The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-11-07

IHwas upon this same incomplete
| ard yet tenacious chain that his mind
(orked as he traversed the familiar
Hktreets and at last gained the house he
4 had so easily learned to call home.
4 AS he inserted the latchkey and felt
i 1t move smoothly in the lock a momen.
tary revolt against his own Judgment
his own censorship. swung him sharply
/ toward reaction. But it is only the
blind who can walk without a tremor
| on the edge Of an abyss, and there was
| no longer a bandage across his eyes.
| The reaction fared up like a strip of
| lighted paper; then, like a strip OF
| lighted paper, it dropped back to ashes
| He pus he'd the door open and slowly
| crossed the hall.
| The mounting Of a staircase is often
| the index to mans state Of mind. As
| Loder assembled the stairs Of Chilcote's
house his shoulders lacked their stiff
ness, his head was no longer erect. He
moved as though his feet were weight
| ed. He had ceased to be the man OF
| achievement whose smallest opinion
of solitude he was the mere human fiot-
sam to which he had once compared
himself-the fiotsam that. dreaming it
has found harbor, wakes to find itself
the prey of the incoming tide.
He paused at the head of the stairs to
rally his resolutions. Then, still walk
ing heavily. he passed down the CORR
dor to Ewes room. 1t was suggestive
of his character that, having made his
decision. he did not daily over it's per-
Torrance. Without waiting to knock,
he turned the handle and walked into
the room.
It looked precisely AZ it always look
ed but to Loder the rich, subdued col
oring OF books and howers-the whole
air Of culture and repose that the place
conveyed-iseemed to hold a deeper
meaning than before, and 1T was on the
instant that bis eyes, crossing the In
animate objects. rested on their owner
that the true force of his position, the
enormity of the task before him, made
itself plain. Realization came to him
with vivid. overwhelming force. and it
must be accounted to his credit In the
summing Of his qualities that then, in
LudI uuOneut VI tEiAl, tu0 kAOdAut VI IC-
treat. the thought OF yielding. did not
present itself.
Eve was standing by the mantel
piece She wore beautiful gown, a
long string OF diamonds was twisted
about her neck, and her soft. black
hair was coiled high after a foreign
fashion and held in place by a large
diamond comb. As he entered she turn
ed hastily, almost nervously. and look
ed at him with the rapid, searching
glance he had learned to expect from
her. Then almost directly her express
sion changed to one Of quick concern.
With a faint exclamation Of alarm she
stepped forward.
What has happenedT she said.
''You look like a ghost"
Loder made no answer. Moving into
the room, he paused by the oak table
that stood between the fireplace and
the door.
They made an unconscious tableau
as they stood there-he with his hard,
set face, she with her heightened col
or, her inexplicably bright eyes. They
stood completely silent for a space
a space that for Loder held no sugges-
ton Of time. Then, finding the tension
unbearable, Eve spoke again.
"Has anything happenedY" she ask
ed. lis anything wrong"
Had he been less engrossed the in
tensity of her concern might have
struck him, but in q mind SO harassed
as his there was only room for one
consideration - the consideration Of
himself. The sense OF her question
reached him, but its Significance left
him untouched.
as anything wrong" she reiterated
for the second time.
By an effort he raised his eyes. No
man, he thought, since the beginning
of the world was ever set task so
cruel as his. Painfully and slowly his
lips parted.
Everything in the world is wrong"
he said in slow, hard voice.
Eve said nothing, but her color sud-
denly deepened.
Again Loder was unobservant, but
with the logged resolution that mark
ed him he forced himself to his task.
You despise lies" he said at last.
Tell me what you would think of a
man whose whole life was one elab-
grated lie." The words were slightly
exaggerated. but their utterance. their
painfully brusque sincerity, precluded
all suggestion Of effect. Resolutely
holding her gaze, he repeated his ques-
ton
Tell me! Answer me! want to
know"
Ewes attitude was difficult to read.
She stood twisting the string Of dia-
monds between her fingers.
Tell me-" he said again.
She continued to look at him for a
moment; then, as II some fresh inn
pulse moved her, she turned away
from him toward the IRE.
81 cannot" she said. I'VE III
could not set myself to judge-any
one"
Loder held himself rigidly in hand.
Eve" he said quietly. Il was at
he Ap.od{~n foy,fehf Tho MAY