Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-15

what was the wise step to take about him.
You couldn't play with drugs like that.
Yet he had allowed her to throw
that bottle away. True, but what If he sent
for another? Then her mind went swiftly
forward over the events of the next week;
1t was crammed full of things to do; she
time for. thought She did not want to
think then she turned on her side
and began to do So
Why had Rudolf Villars come back to
trouble her tranquility? He said he had
come back really to gain her friendship.
But what if she could not give 1t him,
what if her friendship meant something
more? She felt sure he loved her; she
ginning to love him. No one else had ever
affected her like that She resented that
yet she had said that 1t was per-
sons own will which was usually destiny.
and her will was perfectly made up on the
subject. But what If it came into conflict
with another will? She was afraid Of him.
too or was 1t of herself that she
was afraid?
cessantly turning wheel Of thought. She
thought of Thurso again, and of the danger
in which he stood. then again she thought
of Rudolf Villars, and - did she, too,
stand in danger?
She had drawn back her curtains, leav-
ing only the blind to cover the wide-open
windows, and the moon outside shone full
on it, making all the furniture and details
white the sofas and chairs were white also,
and on her toilet table glimmered the silver
of the mirror frame and the silver handles
of brushes and toilet articles. How much or
how little these familiar things meant to
usi How external sights and sounds and
objects could be soaked with emotion, and
how again they could be just like dry
sponges, hard and gritty almost to the
touch But all she saw here, in this her
bed chamber. was no more than dry sponge,
no wine or liquor of love had soaked into
these things. All her life she had missed
that, and how much that was she was be-
ginning to guess. AIRY and 'Arriet in the
street, who changed hats and shouted songs
were so infinitely richer than she, in spite
Of all she had, her position, her beauty, her
gifts, her 'kindliness ALI these should have
been the trappings and harness of the
chariot of love. Without it they were rem
nants, odds and ends, fit only for a tumble
sale. Once she had had, perhaps, the OPP
portunity of knowing what it was; but she
had been very young then; she could not
guess how all-important was her choice,
and at that age her mothers will rather
than her own had been her destiny. But
now, she knew, that gift, which sha had re-
jected before, was coming nearer again to
her; it would be offered again.
Yet still her will was her destiny, and
sooner than play with these thoughts and
admit argument over them, she got up,
meaning to read a book till sleep came to
her. The book she wanted was on the table
in the window, and without striking a light
she crossed over to It, The clock on the
mantelpiece had only just chimed two, and
a light shone from under the chink Of the
door on the left that led to Thursos dress
ing room, SO that she knew the house was
not asleep yet Also from outside she heard
the subdued crunch of gravel underneath
the heel of some one who still loitered there
and simultaneously some one the loiterer
probably began whistling little tune be-
low his breath, a little Austrian folk-song
that she had not heard for years. But that
that simple little melody, was soaked and
dripping with emotion for her.
Lily leaned farther out, her bare white
arms crossed on the sill. The glamour Of
the night-whereof that low-whistled mel
ody seemed the keynote and inspiration
was strong upon her.
The moon threw black weird shadows on
lawn and shrubbery Darker than the sur
rounding shade, his white shirt-front faint
ly visible against the dense shadow Of a
clump of yews, stood Villars. In his hand
glowed the tip of a half-smoked cigarette.
Lily could feel his eyes upon her although
his face at that distance was but a pale
blur.
And thus they stood. he and she. for per-
haps full minute; darkness and light bar
ring the stretch of lawn between them;
they two alone in all the world. Then
From the hitler side Of the line Of
a twig snapped under stealthy foot
Lily's eyes instinctively followed the trend
OF the sound, and rested on a furtive
all fours along the hedge.
Grotesque, amorphic, the thing prog
ressed; now rising, now flattening itself
against the earth; constantly pausing to
examine various portions of the shrubbery
Breathless Lily watched its movements
until, her gaze growing accustomed to the
hedge-thrown shadows, she saw that the
prowling creature was q man; creeping
silently along on all tours, feeling to right
and to left as though for something he had
lost. Lilys first thought was that the in
truder was burglar and in search Of his
concealed lantern or kit Of tools. II he
should come upon Misunderstanding SO un-
suspectingly, bare twenty yards away on
the farther side Of the shrubberyi She had
drawn in her breath for cry of warning
when the cry died in noiseless gurgle in
her throat
For the unknown had momentarily en-
tered q patch of white moonlight and the
rays fell full on his face. He was Thurso.
The momentary exultation following on
the earps scene with Lily earlier in the day
had quickly faded. All the more quickly
when he had realized that by an act that
now struck him as madly qutxotic he had
In,1r vxnI III - III til. l>rA