Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1901-08-31
CHAPTER Y.
'ASoU ARE a woMAN-A WOMAN LIKE
ME-"

FfSFFNi meDts when guSh OF them
- will perform miracles which
nothing else can do. Being in them
selves the extreme of weakness, II is
nevertheless certain that they often
1mpart unexpected strength.
Erna Thomas had no intention OF
81 crying when she FASTENED to the bed.
side of Isle Maxwell. There existed
no logical reason why she should cry
unless to shed few sympathetic tears
after the manner Of women generally.
There was every reason why she should
not DO so. She was not constituted
after the manner of women general
" In any sense Of the word. for she
WIS typical western girl, who, bereft
of her mother in her infancy, had ruled
her father and his household with a
rod of iron ever since beF birth. But
she was superlatively feminine In all
things, deliciously feminine in most of
them, strikingly so in the feet that no
body could tell. herself least of all.
what she would do next. Frank. gen.
erous, open hearted, impuisive and
heedstrong, her rod of iron was incased
In velvet. and her most imperious CON-
inands purred themselves into favors
bestowed
She was fond Of excitement and mas
terry. What woman Is not? She was
conscious that for the first time In her
Afe she was part and parcel with ro-
nance and that she stood upon the
very verge OF precipice that overlook
g. ed a mystery Of the most remarkable
kind. Her hesrt hed for the girl up.
on the bed whose father, yesterday n
strong and vigorous man, was now n
corpse, and she was dismayred by the
magnitude of the task that confronted
her. Think what she had TO dol The
measure OF consolation which X WIS
her duty so administer to the orphan
pa4ed into insignificance iu the pres
ence OF the revelation for which fate
had destined her TO be the medium.
The young girl whose form was stretch
ed upon her bed believed that she was
a man; bad been taught to desplse all
women; had been educated TO regard
them as inferior creatures. She must
he told, and at once, that she belonged
TO that desp+sed class, and the knowl-
edge promised TO impart a sorrow as
poignant as had that other event which
had left her fatherless.
\ IL was possible that the dLsappoint-
Nment and dismay occasioned by the
reYelatton) might peutralize- the agony
accustomed by the death OF her father:
1t was possible that it might augment
her grief; no one could foresee the con-
sequences TO her or this unprecedented
chain OF events; but whatever those
consequences might be they must be
met and the only human being In all
the world who by reason OF the sudden
knowledge thrust upon her was compe-
tent TO meet them was a young girl
Just past lS whose understanding of
the questions with which she had TO
cope was limited TO the experiences OF
a maiden whose entire life had been
surrounded by every safeguard that a
doting father could marshal to his aid
when circumstances had compelled
him to rear and to bring 70 maturity a
mOtheriess daughter. Erna's inno-
.cence and ignorance. however, render
ed her strong for the task. She took
up the harden all the more readily be-
cause she did not realize what IL in
VOWED. Her Innocence was as COM
plete as Lisle's, her ignorance as pro-
found. Solitary speculation had car
rted the latter into regions which EFna
had never regarded as worthy OF ex-
ploration. She had lived all her life In
such near proximity to the mysteries
of creation that she had been uncon-
scious Of their existence. Llsle had
been isolated so far away from them
that when the knowledge came to her
IN hnu hA
with all her SOUL gropingly, In the
dark, but certainly in search OF light.
and the two girls stood upon equal
ground, half way to the goal TO be at
tanned, but widely separated by their
tourneyings, like two who, having
started at the same point, but In oppo-
site directions, TO meet again at the
other side OF the world, pause when
only half the journey Is made, neither
one wiser than the other One had
searched through the darkness toward
the light eagerly; the other had wan
dered with the light without being
aware that the night dwelt anywhere
snpon the earth, until across that In
.1nite space which separated her from
the other that still voice called to her
for aid.
Therefore when Erna, having put
her father from the room. turned and
,beheld Isles eyes fixed upon her. she
FASTENED to the bedside, dropped upon
her knees and did the very thing that
she was resolved not TO do-burst into
11ears; and while she cried she put out
her arms and wound them around
I-isle's neck, laid one of her cheeks
against the cool, white face OF the
orphan and so compelled the one who
should have received consolation to
administer 1t.
II was in a crisis like this where
Lisle Maxwelrs masculine training
served her best. She scorned all un-
necessary exhibition OF emotion Her
Ssoman's heart had faltered and faint.
ed beneath the sudden blow OF her IA.