Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-09-19
CHATTER xxiv.-continued.

uILl0 udIuOI, i 5dW vi Lang
Ions Incidence at anchor. l glanced
coward Steuben Point-where his
cousins, the Vivians, .lived-and
thought l recognized his launch at
heir Y.sr. We saluted the Incidence;
he Incidence saluted us. My launch
vas piped away and took me ashore.
{ strolled along the path that wound
round the base of the hill toward the
Kennels. At the crossing of the path
down from the house, l paused and
fingered on the glimpse of one of the
corner towers of the great snowy
palace. I was muttering something
| listened to myself. 1t was: "Mul-
holland, Mrs. Mulholland and the four
little Mulhollands." And l felt like
laughing aloud, such a joke was 1t
that l should be envying a policeman
his potato patch and his fat wife and
his four brats, and that he should be
In a position to pity me.
You may be imagining that, through
Ill, Anita had been dominating my
mind. That is the way it is in the
romances; but not in life. No doubt
there are men who brood upon the
impossible, and moon and maunder
sway their lives over the grave of a
lead love; no doubt there are people
who will say that, because I did not
shoot Langdon or her, or myself, or
Hy to a desert or pose in the crowded
places of the world as the last scene
Of a tragedy, I therefore cared little
about her. / offer them this sugges-
ton: A man strong enough to give
a love worth a woman's while is
strong enough to live on without her
when he finds he may not live with
her.
AS / stood there that summer day,
looking toward the crest of the hill,
at the mocking mausoleum of my dead
dream, I realized what the incessant
battle of the street had meant to me.
"There Is peace for me only in the
Storm" said I. "But, thank God, there
is peace for me somewhere"
Through the foliage I had glimpses
Of some one coming slowly down the
zigzag path. Presently, at n OF the
turnings halfway UP the hill, appeared
Mowbray Langdon. What Is he do
ing here" thought /, scarcely able to
believe my eyes. Here Of all places!"
And then l forgot the strangeness of
his being at Dawn Hill in the strange
ness of his expression. For it was ap-
parent, even at the distance which
separated us, that he was suffering
from some great and recent blow. He
looked old and haggard; he walked
like q man who neither knows nor
cares where he is going.
He had not seen me. and my i'm
pulse was to avoid him by continuing
on toward the kennels. 1 had no es
pecial feeling against him; / had not
lost Anita because she cared for him
or he for her, but because she did not
care for me-simply that to meet
would be awkward, d~isagreeable fol
us both. At the slight noise of my
movement to go on, he halted, glanced
round eagerly, as If he hoped the
sound had been made by some one he
wished to see. His glance fell on me
He stopped short, was for an instanf
disconnected; then his face lighted VI
with devilish joy. "You!" he cried
"Just the mani" And he descended
more rapidly.
At first / could make nothing Of this
semark. But as he drew neare ant
nearer, and his ugly mood became
more apparent, l felt that he was look
ing forward to provoking me into Civ
ing him a distraction from whateve
was tormenting him. / waited. A few
minutes and we were face to face,
outwardly calm, but my anger slowl.
lighting up as he deliberately applied
to it the TORCH Of his insolent eyes. HI,
was wearing his old familiar air o
cynical assurance. Evidently, witt
his recovered fortune, he had recoy
cred his conviction of his great su
periority to the rest Of the human
race-the child had climbed back Of
the chair that made it tall and ha'
forgotten its tumble. And l was won
dering again that /, SO short a tim
before, had been crude enough to b
fascinated and fooled by those taWdr
posings and ~pretenses. For the mar
as / now saw him, was obviously shal
low and vain, a slave to those poo
"man-of-the-world" passions-ostents
ton and cynicism and skill at vices oil
as mankind and tedious as a tread
mill, the commonplace routine of tn
idle and foolish and purposeless. !
clever, handsome fellow, but the NOR
pitiful that he was by nature abov
the uses to which he prostituted hin
self.
He fought hard to keep his eyes steat
lily on mine; but they would waver an
shift. Not, however, before l ha
found deep down in them the begir
nings Of fear. "You see, you wer
mistaken" said /. you have nothin
to say to me--or I to you"
He knew I had looked straight to th
bottom Of his real self, and had see
the coward that is in every man VIII
has been bred to appearances onl.
Up rose his vanity, the towards sui
stitute for courage.
"You think / am afraid Of your" b
sneered, bluffing and clustering lk
the school bully
Il don't in the least care whethe
you are or not" replied +. What al
you doing here, anyhow
1t was as If / had thrown of th
cover of a furnace. Il came to get th
woman / love-" he cried. "You sto,
her from me! You trlcked me! Blu
by God, Blackjack, I'll never pause III