The San Francisco call., 1905-03-12

ii out at once
They sat down against two redwoods,
facing each other.
Very we'll" said Give, Il have been
a scoundrel and nothing I can say rs
the least excuse. / can clly state the
facts. The average girl who
is an avowed fiirl expects TO be MADE
love to, and man finds IL no task 70
DO what a charming woman eXacts OF
him. / took you in the be-
ginning for a spoiled beauty, CO.
quette. above the average as far as
brain was concerned, but still suggest
ing little more than an unusually spir.
tied Irritation OF course, l was IA
more fascinated than 1 realized, or
should rot have come TO your house,
nor should / have asked you TO give
me these two weeks. That
il might mean life or death TO either of
US ] did not realize until that day
among the ferns.
The fight was on. Helena threw back
her head. can you not explain to
Mary Gordon Surely she would re-
lease you"
Il never could explain to Mary Cor
don. n slid comprehend that after
fol1 WIS 1 had thrown her over for
a. pregtier woman whom had known
Two weeks. Women like that-simple,
good, loyal women-don't reason and
the hurt lasts-not because the man is
worth it, any more than any man is
good enough for such Women-but be-
cause they are what they are"
But she was not the woman for
you; therefore she would find another
man"
''She would live on an isolated ranch
IN Southern California for several
years. then go back TO England and
lire in har. al he
she has known all her life. Those wo-
men dent seek distraction. They are
the slaves of an idea If the right
man did come, she wouldn't know 1t.
'AH of which means that you think
1t your duty to marry her"
Il mean TO marry her. There is
nothing else to be done. If there were
no other reason / have no right ito
make her ridiculous"
Helena caught her breath. For the
first time she mentally appreciated the
strength in the man which had capti-
waited her woman'S instincts. But she
did not lose courage.
And 1 am not to be considered at
ALP ! say nothing about being made
ridiculous. If 1 am it is my own fault,
and 1 don't care, anyhow; that seems
TO me a very Insignificant matter. Now
that l have found you am to be left
alone-thirty. forty years? You know
that I have about equal possibilities Of
good and bad in me. If / married you
/ could become as wholly good as any
mortal can I never realized what pos
sipilities there are in any of US as did
in the last few days before you went
away. The principal reason that I
love you is because I always feel that
there is something in you to climb TO
and that you could lift me up TO you.
If you leave me I'll become a bad wo-
man. Why not? 1t must be very in
teresting. and / have nothing more in
life to look forward to. If 1 lived with
you / might grow into your belief; you
could carry me anywhere; but alone 1
cannot. Moreover, I want to live in
this life. I cannot sit down and wait
patiently for a mythical and unsub-
stantial hereafter. I am too much of a
savage, I suppose, but at ali events,
can't"
There viii be no excuse for you to
become a bad woman. You have too
much brain and money-too many
methods of distraction. You can travel
and make any life you choose. The
world is an interesting place; you don't
know the A c Of it,
You are cruel"
Yes" he said. More so than you
realize just now"
I'm not doubling that you love me-
II ! old, do you suppose 1 would argue
with you? I'm not in a tender or sym
pathetic mood. There is too much TO
be said. / must talk Ii out now; we
are not an ordinary pair or fools" She
paused a moment and looked straight
at him. We have a more imperative
duty to ourselves than to traditions.
You are in a new world now, almost in
a new civilization. Smash such out
worn ideals. They are nothing, moth
ing TO human happiness"
Such traditions as honor and faith
and pity for the weaker are in the bone
and blood Of the older civilization. If
we tore them out there is not much
we've got, that's worth anything. that
wouldn't follow"
'I would not care-not a straw.
should love you whether you were sat
isfied with yourself or not, and could
make you forget.
No; you could not"
"Oh, you are away above me-" she
said bitterly. 'I don't mean to say
able men. but they would find a way
out Of it-for me. You seem TO be
welded together 90 compactly that
every characteristic Is bound up with
every other. Nothing Is acquired, sep
arste. Probably I'd never reach you
after all. Perhaps 1t is as well we
don't marry"
WEI you WOulQ not t6lk as II
were an Internal prig. Can't you i'm
agtne what an ass q man feels when a
woman rots to him like that? I am the
most ordinary person you Will probably
ever know. II were not We wouldn't
be where We are to-day. Now that I
have made such q mess OF things I can
only see one way out OF 1t, and / don't
feel g hero, / assure you"
Have you thought Of yourself at all
during the last three daye7"
"Of course I've thought OF myself.
What q question: And thinking of my
self meant thinking Of you"
But you have thought more Of Mary
Gordon-I mean you have considered
her more"
Yes; have"
She got up and went over and sat
down on the edge Of the bluff. He
filed his pipe. She smiled as the smoke
drifted to her. She thought that she
had never seen the creek look SO beau
tifuL The stones under the clear wa
ter shone like opaque Jewels Great
bunches Of feathery maidenhafr clung
70 every boulder. The long. delicate
strands OF the ice grass trafIed far
over the TTnu fraoc