The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-05-20
CHAPTER v11I.-Continued.

L Al ucT dIttls. s..tl
"Robcrt!'. she said, poor boy, the end
has come to 1t oil. ! knew II must como
some day. Well, we have not been happy.
3 wonder II you have been happy? NO,
don't think So But now, Robert, you
have inc to comfort you with my love
once more, my roor Robert--once more,
as III the old, simple days, when we were
s young"
She led him to n couch.
He trembled violently. His decision OF
movement seemed to have gone. Ills
purpose Of flight had for the moment be-
come obscure
And now INTO this mans heart came
1emorse and regret SO awful. q realizn-
ton so sudden and strong, so instinct
with pain for which there is no name.
chat everything before his eyes turned
to burning fire.
The flames Of his agony burnt up the
wells which had for SO long obscured the
truth. They shrivelled and vanished.
Too late. too late. he knew what he
had lost
The last agony wrenched his brain
around again to another and more ter
ribe contemplation.
HIS thoughts We're In other and outside
hands. which pulled his brain from one
scene to another, as man moves the
eye of the camera obscura to different
fields Of view.
Incredible as 1t may seem, for the
first time Llwcllyn realized what he had
done-realized that IS, In its entirety the
whole horror and consequences of that
action of his which WIS to kill him now.
He had not been able to see tho mngni-
tude and extent OF his crime before
either at the time when 1t Vas proposed
tc him, except at the first moment OF
speech, or after its committol.
I III, y,.o t,, Anti 1,oI
wrapped around i'll the hideous fact Of
sensuality, which dcadens and destroys
sensation.
And now, with his wifc's thin arms
around him, her wthered cheek pressed
to HIS her words OF glad love, a martyrs
swan song In his ears, he saw, knew and
understood.
Through the terror Of his thoughts her
words began to penetrate.
II know, Robert-husband, ! know
The end is here. But what has hap
pened? Tell mo everything, that may
comfort you the more. Tell me, Robert,
for the dear Chrtst's sake!"
AT those words the man stifened.
For tho dear Christ's sake!''
Suddenly, in the disorder and tumult
OF his tortured brain, came quite fool
tshly and inconsequenuy, quotation
from an old French romance-full OF
SAtlte ana (!lS Keen CyIllClSIIl Ol u period
which he had been reading:
Tres volontiers,' repartit lie demon.
'Vous Ainez les tubIeaux changeans;
Fe veux yous CONTENDER"
Yes. the devil who Is torturing him
now had shown him many moving as
ictts CT life. Les tableaux changeans!
But now, at last here was the worst
lrWnGnt OF all.
Cor tho dear Christs sake, tell me,
FL bert"
How could he tell this?
This was his last moment Of peace,
i his last chance of any help or hope.
He had begun to cling to her. to min
gle foolish tears with hers--the while
his fired brain ranged all the halls Of
agony.
For if he told her-this gentle Christian
lady, to whom he had been so unkind-
then she would never touch him more.
The last hours--there was but little
time remaning-wo be alone. Alone!
This new revelation, that her love was
sill his. wonder of mysteries this came
at the last moments to aid him.
a last grace before the running water
closed over him. Was he to give this
up?
The thought lay like wounded bird
in his brain. 1t crept about it like some
paralysed thing. Not yet dead, but in
active Though he knew how terribly.
the moments called to him. yet he could
not act
The myriad agonics he was enduring
: now. agonies so various and great that
8S he knew He'll had none greater these,
even these were alleviatcd by the wonder
of his wifes love-
The terrible remorse that was knock
Ing at his heart could not undo that.
He chung to her
Tell me- allN@lbout at. Robert will
forgive you... whatever you have done.
have long ago forgiven eerything In
my heart. There are only the words to
say"
She rested her worn. tired head on his
s. shoulders The sunbeam gave it glory.
Again the man must suffer u terrible
agony. She had asked him to tell her
all his trouble In voice OF full of gem
q tie pleading.
Whose voice did her voice recall TO him;
what fatal hour? a coarser voice, a
richer voice, trembling, so he had thought
with love for him.
TELL me everything Bob" 1t was
Gertrude's voice.
The day OF his undoing! The day when
his horrid secret was wrcstcd from him
by the levers of his own passions. The
day which had brought him TO this. FINS
coronat opus
But the agony within him was the
agony OF contrast.
The great fires round his soul had burnt
his lust away. There was no more regret
or longing for the evil past All the
joys Of sensational life seemed as IL
Il they had never been. Now. the pain
was the pain of man, not who knows
the worst too soon, but who knows tho
best too late!
A vivid picture. a succession of thoughts
following each other with such kinetic
swiftness that they became welded In
one single picture. as one may see cast
landscape OF wood and torrent. cham
paign and forest. In one fash of the
: .storm sword, came to him now.
Nnd AT last, he saw himself seated at
great table In n noble room. There
were soft lights. Silver and flowers were
there. Round the board sat many men
and women On their faces was the
calm triumph Of those who had succeeded
4 ip a fine battle, won an intellectual strife,