionable women
| also gambled in stocks and had their pri-
Xate broker in Charley or a Jack -
| with a Paul Van Loo, particularly as
his fast craze permitted secret meetings
! for business of this kind could not be con.
Quoted In public. and permitted the fair
| fear and without reproach? Mrs Barker's
| vanity, Mrs. Barkers love Of ceremony and
form. Mrs. Barkers snobbishness, were
hattered by the attentions of this polished
gentleman with foreign name, which
! even had the flavor Of nobility, who never
picked up her fan and handed It to her
without bowling. and always rose when She
entered the room.
was touched by this gentleman who spoke
French huently, and delicately explained tc
her the libretto Of a risky opera bouffe
AND now she had finally yielded to a meet
| ing out OF San Francisco-and an ostensiblt
visit-still as q speculator-to one or two
mining districts-with her broker. This
| was the boldest OF her steps-an origina
1dea OF the fashionable Van Loo-which
no doubt. in time would become a era ze
TOO. BUT 1t was q long step-and there was
streak OF rustic decorum in Mrs. Bar
kers nature-the instinct that made Kit,
carter Keep a perfectly secluded ana dis
tinct sitting room In the days when sl,,
serve9 her fathers guests-that now hat
lmpeiied her to make 1t proviso that TN
nrst step OF her journey should be from he,
oid nome In her fathers hotel It was thi,
instinct of proprieties that had revived ii
| room. eAS'AAAe
Then new phase of the situation flash
eo upon ner. It was hard for her varlit,
70 accept Van Loo's desertion as yoluntar,
ana ma. What II that hateful woman
nad iured him away by some trick or art
IuIy Designed message? She was capable
or such meanness to insure the fulfillmen,
OF her prophecy. Or, more dreadful thoueht
what IL she had some hold on his affection
-she had said that he had pursued her
or, more infamous still. there was SOM
secret understanding between them. an,
that she-Mrs. Barker-was the dune o
them both! What was she doing in tn
hotel at such q moment? What was he
story of going to Hymettus but q lie a
transparent as her own? The tortures o
jealousy. which is a. often the incentiy
| as 1t IL the result Of passion, began to racl
her. She had probably as yet known n
real passion for this man, but with tn
thought Of his abandoning her and th
conception Of his faithlessness came tn
| wish to hol6 and keep him that was dan
gerously near It, What II he wss eve
then IN that room, the room where she ~