Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-07-18
Tristram's chair, in Addie Tristrams
place, in Addie Tristram's attitude

lTlStFdm Cndlf, IN AQQle IrlStram
place, in Addie Tristram's attitude
Did the dead know the secret? Did
the pictures share it? Who was tC
them the lord of Blent?
He shook off these idle fancies-a
man should not give way to them
and walked up the room with a
steady, assured tread. Even then she
did not seem to hear him till he
spoke.
well, do you like it?" he asked
leaning against a table in the middle
of the upper part of the room, few
feet from the chair where she sat.
Like it," she cried, springing to
her feet, running to him. holding out
her hands. Like it. o, Harry! Why
it's better than all the rest Better
even better"
1T is rather jolly ROOM said
Harry. The pictures and all the
things about make it look WE'LL
20, I'm not going to say anything il
you talk like that You don't feel
like that? Rather a jolly room.
That's what one says if the inn par
lor's comfortable. This isn't a room
it's-it's-''
gested. smiling.
Il believe it's heaVen-the private
particular Tristram heaven. They're
all here," She waved toward the pic
lures. Here. in heaven of their
own"
And were allowed to visit it be.
fore We die?'
yes. At least l am. You let me
visit it. 1t belongs to you-to the
dead and you
DO you want to stay here any
lcnger?" he asked with sudden
roughness.
Yes, lots longer she laughed, de
family. quite uudismayed. you
needn't, though. You'll have it all
your life. Perhaps | shall never have
it again. Fathers better! And |
don't know if you'll ever ask us here
again. You never did before, you
know. So | mean to have all of it |
can get" She darted away from him
and ran back to the miniatures. A
richly ornamented sword hung on
the wall Just above them. This
caught her notice; she took it down
and unsheathed it.
'Henrious Baro Tristram de
Blent,' she spelled out from the
steel.
Per Ensem Justitia.' What does
that mean? No, l know. Rather a
good motto, cousin Harry. THAT he
shall take who has the power, and he
shall keep who CAM That was his
justice, | expect"
so you quarrel with it? If this
was all yours, would you give it up?"
Not without a fight" she laugh
ed. Per Ensem Justitia.'" She
waved the blade
Harry left her busy with the
things that were so great delight
and walked to the window at the 9th
er end of the long room. The motto
ran in his head-Per ensem iustitia.
What was the Justice and what the
sword. He awoke to the cause of the
changed mood in him and of the agi-
tation in which he had been living. It
was nothing to defy the law, to make
light of dry abstraction, to find
right against it in his blood. His op-
ponent now was no more the law. it
was no more even some tiresome I'M
known, unrealized girl in London. with
surroundings most unpicturesque and
tfat had no power TO
touch his heart. Here was the enc
my, this creature, whose every move
ment claimed the blood that was hers,
whose coming repaired the loss Blent
had suffered in losing Addie Tristram,
whose presence crowned it's charms
with new glory. Nature that fash
Toned her in the Tristram image-had
n rNltt IN Ia,
which she should win Justice? The
thought passed through his mind now
without a shock: he seemed to see
her mistress of Blent; for the moment
he forgot himself as anyone save an
onlooker: he did not seem concerned.
Once more he reused himself. He
had fallen into a fear of the fancies
that threatened to carry him he did
not know where. He wanted to get
away from the room with it's sugges-
tons, and the presence that gave
them such force
Aren't you ready YETI" he called
to her Its getting late
Are you still there?" she cried
back, in gay affectation of surprise.
I'D forgotten all about you:
thought | had it to myself | was try
ing to think it was all mine"
Shall we go downstairs" His
voice was nard and constrained.
No. WON'T" she said squarely. Il
can't go. It's barely 10 o'clock. Come.
Wen talk here. You smoke-or is
that high treason ?-and III sit here"
She threw herself into Addie Trist-
rams great chair. There was a tri-
umphant gaiety in her air that spoke
of her joy in all about her, of her
sense of the boundless satisfaction
that her surroundings gave Il love
it all so much She murmured, half
perhaps to herself, yet still as a plea
to him that he would not seek to hur-
ry her from the place.
Harry turned away again with that
despair on him. She gave him per-
mission to go, but he could not leave
her-neither her nor now the room.
Yet he was afraid that he could not
answer for himself if he stayed. 1t
was too strange that every associa-
ton and every tradition and every
which had through all the
years seemed to justify and even to
sanctify his own position and the
means he was taking to preserve it
should in two or three days begin to
desert him, and should now in this
hour openly range themselves
against him and on her side