Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-03-21
THE
CRAFTERS
by
FIR AN CHS Lynn DE
CHAPTER IV.-CONTINUED.

She closed her eyes, recalling the
words and the occasion of them.
you are wasting time and sentiment
on this young upstart of a country
lawyer, ElinOr. So long as you were
content to make it a summer days
amusement | had nothing to say; you
are old enough and sensible enough to
choose your own recreatiOnS. But in
justice to yourself, nc less than to him,
you must let it end with our going
home. You haven't money for two"
Her eyes grew hot under the closed
lids when she remembered. At the
time the hard saying was evoked there
was money enough for two, if David
Kent would have shared it, But he had
held his peace and gone away, and now
there was not enough for two.
ElinOr faced her major weakness un-
flinchingly. She was not a slave to
the luxuries-the luxuries of the very
rich. On the contrary, she had tried
to make herself believe that hardness
was part of her creed. But latterly,
she had been made to see that there
was formidable array of things
which she had been calling comforts;
little luXuries which Brookes Ormsby's
wife might reckon among the simplest
necessities of the daily life, but which
David Kents wife might have to fore
go; nay, things which Elinor Brent
wood might presently have to forego.
For she compelled herself to front the
fact of the diminished patrimony
squarely. So long as the modest
Western Pacific dividends were forth
| coming, they could live comfortably
and without pinching. But fail these
No, I'm not great enough" she
confessed, with little shiver. Il
should be utterly miserable. If |
could afford to indulge in ideals it
would be different; but | can't-not
when one word of mine will build a
barrier so high that all the soul-kill-
ing little skimpings can never climb
over it. And besides, l owe something
to mother and Nell"
1t was the final straw When any
weakness of the human heart can find
seeming virtue to go hand in hand
with it, the battle is as good as lost
and at that moment Brookes Ormsby,
placidly refilling his pipe in the smok-
ing room of the Pullman, was by no
means in the hopeless case he was
sometimes tempted to fancy himself
AS may be surmised, a diligent suit
or, old enough to plan thoughtfully
and yet young enough to simulate the
youthful ardor of a lover whose hair
has not begun to thin at the temples,
would lose no ground in three days
journey and the opportunities it af-
forded
In Penelopes phrase, Elinor "suf-
fered him. enjoying her freedom
from care like a sleepy kitten; shut
ting the door on the past and keep
ing it shut until the night when their
! through sleeper was coupled to the
Western Pacific Flyer at A & T. juno
ton. But late that evening, when she
was rummaging in her handbag for a
handkerchief, she came upon David
Kents letter and read. it again
"Loring tells me you are coming
west" he wrote. 81 assume there is
at least one chance in three that you
will pass through CASTOR II you do,
and If the hour it not altogether i'm
possible, l should like to meet your
train. One thing among the many the
past two years have denied me-the
only thing l have cared much about,
Thinks the sight of your face l
shall be very happy if you will let me
look at you-just for the minute or
two the train may STOP"
There was more of it; a good bit
more; but it was all guarded common
place, opening no window in the heart
| OF the man David Kent. Yet even in
| the commonplace she found some faint
interlinings of the change in him; not
mere metamorphosis of the outward
| man, as a new environment might
make, but radical change, deep and
biting, like the action of strong acid
| upon fine grained metal.
She returned the letter to its en-
velope. and after looking up CASTOR on
the timetable fell into a heart stirring
reverie. with unseeing eyes fixed on
the restful blackness of the night
rushing rearward past the car windows.
He has forgotten she said. with a
little lip-curl of disappointment "He
thinks he ought to remember. and he
Is trying-trying because Grantham