The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-02-18

street, u big, 1lof1d, pro5perout-loohiHs
man, looking rs though the world used
him well and he was content with al ~
had to offer
Hts house was but n few doors down
the street and he went upstairs to dress
ut once He Intended to dine at home
| that night
| His dressing room. out of which
| small bedroom opened, was large ana
| luxl ous. a clear fire gloWed upon
| tile hearth; the carpet was sou ana
| thick. rhe great dressing table
with It's three sided mirror was
covered with brushes and ivory Jars
cleaning brightly in the rays of the little
| electric lights which framed the mirror.
| A huge wardrobe full of clothes neatly
| folded and put away, suggested man
about town. dandy with many sartorial
| interests. An armchair OF soft green
! leather. stamped with red-gold pomegran-
atses. stood by a small black table stem
ciIed with orange-colored bees. On the
table stood cigarette box OF hneiy
ptaited cream-colored straw, woven over
silver and cedar wood, and with Llewel-
lyn's initials in turquoise on one lid.
He threw off his coat and sank into D.
chair with sigh of pleasure at the
embracing comfort of 1t. Then his fingers
plunged into the tea which filed the box
cigarette.
He smoked in luxurious silence.
He had ialready half forgotten the
menacing letter from Constantine
Schuabe, the Imperative summons to tho
fiat in bloomsbury Court Mansions. This
was a moment of intense physical ease.
The flavor OF his saffron Salonika cigar
cite, n tiny glass of garnet-colored casss
which he had poured out. were alike ex-
| cellent All day long he had been at work
| on a brilliant monograph dealing with
| the new Hebrew mosaics. Only two other
| living men could have written 1t. But
| his work also had fallen out of his brain.
| At that moment he was no more than n
| great animal soulless, with the lnsts of
| the flesh pouring round him whispering
| evil and singing his blood.
! a timid knock fell upon the door OUT
side. 1t opened and Mrs. Llewellyn came
slowly In.
The Professors wife was tall. thin
woman. Her untidy clothes hung round
her body in unlovely folds iier COM
plexion was muddy and unwholesome;
! hut the unsmling, withered lips revealed
a row of fair white, even teeth. 1t was
/, in her eyes that one read the secret of
! this lady. They We're large blue, once
| beautiful, so one might have fancied.
| now the light had faded from them and
they were blurred and full of pain.
| She came slowly up TO her husbands
| chair, placing one hand timidly upon it
| oh is that your he said, not brutally.
hut with a complete and utter Indifference.
| II shall want some dinner at home to-
| night. / shall be going out about ten to
n supper engagement. See about it now.
| something light. And tell one of the
maids to bring up some hot water
| Yes. Robert" she said, and went out
with no further word. but signing a little
| as she closed the door quietly.
| They had been married fifteen years.
| For fourteen of them he had hardly
| ever spoken to her except in anger at
some household accident. On her own
| private income of six hundred u year
| she had to do what she could to keep
the house going. Llwellyn never gave
| her anything of the thousand a year
which was his salary at the Museum, and
| the greater sums he earned by his work
outside It, She knew no one, the Pro-
fessor went into none but official society.
ard indeed but few of his colleagues
knew that he was married man. He
treated the house as a hotel sleeping
there occasionally, breakfasting and dress
| ing. His private rooms were the only
| was old, faded, and without comfort.
| Mrs. Llwelyn spent most of her life
| with the two servants in the kitchen.
| She always swept and tidicd her hus-
bands rooms herself. That afternoon
she had built and coaxed the fire with
| her own hands,