The Irish standard., 1902-12-06
CHAPTER XXXV.

the small office, treading out the
winepress of humiliation and defeat,
and trying, as man may under such
hard conditions, to decide upon
course of action which should be
fair to all and decently fair for him
self.
For time it seemed impossible to
draw any thread of sane procedure
out of the revulsionary tangle in
which Charlotte's confession had in
yolved him. He told himself bitterly
that she had failed him at the
crucial moment; that she had
stepped down from the pedestal of
the ideal to become woman of
flesh and blood, loving, condoning
and forgiving everything in the man
to whom she had given her heart.
But very quickly he was made to
see the injustice of this; to see first
that he had deliberately gone about
to build wall of personality around
her judgment, and then, by his own
confession of love, to apply a test
too severe for any loving woman to
withstand.
More than that, he saw that he
had played the hypocrite with her
even at the last moment. When he
had gone to her, nothing had been
farther from his thoughts than a
confession of his guilt. The resolve
to tell her all had come suddenly,
and he had yielded to the impulse
Of
the less, he had let her believe that
it was we'll considered; that he had
determined beforehand upon the
course he had outlined in the brief
farewell.
Taking it all in all, he had an ex-
ceedingly bad half-hour after Griffin
left him, and out of the fiery fur
mace of it emerged man altogether
different from the hot-hearted
proletary who had robbed the Bayou
bank. He had stood alone against
the worlds condemnation in that
act, and had thought it defensible
from an impregnable position forti-
fed by the rights of man. But now
he was made to see the act and its
culpability through the magnifying
glass of another's personality. He
had called it social necessity, and
no sin; and yet the direct conse-
quences of it had been to destroy
his ideal of uprightness to make a
pure, God-fearing woman his accom-
plice after the fact.
While Griswold was thus fighting
his way blindly out of the darkness
into the light, the net in which he
had enmeshed himself was cut at
the point where it was the strong.
est. When DR.. Farnham returned
from a visit to the iron works neigh.
borhood he found his daughter wait.
ing for him at the gate.
please don't get out" she said
81 want you to take me over to the
hotel on the Point. Will you?"
The father cut the buggy and gave
her a hand to climb up beside him.
"What's gone wrong, Lottie?-Any
thing that may know about?"
She shook her head. Not now
poppa dear; but must 60"
v
short drive; and when it was ended
and the good doctor had waited ,
long half-hour for her at the hotel
he drove her home and was no wise
than he had been. She had had hin
go in with her to send her card t,
Mr.. Andrew Galbraith, but beyond tn
fact that she had been closeted 70
half-hour with the white -haire,
banker, the father knew nothing
nor did he seek to know, having per
feet confidence in his daughter.
What took place in Andrew Gal
braith's sitting-room at the summe
hotel was never known to any say
the two who were the actors in tn
little drama. But when Charlott
came out Andrew Galbraith accom-
panied her and put her into tn
buggy with her father. And she wa
crying Il little, though not as thos
who weep without hope.
The old banker watched the bugg
as it melted into the darkness of th
driveway, and shook his head.
There goes woman that any ma
might be proud to give his name till
he said. "Now, if the young deev
has half her courage"
"A gentleman to see you, Mr.. Ga
braith," said the voice of the nigl
clerk beside him. II thought yc
We're i'll your room, and | sent hi
there
Griswold was standing, hat in han
in the middle of the comfortable 81
ting room when the banker entere
81 beg your pardon" he bega
"The clerk told me you were her
and I found the door open."
"Sit down." said the banker, not
Hospitality. drawing up his own ea
chair. But Griswold remained stan
ing.
"No," he objected. "What l ha
to say may be said standing. N
Galbraith, did you ever see me /
fore you came to Wahaska?
The shrewd old face was unread
NJ BILE by any, but if there was certa
CLINT of hardness in the eyes, it w
by the lines about t
mouth.
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