The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-04-27
Henry Seton Merriman

She had risen, after glancing at the
clock She turned down the page OF
her book and, looking up suddenly, met
his eyes for moment only.
1--WE are not likely to drop into a
close friendship" said Paul. "But-he
is coming to Thors, twenty miles from
Osterno." ,..#
There was momentary look of
anxiety in the girls eyes. which she
turned away to hide.
II am sorry for that,'' she said. 'Does
Herr Steinmetz know it?''
'Not yet
Maggie paused for a moment She
was tracing with the tip Of her finger
a pattern stamped on the binding of
the book. It would seem that she had
something more to say. Then sud.
denly she went away without saying it.
In the meantime Claude de Chaux.
vile had gently led the Countess Lano
witch to invite him to stay to dinner,
He accepted the invitation with becom.
ing reluctance and returned to the Ho'
tel de Berlin, where he was staying, in
order to dress. He was fully alive tc
the expediency of striking while the
iron is hot, more especially where wo.
men are concerned. Moreover, his
knowledge Of the countess led him tc
fear that she would soon tire Of his
society. This lady had a lamentable
facility for getting to the bottom OF
her friends powers Of entertainment
within few days. 1t was De Chaux.
ville's intention to make secure his in,
vltation to Thors and then to absent
himself from the countess.
After dinner the guest asked Mile
Catrina to play. He opened the grand
piano in the inner drawing room with
such gallantry and effusion that the
sanguine countess, postprandially som.
nolescent in her luxurious chair, began
rehearsing different modes of mention.
ing her son-in-law, the baron.
EYES," she muttered to herself, "ano
Catrina is plain-terribly plain
Thereupon she fell asleep.
De Chauxville had a good memory
and was, moreover a good and capa'
BILE liar. So Catrina did not find Out
that he knew nothing whatever of mu
sic. He watched the plain face as thu
music rose and fell, himself impervl
Gus to it's transcendent tones. Will
practiced cunning he waited until Ca
trina was almost intoxicated with mu
sic, an intoxication to which all grea;
musicians are liable.
"Ah," he said, II envy you your pow
er. With music like that one can al
most imagine that life is what on
would wish it to be-
She did not answer, but she wander
ed off into another air, slumber song
1.-THE Scnlummerlied,' said De Chaux-
vile softly. 1T. almost has the power
to send q sorrow to Sleep"
This time she answered him, posi-
bly, because he had not looked at her.
"Such never Sleep,' she said.
do you know that, too?" he asked,
not in tone that wanted reply.
She made no answer.
Il am sorry he went on. For me
It is different / am a man. l have
mans work to do. I can occupy my
self with ambition. At all events.
have a mans privilege Of nursing re-
venge."
He saw her eyes light up, her breast
heave with a sudden sigh. Something
like smile wavered for a moment be-
meath his waXed mustache.
Catrina's fingers, supple and strong,
struck in great chords the air of a
gloomy march from the half forgotten
muse of some monastic composer.
"A mans privileges" he repeated
nusingly.
"Need it be such?'' she asked
For the first time his eyes met hers
"Not necessarily" he answered. And
Der eyes dropped before biz; narrow
gaze.
De Chauxville did not speak again
Tor some minutes. He sat back in his
chair, leaning his forehead on his hand
while he peeped through his slim fin
gers. He could almost read the girls
thoughts as she put them into music.
"She does not hate him yet" he was
rejecting. But she needs only to see
him with Eta few times, and she
will come to it,
Catrina was an easy tool in the hands
of such as Claude de Chauxville, for he
had dealt with women and that which
Is evil in women all his life, and the
only mistakes he ever made We're those
characteristic errors of omission at
taching to persistent ignorance Of
the innate good in human nature
Absorbed as she was in her great
grief, Catrina was in no mood to seek
for motives, to split moral straw.
She only knew that this man seemed
to understand her as no one had ever
understood her.
The moment had been propitious, and
Claude de Chauxville, with true Gallo
insight, had seized it. Her heart was
sore and lonely, almost breaking, and
she was without the worldly wisdom
which tells us that such hearts must
at all costs be hidden from the world.
In the solitude of her life Catrina
Lanovitch had conceived a great love,
SSinn SID7h o. 1x,o