The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-11-05

he answered in her own light tone.
''As far as that goes" he said. Tets
make it my duty call-having dined
with you. I'm an old fashioned per-
son."
For full second she surveyed him
amusedly. Then at last she spoke
my dear Jack"-she laid particular
stress on the name-"I never imagined
you punctilious. ! should have thought
bohemian would have been more the
word"
Loder felt disconnected and annoyed.
Either. like himself. she was fishing for
information or she was deliberately
playing with him. In his perplexity be
glanced across the room toward the
fireplace.
Lillian saw the look. Wont you sit
down." she said, indicating the couch
Il promise not to make you smoke.
shan't even ask you to take OF your
gloves!'
Loder made no movement His mind
was unpleasantly upset. It was nearly
fortnight since he had seen Lillian,
and in the interval her attitude had
changed, and the change puzzled him.
1t might mean the philosophy of a wo-
man who. knowing herself without ade-
quate weapons, withdraws from a COM
bat that has proved fruitless. or it
might imply the merely catlike desire
to toy with certainty. He looked
quickly at the delicate face. the green
eyes somewhat obliquely set. the unre-
liable mouth, and instantly he inclined
to the latter theory The conviction
4.l4 11@<Y
him suddenly. and with it came the de-
sire to put his belief to the test-to
know beyond question whether her
smiling unconcern meant malice or
mere entertainment.
when you first came into the ROOM"
he said quietly, you said I thought it
would be you Why did you say that?
Again she smiled-the smile that
might be malicious or might be merely
amused. "Oh," she answered at last,
II only meant that though I had been
told Jack Chilcote wanted me, 1t wasn't
Jack Chilcote expected to seer'
After her statement there was a
pause. Loder's position was difficult.
Instinctively convinced that. strong in
the possession of her proof she was en-
joying his tantalized discomfort, he yet
craved the actual evidence that should
set his suspicious to rest. Acting upon
the desire, he made a new beginning.
do you know why I came" he
asked.
Lillian looked up innocently Its so
hard to be certain of anything in this
world" she said. But one is always
at liberty to guess"
Again he was perplexed. Her atti-
tude was not quite the attitude of one
who controls the game, and yet He
looked at her with a puzzled scrutiny.
Women for him had always spelled the
incomprehensible. He was at his best.
his strongest, his surest. in the presence
of men. Feeling his disadvantage. yet
to gain bis end, he made a
last attempt.
How did you amuse yourself at
Grosvenor square this morning before
Eve came to your" he asked. The ef-
fort was awkwardly blunt, but it was
direct
Lillian was buttoning her glove. She |
did not raise her head as he spoke, but |
her fingers paused in their task. For |
a second she remained motionless; then |
she looked up slowly.
"Oh," she said sweetly, 80 I was
right in my guess? You did come to
find out whether l sat in the morning |
room with my hands in my lap or |
about in search OF entertain
ment?''
Loder colored with annoyance and
apprehension. Every look, every tone,
Of Lillian's was distasteful to him. No
could have revealed her
more fully to him than did his own
cyesight. But it was not the moment
for personal antipathies; there were
other interests than his own at stake.
With new resolution he returned her
glance.
Then 1 must still ask my first ques-
ton, Why did you say. 4 thought it
would be you?''' His gaze was direct
so direct that it Disconnected her. She
laughed little uneasily.
Because l knew
"How did you know?"
Because she began; then again
she laughed. Because" she added
quickly, as if moved by a fresh i'm
pulse, Jack Chilcote made it very OBJ
Tious to any one who was in his morn
ng room at II o'clock today that it
would be you and not he who would
De found filing his place this after
loon. It's all very well to talk about
lonor. but when one walks into an
Empty room and sees telegram as
ong as a letter open on a bureau
But her sentence was never finished.
Ioder had heard what he came to hear.
Any confession she might have to offer
vas of no moment in his eyes,
my dear girl he broke in brusque-
Y, don't trouble. I should make q
most unsatisfactory father confessor"
lie spoke quickly. His color was still
high, but not of annoyance. His sus-
'ense was transformed into unpleasant
certainty, but the exchange left him
urer Of himself. His perplexity had
lropped to a quiet sense OF self re-
lance. His paramount desire was for
olitude in which to prepare for the
ask that lay before him-the most con-
,enial task the world possessed-the
of Chilcote's tangled skeins
looking into Lillian's eyes. he smiled ,