Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-11-07
>lHAT night for almost the first
 time since he had adopted his dual role Loder slept i'll. He


 time since he had adopted his
 dual role Loder slept i'll. He
 was not man over whom i'm
 agination held any powerful sway. His < doubts and misgivings seldom ran tc
 speculation upon future possibilities
 Nevertheless. the fact that, conscious,
 ly or unconsciously, he had adopted a ! new attitude toward Eve came home { to him with unpleasant force during
 the hours of darkness, and long before
 the first hint of daylight had slipped
 through the heavy window curtains he had arranged plan of action-a plan
 wherein, by the simple method of alto
 gether avoiding her, he might soothe
 his own conscience and safeguard Chil-
 cote's domestic interests.
 II was satisfactory if somewhat
 negative arrangement, and he rose next
 morning with feeling that things had
 begun to shape themselves. But chance
 sometimes has disconcerting knack of
 forestalling even our best planned
 schemes. He dressed slowly and de- < Dcended to his solitary breakfast with
 the pleasant sensation of having put
 last night out of consideration by the
 turning over of new leaf. but scarce
 Y had he opened Chilcote's letters,
 scarcely had he taken cursory glance
 at the mornings newspaper than it was
 borne in upon him that not only new
 leaf, but whole sheaf of new leaves, had
 been turned ill his prospects by hand
 infinitely more powerful and arbitrary
 than his own. He realized within the
 space of few moments that the lei
 sure Eve might have claimed. the lei sure he might have been tempted to de-
 vote to her, was no longer his to dis
 pose of, being already demanded of
 him from quarter that allowed of no refusal.
 For the first rumbling of the political earthquake that was to shake the coun- tyy made itself audible beyond denial on that morning of March 2 when the news spread through England that. in view of the dlsorganized state of the Persian army and the shahs conse- Quent inability to suppress the open in- surrection of the border tribes in the northeastern districts of Meshed. Rus eia, with great show of magnanimity, had come to the rescue by dispatching . large armed force from her military station at Merv across the Persian frontier to the seat of the disturbance.
 To many hundreds of Englishmen who read their papers on that morning this announcement conveyed but little. That there Is such country as Persia we all know. that English interests pre- dominate in the south and Russian in terests in the north we have all super flcially understood from childhood. but In this knowledge, coupled with tEe fact that Persia is comfortably far i away, we are apt to rest content. It is only to the eyes that see through long distance glasses. the minds that regard | the present as nothing more or less than an inevitable link joining the fu- ture to the past, that this distant, de- ! batable land stands out in It's true DO litical significance.
 To the average reader of news the | statement of Russia's move seemed scarcely more important than had the nrst report of the border risings in January, but to the men who had watched the growth of the disturbance 1t came charged with portentous mean ing. Through the entire ranks of the opposition. from Fraide himself down. ward. 1t caused thrill of expectation that peculiar prophetic sensation that every politician has experienced at some moment of his career.
 lp no member of his party did this feeling strike deeper root than in Loder. Imbued with lifelong interest in the eastern question, specially equipped by personal knowledge to hold and pro claim an opinion upon Pcssian affairs. be read the signs and portS.its with in stinctive insight Seated at Chilcote's table. surrounded by Chilcote's letters end papers. he forgot the breakfast hat was slowly growing cold. forgot the interests spd dangers. personal or pleasurable. of the night before. while bis mental eyes consistently conJured up the map of Persia, travelling with Iteady deliberation from Merv to Me ,hed. from Meshed to Herat. from Her 1t to the empire of India, For 1t was , not the fact that the Hazaras had risen against the shah that occupied the thinking mind. nor was 1t the fact that , Russian and not Persian troops were Iestined 10 subdue them. but the deep y important consideration that an lrmed Russian force had crossed the rontier and was encamped within -wenty miles of Meshed-Meshed. up- n which covetous Russian eyes have csted ever since the days of Peter the . srest So Loder's thoughts ran as he read : md reread the news from the varying 'olitical standpoints. and so they con |. inued 10 run when. some hours later. . 10 urgent telephone message from the !. l. Georges Gazette asked hiu to eaH ' [ LskeIey's office. ' ' The message was interesting as well ' 6 Imperative. and he made an instant e<ponse- The thought of LakeIey's |. cen eyes and shrevd enthusiasIns al- ' rsys possessed strong attractions f1c ' is own slower temperament. but even ' al this impetus been lacking. the s thst at the St Georges Of- Y ce<. if anywhere. the true feelings Of 'e party were invariably vosced vou1 e zve drswn him vithozt hesitation