The San Francisco call., 1904-11-20

f1VOA
And It any rate he was still her lover.
al fully, as ardently as ever. Deep IN
those fastnesses Of his nature were MS
love for her, and his pride In her and
IN having her for his own Ihe Two
things grew side by side, their roots IN
tsrtAngled. Every glance OF admiration
she won, every murmur OF approval
she created, gave him Joy ana seemed
TO give him tribute. He eagerly gain
cred In the envy OF the world as food
for his own exultation; he laughed IN
pleasure when Christine Fanshaw told
him TO look and see how Walter Blake
adored SibyIa-
"Of course he does-he's a sensible
young fellow" said Grantley gaily. So
am I, Christine, and I adore her too
The captive Of your bow and
spearl" Christine sneered-
"Of my personal attractions, pleased
Don't say Of my money bagsi"
She's like q very laudatory tssti-
monial."
endures YOU"
He answered her with Jests, never
thinking to deny what she said He
did delight IN his wife's triumphs. Was
there anything unamiaOle IN that7 II
close union were the thing, was not
that closer Her triumphs made his
what could be closer than that2 At
this time any criticism OF him was
genuinely unintelHgfble; he could make
nothing Of II, and reckoned II as OF
no account And SibyLa herself. as he
had said, he could always soothe.
And she's going on quite all rightT'
Christine continued.
"Splendidlyl We've got her quietly
fixed down at Milldean. with her fav-
orite old woman to look after her.
There she'll stay. I run up 70 town
two or three times. a week-do my
business
Call on me7'
Il ventured so far-and get back as
soon as I can"
You must be very pleasedT'
"Of course I'm pleased" he laughed,
very pleased indeed. Christine"
He was very much pleased, and
laughed at himself. as he had laughed
at others, for being a little proud too.
He had wanted the dynasty car
ried on. There was every pros
pect Of start being made in that di-
rection very prosperously. He would
have hated to have IL otherwise; there
would have been a sense OF inCOm-
pleteness then.
Il needn't tell a wise woman like
you that there's some trouble about
such things" he went on.
mo doubt there Is" smiled Chris
tine But you can leave most of that
to Sibylla and the favOrite old wOm-
an she added a moment later. with
her eyes on Grantley's cOntented face.
and that touch of acidity in her clear
tone voice.
Between being pleased-even very
much pleased indeed-and a little
proud over a thing (notwithstandins
the trouble there is about iD, and
looking on ii as one of the greatest
things that heaven itself ever did
there is a wide gulf, if not exactly Of
opinion. yet of feeling and attitude.
From the first moment Sibvlla had
known Of IT, the coming of the child
was the great thing. the OvershadOw-
ing thing. in life. Nature was in this.
and nature at her highest power,
more was not needed. Yet there was
more to make the full cup brim over.
Her great talent, her strongest innate
impulse. was TO give-tO give herself
and all she had; and this talent and
impulse her husband had not satisfied.
He was immured in his fastness: he
seemed 10 want only what she count
ed small tributes and minor sacrifices
they had appeared large once, no
doubt. but now looked small because
they fell short of the largest that were
possible. The great satisfaction, the
great outlet, lay in the coming of the
child. In pouring out her love on
the head of the child she would at
the same time pour 1t out at the feet
of him whose the child was. Before
such splendid lavishness he must at
last stand disarmed. he must throw
open all his secret treasure-hOuse. His
riches of love-of more than lovers
Iove-must come forth, too. and min
gle in the same golden stream with
hers, all separation being swept away.
Here was the true realization, fore
shadowed by the fairy ride in the early
days Of their love: here was the true
riding into the gold and letting the
gold swallow them up. In this all dis
appointments should vanish. all nipped
hopes come to bloom again For II her
heart cried impatiently. but child itself
for its impatience. Had not Mrs.
Mumple waited years in solitude and
silence outside the prison gates? Could
not she wait little, too?
1t need hardly be said that IN such a
position of affairs as had been reached
Mrs. Mumple was much TO the fore.
Her presence was Indispensable. and
valued as such. but II had some disad-
vantages. She shared Sibylla's views
and Sibylla's temperament; but nat
urally she did not possess the charm OF
youth, of beauty and OF circumstance
which served so we'll to soften or to
recommend them The sort OF atmos-
phere which Mrs. Mumple carried with
her was one which should be diffused
speringly and with great caution about
a man at once so self-centered and so
fastidious as Grantley Imason. Mrs.
Mumple was lavishly affectionate; she
was also persuasive, and, finally.
trifie inclined to be fearful on entirely
inadequate provocation-Or. as it ap-
peared to any masculine mind. on none
at all. since the tendency assailed her
most when everything seemed to be
going on remarkably well. Her physi-
cal bulk, too. was matter which she
should have considered and yet per-
haps she could hardly be expected to
think Of that.
OF course Jeremy Chiddingfold, nei-
ther lover nor father, and with his
youthful antt-femininism still held and
priced, put the case a thousand times
too high, xaggerating all one side, ut
terly ignoring all the other, OF what
Grantley might be feeling. None the
less. there was some basis OF truth in
his exclamation:
IF they go on like this. Grantley'u
be sick to death OF the whole thing be-
49, -