Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-01

THE first morning of July fell br1ght
and bitter cold at Rangeley. A
fresh breeze. striking from the
north, was down upon the lake, whip
ping it to a frenzy and banking the
water against the south shore under
the birches The thick stems swayed
over the yellow brown froth, ready to
lurch heavily whenever the water got
far enough. Beyond was the Galbraith
camp with young Mrs. Hare, very much
wrapped up, on the veranda.
Such a person, remarkable for a GER
tain frail prettiness. intensely remark
able for certain look of being easily
trodden down, in case such a thing
were to any ones convenience, made
an incongruous detail in such bois-
ferrous picture. Every movable thing in
sight had been got hold of by the wind
the light things hurried off nowhither;
the heavy ones lifted and set down
with bang. windows ratified every
where and doors, working open, came
to a sudden slam. All nature was out
and busy over nothing but making a
noise.
In the general clatter Mrs. Hare, sit
ting with her dark eyes turned out to
the lake, did not hear another young
woman come out and cross the veranda.
But as the shadow fell she looked up
in silence for a moment and then with
q quick cry:
"Why, Grace!"
Miss Hollister was exactly unlike her
cousin-very hard looking, as If tread
ing upon her would do no harm In the
world, with a heavy salow face and
sullen eyes, yet in a certain way pre-
possessing, as some people had felt,
having peculiar pleasantness that was
as wholly physical as beauty itself upon
her. AS she looked down at the pale
prettiness in the Afghan this pleasant
ness reduced itself promptly to mini
mum.
,"Aunt 10 says that Mr.. Northway
isn't coming" she announced, with an
ugly look beneath her yellow eyelids.
Mrs. Hare put her delicate hands to-
gether and waited in uneasy silence.
Having quarrels with people was pre-
cisely the thing that nature had not
fitted her for.
"She says further, Edna, that 1t was
you who persuaded her not to invite
him.
YES" said Edna quickly "He isn't
nice, is he? At least / didn't think he
was" She was evidently feeling for a
way out of her cousins reach. HE
can be invited even now, can't he?"
mo-" Grace broke in curtly. "He
can't. He'll be down at Langman's
with the Ryders by this time. Alice
told me they were going to invite him.
Nice!" she went on, bringing out the
word like a hammer upon an anvil,
"He's nice enough for them! And
anyhow, don't see that it was your
affair. You've got that husband of
yours. Isn't there anybody else on
earth but him, :. should like to know?
Edna sat gazing wistful1y out at the
lake. To any one-or rather to some
one-who chivalrously allowed her per-
feet stiffness as an element in which
she might normally move. she had an
infinite capacity for making herself
understood. But there was no use in
sounding her faint note amid this up
roar of nature and a woman.
.I'm terribly sorry Grace" she said
at last. II really hadn't the slightest
idea that you'd care"
Grace turned upon her with spot of
angry fire in either sallow cheek.
"Care?" she repeated bitterly. "Do
you think / came five hundred miles
to look at lake and some trees?"
Edna sat pale and sick at heart. In
her bewilderment she knew only that
she was being brutally beaten-whether
with words or with clenched hand
didn't make material difference. 1t was
her lifelong way, at the first touch of
aggression, to strike out blindly in a
sea of pain and terror, where time and
circumstance-ever but the eter-
nal suffering moment-was necessarily
forgotten. And some of this must have
written itself brightly in her eyes, for
Grace turned hastily away, trying to
get out of the reach of an imperative
tenderness that had started within her.
And very soon she found what she
needed, for suddenly there came a men,
tai glimpse of Northway and Alice
Ryder walking together in the trail at
Langman's, and the trick was done.
Now, no softness need try to move her.
This picture could be brought out to re-
/plenish her store of bitterness not once
but twenty times. Her mood again