Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-05-09
CHAPTER XIX.
pEEP-sEA soUNDINas.

'OOIl L Ieel dS IL i udu u0cu uippco
in warm bath of conspiracy and hung
up to dry in the cold storage Of nihil-
ism! II you take me to any more
meetings of your committee Of safety.
I shall be like the man without music
in his soul-'it for treasons, strata
gems and spoils.' ta.
Thus Penelope, after the breaking
up of the Van Brock dinner party.
Elinor had elected to walk the few
blocks intervening between Alameda
square and TETON avenue, and Ormsby
had dismissed his chauffeur with the
motor car. ta.
They had reached the TETON avenue
apartment house, and to Elinor's
Wont you come in?" Ormsby said:
"It's pretty late, but I'll smoke cigar
on the porch, II you'll let me-"
Penelope took the hammock, but she
kept it only during the first inch OF
Ormsby's cigar. After her sister had
gone In, Elinor went back to the lapsed
topic.
81 am rather concerned about Mr..
Kent. You described him exactly;
and-well, he is past the planning part
and into the fighting part Do you
think he will take ordinary precau-
tions?"
81 hope SO, I'm sure" rejoined the
amateur chairman. "As his business
manager | am responsible for him,
after a fashion. I was glad to see Lor-
ing to-night-glad he has come back.
Kent defers to him more than he does
to any one else; and Loring Is a solid,
sober-minded sort"
Eyes" she agreed; 81 was glad, too"
After that the talk languished, and
the silence was broken only by the
distant drouing Of an electric car, the
ilzz and click Of the arc light over the
roadway, and the occasional dap OF one
of the great beetles darting hither and
thither in the glare.
Ormsby was wondering II the time
was come for the successful exploiting
of an idea which had been growing on
him steadily for weeks, not to say
months.
1t was becoming more and more
evident to him that he was not ad-
vancing in the sentimental siege be-
yond the first parallel thrown up 30
skillfully on the last night Of the west
ward journey. 1t was not that Elinor
was lacking in loyalty or in ac-
quiescence; she scrupulously gave him
both as an accepted suitor. But
though he could not put his finger upon
the precise thing said or done which
marked the loosening Of his hold, he
knew he was receding rather than
advancing.
Now to a man of expedients the in
terposition of an obstacle suggests
only ways and means for overcoming
it. Ormsby had certain clear-cut con-
yictions touching the subjugation OF
women, and as his stout heart gave
him resolution he lived up to them.
When he spoke again 1t was Of the
matter which concerned him most
deeply; and his plea was gentle re1e-
tition of many others in the same
| strain.
"Elinor, l have waited patiently for
a long time. and III go on doing 1t, II
that is what will come the nearest to
pleasing you. But it would be a
prodigious comfort II might be count
ing the days or the weeks. Are you
still finding it impossible to set the
limit?"
She nodded slowly. and he took the
next step like man feeling his way in
the dark.
THAT Is as large an answer as you
have ever given me, think. Is there
any speakable reason?"
"You know the reason" she said,
looking away from him.
81 am not sure that ] do. Is II be-
cause the money-gods have been un-
propitious - because these robber
barons have looted your railroad?"
mo; that is only part OF 1.-THE
smallest part"
II hoped so; II you have too little,
have a good bit too much. But that
corners 1t in a way to make me sorry.
am not keeping my promise to win
what you weren't able to give me at
first"
please don't put it that way. II
there be any fault. it Is mine. You
have left nothing undone."
The man Of expedients ran over his
cards refiectively and decided that the
moment for playing his long suit was
full come.
Your goodness Of heart excuses me
where I am to blame" he qualified.
81 am coming to believe that have
defeated my own cause"
"By being too good to me?" she sug-
gested.
mo: by running where should have
been content to walk: by shackling
you with a promise, and so In certain
sense becoming your jailer. That is
putting 1t rather clumsily, but isn't
it true?"
81 had never thought Of 1t in that
light" she said. unresponsively.
"You wouldn't, naturally. But the
fact remains. 1t has wrenched your
point of view hopelessly aside. don't
you think? I have seen 1t and felt 1t
all along, but haven't had the courage
of my convictions"
I'm what way?" she asked.
I'm the only way the thing can be
stood squarely upon its feet. It's
hard-desperately hard; and hardest
of all for a man of my peculiar build.
am no longer what you would call a
young man, Elinor, and | have never
learned to turn back and begin all over
again with any show of heartiness.
They used to say of me in the Yacht
club that If gained a half-length In
a race, Id hold 1t il 1t took the sticks
out of my boat"
81 know" she assented, absently.
well, It's the same way now. But
for your sake-or rather for the sake
of my love-I am going to turn back
for once. You are free again, Elinor.
All ask is that you will let me begin
where I left off somewhere on the
road between here and Boston last
fall"
She sat with clasped hands looking
L ~