The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-10-29

resolution She stood hesitating for 3
moment, then she turned ana moved
TO the mantelpiece.
THAT night you found me changed p
Loder was insistent.
"Changed-and yet not changed
She spoke reluctantly. with ayerted
head.
And what did you Think"
Again she was silent Then again a
faint excitement tinged her cheeks.
Il thought she began 1T seem
ed Once more she paused. hamper
ed by her own uncertainty. her own
sense of puzzling ineongruity. Il don't
know why / speak like this" she went
on at last. as if in justification OF her
self, '-or why l want to speak. But a
feeling-an extraordinary. incompre-
hensible feeling seems TO urge nse on.
The same feeling that came to me on
the day we had tea together-the feel
ing that made me-that almost made
me believe
Believe what?" The words escaped
him without volition.
AT sound of his voice she turned
Believe that a miracle happened" she
said: that you had found strength,
had freed yourself"
From morphia?'
From morphia.''
In the silence that followed Loder
lived through a century of suggestion
and indecision. His first feeling was
for himself, but his first clear thought
was for Chilcote and their compact
He stood, metaphorieally. on a stone
in the middle of a stream, balancing
on one foot, then on the other; looking
to the right bank, then to the left. At
last, as it always did. inspiration came
to him slowly. He realized that by
one plunge he might save both Chill
cote and himself.
He crossed quickly to the fireplace
and stood by Eve. You were right
in your belief he said. For all that
time, from the night you spoke to me
of Fraide to the day you had tea in
this room, never touched a drug"
She moved suddenly. and he saw her
face. John" she said unsteadily, you
IL have known you to lie to me
about other things"
With hasty movement he averted
his head. The doubt. the appeal in her
words. shocked him. The whole isofa-
ton OF her life seemed summed up in
the one short sentence. For the instant
he forgot Chilcote. With a reaction of
feeling he turned to her again.
Look at me.'' he said brusquely.
She raised her eyes.
do you believe I'm speaking the
truth?'
She searched his eyes intently, the
doubt and hesitancy still struggling in
her face
"But the last three weeks? ?" she said
How can you ask me to
believer
He had expected this and he met 1t
steadily enough. Nevertheless his
courage faltered. To deceive this
woman. even to justify himself. had in
the last half hour become something
sacrilegious.
1.-The last three weeks must be
buried he said hurriedly. 'No man
could free himself suddenly from-from
a vice." He broke off abruptly. He
hated Chilcote; he hated himself
Then Ewes face, raised in distressed
appeal, overshadowed all scruples.
You have been silent and patient for
years. he said suddenly Can you
be patient and silent a little longer?"
He spoke without consideration. He
was conscious of no selfishness be-
meath his words. In the first exercise
of conscious strength the primitive de-
sire to reduce all elements to his own
sovereignty submerged every other
81 can't enter into the
thing" he said; like you. l give no
explanations. / can only tell you that
on the day we talked together in this
room I was myself-in the full pos
session of my reason, the full knowI-
edge Of my own capacities. The man
you have known in the last three
weeks, the man you have imagined in
the last four years. is a shadow, an
weakness in human form.
There is a new Chilcote--if you will
only see him.
Eve was trembling as he ceased: her
face was flushed; there was a strange
in her eyes. She was NOV
ed beyond herself.
But the other you-the old yous"
You must be patient" He looked
down into the fire. s1Times like the
last three weeks will come again
must come again; they are inevitable.
When they do come. you must shut
your eyes-you must blind yourself.
You must ignore them-and me. Is it
a compact?" He still avoided her eyes.
She turned to him quietly. Yes
il you wish it, she said, below her
breath.
He was conscious of her glance, but
he dared not meet it. He felt sick at
the part he was playing, yet he held
to it tenaciously.
II wonder if you could do what few
men and fewer women are capable
OFF, he asked at last. Il wonder il
you could learn to live in the PRESENT.
He lifted his head slowly and met her
eyes. This is an-an experiment" he
went on. And. like all experiments. |
it has good phases and bad. When |
the bad phases come round IL want /
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