The San Francisco call., 1905-04-01
The Quarrel
BYKE/7H GORDON


tween them like a wall
According to his reasoning, the
great pearl that beamed softly on the
third finger of her left hand-hls glft
was the solemn, final expression OF
his faith, his choice. 1t was the Of
fetal seal affixed to his avowed' oenei
that she was the supreme woman.
In his deeper, finer moments ne
would relive the moment when he nad
put ii there, when the splendor OF MS
own destiny had sobered and stead1ed
him till his whole being had gone out
in the wordless prayer-"God grant
+ that 1 may make her happy.
From that moment she was the
fixed star of his life. 1ndeeu, She
scarcely seemed to him a separate en-
tity, but rather the finest part OF MN
self And this was where the troupie
began He was dashing and debonalr
and the firrnament of his life was
strewn with stars of lesser magnitude,
mere pinheads beside her, but IN the
aggregate by no means without inter
est and beauty. That they We're rem
mime stars goes without saying, ana
if there were moments when they
shone and twinkled for his especial
benefit how could he do less than 10
! acknowledge the compliment!
/ To him it seemed no more than
laughing by-play, the light, gracefui
variation of the grand love theme OF
his life. But the Fixed star saw W ~
dffferently-saw it with eyes tnal
deepened and darkened with tragedy.
which, after a few weeks @! smolder-
ing. burst into the flame of anger
Never, perhaps, had she appeared
to him so superb, so obviously queen
of the world, as at that moment wnen
she had faced him, white with scorn'
LII IN, nj l.
everyday English of being nlrt:
At first sheer amazement held him
silent. But from the torrent of words
that rushed from her lips he was soon
in possession of the sum OF his OF
fenses. His attentions to Miss Lin
! coln-his evident enjoyment OF tne
society of Mrs. Colin Stuart, not to
mention Betty Pell and Lucia Armi-
1 tage-!
AS Van Pelt listened to the cut
ting words of his fiancee his first
amazement gradually congealed into
something else. He had paid some
attention TO Miss Lincoln, who was a
visitor and friend of his sister And
Mrs Stuart had asked him for a dim
ner or so, and as for Betty and Lucia,
he never missed chance to join them.
Had they not been comrades since the
/. .days when their nurses wheeled their
perambulators to the park side aDy.
side?
And though he had frequently en-.
countered Flavia under these c1rcum-
stances no hint of her possible dis
pleasure had ever occurred to him..
She-was she not the Only One-so
near. so much a part of himself that
there was no more need for explana-
tion than there was to his own SOUL.
So, at these encounters, his eyes had
leaped to meet hers, without self
consciousness and without apology
At first her confidence met ms
nobly. Then little gnawing doubts
.crept in. She would have liked him to
protest, for, alas! she was but
woman, And sometimes the high,
i white place of his soul, where he kept
4 her enthroned, made her shiver and
long. TO be. petted and scolded And IN
place of that he made her a goddess,
supposedly with the power OF reading
hearts
You have-quite finished ?"
His cool. drawing voice filled her.
4 first pause with an icy suavity and the
steel of his eyes met the fire of hers
unfinchingly. Involuntarily she caught
her breath He not only showed no
inclination to explain, TO excuplate
himself, but he had the look OF
man who has received mortal
wound. whose deepest feelings have
been mercilessly scoffed at, jeered at,
trampled in the mire.
At the words her heart turned to
ice Truth to tell, her outbursts had
nothing more serious than the quick
resentment of warm-hearted. nigh
spirited woman at a fancied neglect
from the man she adored. A pair of
open arms and eyes that loved back,
begging for tolerance and forgiveness,
that was what she wanted and eX-
pected But this man, with the hard
glance, and the incisive, cold voice
what had she done
Despite her terror, the world old
battle between pride and love was
raging in her heart and II was prlue
that won.
..Finished?" she queried bitterly,
with an infection that conveyed that
if she ceased 1t was by no means be-
cause she had reached the end OF the
list I'VE will call it so at least.
And with the words she drew off the
ring and held 1t out to him. He re-
ceived it with a low bow.
Obviously the episooe was ended.
| But at the door he turned back.
when you have thought the matter
over more calmly you may possibly
have something to say to me. L give
YOU one week to reconsider.
His mastery of himself, his uny1eld-
ing resistance to her, thrilled her
through and through. Never had she
loved him so absolutely; but there was
no trace of her feeling in her mocking
reply. =,
"A weeks gracei So good of you!"
she laughed rather wildly. And yet,
do you know, it is seven days more
than l shall need. I shall never
But he had gone. A moment later
she heard the street door close with
an ominous bang. She stood stupidity
in the middle of the room trying to
realize that there was no future-noth-
ing but a drearv waste that belied the
name ahead OF her. Then she looked
at her left hand, now so bare, so
naked, no longer a hand consecrate,
but simply woman's hand, shorn of
| all its sweet significance, it's badge of
dear dependence gone.
A clock struck the hour in silver
| tones, fetching her back to the dull
present Oh, yes. Mrs. Colin Stuart's
! lea. She must go to that whatever
happened-she must go to everything
and be gay-gay-gay! Otherwise
| people would say that she cared. He
might even think that she did. The