Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-25
CHAPTER XIV.
Love in the CaveruS.

Love III the SdVSIus.
J The supreme moment of life's drama is
enacted in strange places sometimes, and
the little love god cares less than nothing
for sthe setting of his play; for, wise god
that he is, he knows that the setting does
not matter. The actors are only two, and
the audience is only himself, but his play
never pals. Sometimes 1t is tragedy, some
times It Is comedy, and scoffers say that
sometimes it is merely farce, but always
there is one line only in the dialogue which
matters: II love you!'' And often he does
mot insist that even that one line be spoken.
For a kiss or tender glance, aye, or a
sob. tells all. and the little love god smiles
and mods and hurries off to attend to du-
ties elsewhere.
: For he is busy god. and there are many
mortals, and one supreme moment Is all the
allowance which he gives to one life. If
lives there is no supreme moment at all.
Mary and her lover had found their stage
set for them in the gloom and danger of the
Holland caves. They had told their love,
and Wortley was whstling John Browns
Body" very quick and with variations"
as Sims had said. He had dared again to
tell the girl that he loved her; he had said
the line that the love god counts as the
climax of his play, and had asked for an
answering confession, and Mary had whis-
pered the words which had made him for
get the present danger and the present pain,
in joy of having heard from her lips that
one little sentence. The cavern had become
suddenly bright, with the radiance of an
ecstasy which he had hardly dared to hope
would ever be his. For he had come into
her life by a fraud; he had tricked her, and
he thought that she scorned him; and in
stead she loved him! He put more varia-
tions into his whistling of John Browns
Body" than even Sims had ever heard.
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enough-and she did not resent the whis-
Ting. For while his lips were busy with
that they were not free to embarrass her
as they had a minute ago. To the man the
first kiss asks for another after it. and a
hundred more. To the girl, the first kiss
Is rite, sufficient in itself, and the thrill
of 1t is spoiled by immediate repetition. She
would have 1t repeated but not on the in
slant. A hint this, to all you who are low
ers but a hint which is wholly useless;
for If you are true lovers, you will take the
first kiss and the others too. And the girl,
II she truly loves you, will wish in her
heart that you would forbear, but will not
blame you because you do not.
At the sound of Mary's laugh Wortley's
whistling stopped. and he laughed too.
But it's serious you knowi" he said
And don't know that l ought to have let
you stay"
DO you really suppose that the decision
was in your hands?' she answered banter
ingly. I'm a willful person II you haven't
round that out already suppose you accept
the fact now, on the very highest author
ityr'
'Yours?" he asked smilingly
Mine. It would be an awkward thing to
md out Observation-Disclosures
he reached out again for her hand.
Il must touch you" he said II want to
feel that I'm holding you and that you can
never get away from me! Mary, when did
you first begin-not to hate me?"
Il never hated you"
What! Not when you suspected? Not
in the beginning?'
Not even in the beginning Don't you re-
member that on the first morning / told you
that l had abandoned all my prejudices
against you? And you told me that 1 had
forgiven you, and 1 wasn't able to deny that
had
II remember" he said, laughing lyon
accepted ME as an Unexpectedly satisfactory
brother! But that's not what l mean"
She biushed and looked away. Then she
said softly:
II don't think that the brother part of 1t
was quite satisfactory, even then. And aft
erward-when you broke down over the
iegend-and when Harvey came and de-
nounced you, and 1 wasn't sure-and when
| wouldn't go with you to the caves again
and when you wrote to me that the woman
was not your wife, and 1 was sure Oh!
can't you see that didn't know what to
think, or what to wish? And wouldn't let
myself think of the thing which in my heart
l knew l did wish. And SO I nursed my
anger against you, and told you / despised
you. And all the time I loved YOU and
knew it. and tried to make myself believe
that didn't know 1t! 1 tried to trick my
self, and almost succeeded. But then, sud-
denly, l knew that 1 had failed. Do you
know when that was?"
Tell me- he said. She looked very sweet
as she made her blushing confession, and he
longed to hear more OF 1t.
1T was when that woman came to me
and said that you were dead. She pitied
me. and said that she knew 1 loved you.
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But you did not believe that 1 was
dead?" asked Wortley.
Il did-until Sims gave me new hope by
refusing to believe that you were in the car
when 1t went down that awful place.
What awful placer" said Wortley, quick
ly. Tell me about that, too
Shuddering, she told him of how and
where his car had been found. and when
she had finished he asked:
rs the Divie bridge on the main road
to Grantown?'
NO
Il never. to my own knowledge, left
Then he, In his turn, told her Of his
journey to Grantown to meet Armitage,
and of what happened afterward. He was
on his way home, and had passed Dun
phail, the last station on the Highland
railway before the ten-mile winding drop
from the heather country TO the plain of
Forces. Suddenly his front tires picked
up something from the road. 1t was a
and entangled itself in the steering brack-
cts He lost control of the car. which
turned and climbed the bank at the side
of the road. He was thrown out. and
when he tried to rise he found that his
ankle was broken.
Then" he said. mot knowing what to
do next, put in time by cursng the fools
who had left length of barbed wire In
a place like that; but / was interrupted.
Wiseman came out of the wood behind
me and held a revolver to my head. When
he saw that I was helpless he laughed and
put the revolver In his pocket. But he
pulled out a bottle of chloroform instead,
and handkerchief. struggled, of course,
but l hadn't chance. The last thing I
remember seeing was Black scratching
about in the road and picking UP half
dozen other lengths of the beastly wire,
which had been laid there and covered
with heaps of dust. 1t wasn't an acci-
dent, you see!'
''.And after that?' asked Mary. THE
cowardly brutes.'
Z AFTER that / don't remember much un-
til l woke up to find myself in the caves
here. There was a big lump on the side
OF my head just behind the left ear. /
may have got 1t when / tumbled out of
the car, but I'm pretty sure didn't
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