News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-03-18


Eyes"
There was another silence. Gordon
mind went into a tumult.
MAY l ask when he expects to re-
turn"
Il think tomorrow or the next day
She was recovering her equanimity,
but she resented his questions
"Will you kindly ask him to come
down to Hope House and see me on a
matter of business when he returns?"
"Will you state the business" She
put the question as coldly as he had
put his
Certainly" Passion had the reins
now and was lashing him hard. please
tell your father l want to ask him how
far he considers himself responsible for
the murder Of over sixty children and
the manning of a score more on ac-
count of the illegal tenement he con-
structed on Bowen street." 1t was
the severest thing he had ever said
to Lucia, but his excuse was found
in the agony that filed Hope House at
that minute.
Murder, did you say" Luella's eyes
blazed. She stepped toward John Cor
don and confronted him detiantly. DO
you realize what you are saying"
do I? Oh, Lucia, if you had seen
what l have seen during the last three
days. Gordon broke down 50 sudden
ly that Lucia was overwhelmingly en-
barrassed. 1t was no secret with her
heart that the man had her love; at
least she was Wretched without him,
even if she was not yet willing to live
with him where he chose to live. TO
see him sitting there now, with his
face covered, smote her proud nature
so hard that in a moment she would
have been kneeling beside him and
promising to so with him anywhere,
to leave every social pleasure she
priced, for the love of his heart.
But how should John Gordon know
anything Of all that? When he looked
up he saw her standing very still and
very white, staring at him in a ques-
tiOning way. And in an almost matter
of fact tone he began to relate the
facts about Mr.. Marsh's relation to the
disaster. He told the facts in quite a
dispassionate manner. In reality he
was exercising a great repression. And
he noticed as he drew near the end
UnaC LuelIa was listening ike one who
was being told certain things for the
first time.
Il never knew that father owned
any property on Bowen street." she
said in a low voice when Gordon
stopped.
John Gordon rose. His heart was sore
over everything connected with Mr..
Narsh's conduct. He had not a single
excuse to offer for him.
do you believe me?" Luella cried
with her old spirit flaming up.
81 have no reason to disbelieve YOU
You are not to blame for your fathers
guilt"
at is a great grief to me-" she said
simply. "Over sixty children. | could
not read the details of the-the-disas-
ter. Father took the paper out of my
hands that morning. 1t made me sick,
and-and-you know how sensitive IA
ther has always been at the sight of
He could not bear to hear Of
it or look at it. am made in the same
way. 1t is all too horrible"
eff it is horrible to look at, what do
you think it is to feel it?" John Gordon
asked grimly. And as he asked the |
question Grace Andrews face, with its |
tender, deep blue eyes, flashed up be-
fore him, and for the first time III his /
ply in the matter Of capability to bear
the sins and sorrows ST humanity.
Luella looked at him grave.y and |
shook her head. And then john Cor |
don rose.
"You are not going?" she said before
she realized. And then the color flooded |
her face, and she stood, proud woman |
as she. was, with bowed head, as CON
scious as girl who has made some |
little social mistake.
Again if John Gordon had said, "Lu-
ella, | will never go from you if you
viii ask me to remain!" she would have
given her whole life into his keeping
hlINA LOllUN GU I'LL " Tie 6dIlI > tId LOI
the love of him. But how was he to
know all that? All he saw was Il wo-
man who quickly recovered from a
confusion, and he said
'You must excuse me; | came to see
your father. | am very anxious to see
him and shall be under obligations to
you if he can come down to Hope
House as soon as he returns"
He turned and walked out into the
hail. where he turned again toward her
and gravely bowed.
Good evening"" he said coldly. He
said it coldly because his heart was
1eating so fiercely that he was afraid
% betray his emotions. She did not
say word, only looked at him as he
slowly walked to the door. AS he
opened it she said in a whisper, John"
He never heard. Is love then both
blind and deaf? Yea; it is sometimes,
when the lovers are both high spirited,
strongly individual and sensitive. And,
alas for John Gordon, he neither saw
nor heard, and walked out into the
night, wretched at heart and cast down
n his emotions. When he was gone,
Luella laid her head again on her arms,
and when Mr.. Penrose a little later
sent in his card she excused herself
from seeing him owing to illness. 1t