The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-11-01


room with feverish activity. In one
moment the aspect of life had been
changed. Five minutes since he had
been glorying in the risk of barely
! saved situation: now that situation
with its merely social complications
had become matter OF small impor-
lance.
His long. strlding steps had carried
him TO the fireplace. and his back was
toward the door when at last the
handle turned. He wheeled round to
receive Ewes message. then look OF
| pleased surprise crossed his face.
1t was Eve herself who stood In the
| doorway.
Without hesitation his lips parted.
Eve" be said abruptly. Il have had
t great news Russia has shown her
teeth at last. Two caravans belong
ing 10 British trader We're yesterday
interfered with by band of Cossacks.
The affair occurred a couple of miles
outside Meshed. The traders remon-
strated, but the Russians made sum-
mary use of their advantage. Two
Englishmen were wounded and one of
them has since died. Fraide has only
now received the news. which cannot
be overrated. 1t gives the precise lever
necessary for the big move ut the re-
assembling" He spoke with great ear
nestness and unusual haste. As he
| finished he took a step forward. But
| that's not air. he added. .'Fraide
wants the great move set in motion by
| q great speech. and he has asked me
| to make it.
| For q moment Eve waited. She look
ed at him in silence. aud in that silence
he read in her eyes the reflection Of
his own expression.
And your" she asked in a suppress
ed voice. what answer did you
give%
He watched her for an instant, tax
ing a strange pleasure In her flushed
face and brilliantly eager eyes: then
the JOY OF conscious strength, the sense
Of opportunity regained, swept all 9TH
er considerations out Of sight
Il accepted" he said quickly. "Could
any man who was merely human have
done otherwiser
That was Loder's attitude and action
on the night Of his jeopardy and his
success, and the following day found
his mood unchanged. He was one OF
those rare individuals who never give q
promise overnight and regret II In the
morning. he was slow to move. but
when he did tho movement brushed all
obstacles aside. In the nrst days Of his
usurpation he had gone cautiously, half
fascinated, half distrustful. Then the
reality, the extraordinary tangibility OF
the position had gripped him when.
matching himself for the nrst time with
-
his real weight on the day OF his pro-
test against tho Easter adjournment.
With that knowledge had been born the
dominant factor In his whole scheme
the overwhelming, insistent desire to
manifest his power; that desire that
IL the salvation or the ruin Of every
strong man who has once realized his
strength. Supremacy was the note to
which his ambition reached. To tram
pie out Chilcote's footmarks with his
own hand had been his tacit instinct
from the first. Now 1t rose paramount.
1t was the whole theory Of creation
the survival OF the fittest-the deep.
egotistical certainty that he was the
better man.
And it was with this conviction that
he entered on the vital period Of his
dual career. The imminent crisis and
his own share In 1t absorbed him alb
solutely. In the weeks that followed
his answer to Fraide's proposal he gave
himself ungrudgingly to his work. He
wrote, read and planned with tireless
energy. He frequently forgot to eat
and slept only through sheer exhaus-
ton. In the fullest sense Of the word
he lived for the eliminating hour that
was to bring him failure or success.
He seldom left Grosvenor square In
the days that followed except to confer
with his party. All his interest, all his
relaxation even, lay in his work and
what pertained to It, His strength was
like a solid wall, his intelligence was
sharp and keen as steel. The moment
was his, and BY sheer mastery OF will
he put other considerations out Of sight.
He forgot Chilcote and forgot Lillian.
not because they escaped his memory.
but because he chose to shut them from
it
OF Eve he saw but little in this time
of high pressure When a man touches
the core of his capacities. puts his best
into the work that In his eyes stands
there is little place for and
no Oe0Q OF WOIuau. CU0 COu00 0clOI0
and after. She inspires. compensates
or completes; but the achievement, the
creation, is mans alone. And all true
women understand and yield to this
precept.
Eve watched the progress Of his Ia
Dor. and in the depth OF her own heart
the watching came nearer TO actual
living than any activity she had known.
She was an onlooker-but an onlooker
who stood, as II were. on the steps OF
the arena, who. by a single forward
could feel the sand under
her feet, the breath OF the battle on
her face, and in this knowledge she
rested satisfied.
There were hours when Loder SEEM
ed scarcely conscious Of her existence,
but on those occasions she smiled in
her serene way-and went on waiting.
She knew that each day before the aft
e-noen had passed he would come into
his sitting room, his face thoughtful.