Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-09-18

CHAPTER x.
"You ARE A woAAN-A WOMAN LIKE
ME-"
~3HERE are times when tears
are appropriate; there are mo-
IzSFSl ments when a gush of them
E& will perform miracles which
nothing else can do. Being in them
selves the extreme Of weakness. 1t is
nevertheless certain that they often
impart unexpected strength.
Erna Thomas had no intention OF
crying when she FASTENED to the bed
side of Lisle 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
ly" In any sense Of the word. for she
was q typical western girl. who, bereft
Of her mother in her infancy, had ruled
her father and his household with q
rod Of iron ever since her birth. But
she was superlatively feminine In all
things, deliciously feminine In most OF
them, strikingly so in the fact that no
body could tell, herself least Of ALL
what she would do next. Frank. gen.
erous, open hearted. impulsive and
headstrong, her rod Of iron was incased
In velvet, and her most imperious COM
mands purred themselves into fapors
bestowed.
She was fond Of excitement and mas.
terry. What woman Is not2 She was
conscious that for the first time In her
life she was part and parcel with a ro-
nance and that she stood upon the
very verge Of precipice that overlook
ed a mystery Of the most remarkable
kind. Her heart bled for the girl up
on the bed whose father, yesterday a
strong and vigorous man. was now a
corpse, and she was dismayed by the
magnitude Of the task that confronted
her. Think what she had to do! The
measure Of consolation which 1t was
her duty to administer to the orphan
paled into insignificance In the pres
ence of the revelation for which fate
had destined her to be the medium.
The young girl whose form wac stretch
ed upon her bed believed that she was
q man; had been taught to desplse all
women; had been educated to regard
them as inferior creatures. She must
be told. and at once. that she belonged
to that despised class. and the knowl-
edge promised to impart sorrow as
poignant as had that other event which
had left her fatherless.
1t was possible that the disappoint-
ment and dismny occasioned by the
revelation might neutrallze the agony
occasioned by the death Of her father;
1t was possible that it might augment
her grief; no one could foresee the con-
sequences to her Of 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 u young girl
just past Is. whose understanding Of
the questions with which she had to
cope was limited to the experiences Of
maiden whose entire life had been
surrounded by every safeguard that
doting father could marshal to his aid
when circumstances had compelled
him to rear and to bring to maturity
motherless daughter. Erna's inno-
cence and ignorance. however. render
ed her strong for the task. She took
up the burden all the more readily be-
cause she did not realize what 1t in
volved. Her innocence was as COM
plete as LiSle's. her ignorance as pro-
found. Solitary speculation had car
ried the latter into regions which Erna
had never regarded US worthy Of ex-
ploration. She had lived all her life In
such near proximity TO the mysteries
OF creation that she had been uncon-
sclous Of their existence. Llsle had
been Isolated so far away from them
that when the knowledge came to her
that they did exist she had striven
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
jOurneyings. like two who. having
started ut 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
upon the earth. until across that in
finite 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 Lisles eyes fixed upon her. she
hastenpd to the bedside. dropped upon
her knees and did the very thing that
she was resolved not to do-burst into
tears: and while she cried she put out
her arms and wound them around
Lisles 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 it.
1t was In a crisis like this where
Lisle Maxwell's masculine training
served her best. She scorned all un-
tat % Inr