Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-01
Author Of 1.-THE Masquerader," Etc.

awakened conscience, he half paused and
looked again at the girls bright face
Miss Clodagh," he began, II feel very
guilty. am very guilty"
Clodagh glanced back at him.
"How?" she said, simply.
Because last night l unconsciously did
what you disapprove of. I played with
your father for high stakes. and I am
ashamed to say that won a large sum of
money
For. an instant the brightness left her
glance; she looked at him with the serious
eyes Of the night before
Much she asked, impulsively:
color. Then he rallied his courage. But
that isn't ALL he added quickly. II have
something worse to confess. When l came
down to breakfast this morning found a
check lying on my plate. felt intensely
remorseful, as you can imagine, and deter
mined to make reparation. After break
fast I preached the subject to Denis;
our play by tearing up the check.
He was furiously angry, and L,
instead of showing the courage of
my opinion. was actually weak enough to
think 1 OBSERVER" He paused. looking at
her anxiously.
For a while she looked steadily ahead,
absorbed in her own thoughts; then slowly
she looked back at him with interested, in
credulous eyes.
Don't English people pay when they
lose?" she asked, after long pause.
Again he colored.
why, yes" he said hurriedly. Eyes, of
course, only"
"Only what?'
Nothing. Nothing. 1t was only that
thought you wanted"
II wanted you not to encourage him.
never wanted you to think that he isn't a
gentleman"
She made the statement with perfect nat
uralness, as though the subject was one Of
common, everyday discussion. According
to her code of honor she was justified in
putting every possible bar to her father S
weakness; but where the bar had proved
useless; where the weakness had conquered
and the deed she dfsapproved had been ac-
complished, then the matter, to her think
Ing, had passed out of her hands. Her
judgment ceased to be individual and be-
came the judgment of her race.
AS she looked at Milbankes perplexed.
concerned face her expression changed and
she smiled. The smile was gracious and re-
assuring but below the graciousness lay a
tinge of tolerant indulgence.
I'VE won't talk about it any more" she
said. Il don't suppose you can be expected
to understand And suddenly raising her
head. she whistled to the dogs.
During the remainder Of the walk Mil
banke was very silent. Perplexed and yet
fascinated by the problem his mind dwelt
increasingly upon this strange position into
which the chances of day or two had
thrown him. The bonds that drew him to
his entertainers, and the gulf that separated
MIN from tnem We're SO tangible ana yet so
Elusive. In every outward respect they
were his fellow beings; they spoke the same
language, wore the same clothes, ate the
same food, and yet unquestionably they
We're creatures of different fiber He felt
curiousy daunted and curiously attracted
by the peculiar fact.
To appreciate the difference between the
Englishman and the Irishman one must see
the latter in his native atmosphere. 1t is
there that his faults and his virtues take
on their proper values; there that his in
nate poetry, his reckless generosity, his
splendid. prodigsl hospitality have fullest
scope; there that his primitive narrowncss
OF outlook, his Anticipated sense of honor,
and his absurdly sensitive self-esteem II g
most wildly backgrounded Outside his
owr country, he is merely a subject of the
great empire possessing, perhaps. a sharp
er wit and a more ingratiating manner than
his fellOw-subjects of colder temperament;
but in his natural environment he stands
out pre-eminently as peculiar develop
ment-the product of a warm blooded in
telligent, imaginative race that, by some
oversight of nature has been pushed aside
in the march of the nations.
Milbanke made attempt to formulate
this idea or any portion of it, as he paced
steadily forward across the darkening
sands; but incontinently it did flash across
more attention in this unsophisticated at
mosphere than he might have given her in
conventional surroundings. She was so
much part of the picture-so undeniably a
icent sea and the hundred traditions that
encrcled every sod of the primitive land.
In her buoyant, youthful figure he seemed
by a curious retrograde process of the
mind to find the solution to his own early
worship of Asshln. Asshlin had attracted
him, ruled him, domineered over him by
right of superiority-the hereditary, half
barbaric superiority of the natural aristo-
crat; the man of ancient lineage in coun-
try where yesterday-and the glories of
yesterday-stand for everything, where to-
day is unreckoned with and tomorrow does
not exist. Reaching the end of the strand
he turned to her quickly with a strange
sensation of sympathy-almost Of apprehen-
sion.
Miss Clodagh," he said, gently, as she
began to ascend the heaped-up powders
Miss Clodagh, I grant that 1 don't quite
understand, as you put it, but knew your
father many years before you were born,
and / think that gives some privilege.
On one point 1 have quite made up my
mind I shall not play cards again while
1 am in your house."
AS he spoke Clodagh paused in her ascent
of the powders and looked at him. In the
softly deepening twilight her eyes had a
they We're yet to possess; and in their
depths shade of respect, of surprised ad-
miration, had suddenly become visible AS
she gazed at him, her lips parted involun-
tarily
II didn't think you were 50 plucky." she
said; then abruptly she stopped, glancing
over her shoulder.
From the road behind them came the
clicking thud of a horses hoofs, and a
moment later the voice of Asshin hailed
them out of the dusk.
ITO be continued tomorrow