The Press., 1905-06-14
Copyright, 1905, by Frances Wilson

heads beside her, but in the aggregate by no means without interest and beau ty. That they were feminine stars goes without saying, and If there were mo- ments when they shone and twinkled for his especial benefit how could he do less than to acknowledge the con- pliment?
 To him it seemed no more than a laughing byplay, the light, graceful variation of the grand love theme of his life. But the fixed star saw 1t diff ferently-saw 1t with eyes that deepen ed and darkened with tragedy which, after a few weeks of smoldering, 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 when she had faced him, white with scorn, and accused him in plain, brutal, everyday English of being flirt
 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 Lincoln, his evident enjoyment of the society of Mrs. Colin Stuart, not to mention Bet ty Pell and Lucia Armitage!
 As Van Pelt listened to the cutting words of his fiancee his first amaZement gradually cOngealed into something else. He had paid some attentions to Miss Lincoln, who was a visitor and friend of his sister, and Mrs. Stuart had asked him for dinner or so, and, as for Betty and Lucia, he never miss ed a chance to join them. Had they not been comrades since the days when their nurses wheeled their perambu lators to the park side by side?
 And, though he had frequently en- countered Flavia under these circum- stances, no hint of his possible displeas- ure 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 explanation 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 his 1Aeu IllIle SuuWluS crept in. She would have liked him to protest, for, alas, she was but a wom- an! And sometimes the high, white place of his soul, where he kept 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, drawling voice filled her first pause with an icy suavity, and the steel of his eyes met the fire of hers unflinchingly. Involuntarily she caught her breath. He not only showed no inclination to explain, to exculpate himself, but he had the look of a man who has received a mortal wound, whose deepest feelings have been pied 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 a warm hearted, high spirited woman at a fancied neglect from the man she adored. A pair of open arms and eyes that loved back, that was what she wanted and ex- pected. But this man with the hard glance and the incisive, cold voice what had she done2
 Despite her terror, the world old bat tie between pride and love was raging in her heart, and 1t was pride 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. we will call 1t so at least" And with the words she drew off the ring and held it out to him. He received it with a low bow.
 Obviously the episode 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. I give you one week to reconsider"
 His mastery of himself, his unyield- 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 grace! So good of your she laughed rather wildly. And yet, do you know 1t is seven days more than I shall need. shall never'-
 But he had gone. A moment later she heard the street door close with an om- inous bang. She stood stupidly In the middle of the room trying to realize that there was no future-nothing but a dreary waste that belled the name ahead of her. Then she looked at her left hand, now so bare, so naked, no longer hand consecrate, but simply a woman's hand shorn of all It's sweet significance, its badge of dear depend ence gone.
 A clock struck the hour in silver tones, fetching her back to the duh present. Oh, yes, Mrs. Colin Stuart's tea. She must go to that whatever hap pened; she must go to everything and be gay, gay, gayI Otherwise people would say that she cared. He might even think that she did. The thought made her cheeks burn. And gay she was, so gay indeed that more than one of her friends turned long, inquiring looks up- on her, looks full of puzzled questioning
 Once during the week of respite she met him, but at his cold, impassive greeting the little choking gladness that the sight of him had brought and which for fieetfng second shook her with It's expectancy flickered out He had bow sd with cold courtesy-and passed on.
 But one thought stood out clearly in lhe general confusion of her despair. She must get away. PitsousIy abe real