The Princeton union., 1907-02-28
By KATHERINE CECIL THUI
Again she was silent. Then again a
Author Of THE Circle" Etc.

Again she was silent. Then again a
faint excitement tinged her cheeks.
II thought she began. 1T SEEM
ed"- Once more she paused, hamper
ed by. her own uncertainty, her own
sense of puzzling incongruity. II don't
know why speak like this" she went
on at last, as if in justification Of her.
self, cor why I want to speak. But a
feeling-an extraordinary, incompre-
hensible feeling seems to urge me on.
The same feeling that came to me on
the day we had tea together-the feel
ing that made me-that almost made
me be1ieve"-
"Believe what?" The words escaped
him without volition.
At sound of his voice she turned.
'Believe that miracle happened" she
said; that you had found strength,
had freed yourself
"From morphia?''
"From morphia.'
In the silence that followed Loder
lived through a century Of suggestion
and indecision. His first feeling was
for himself, but his first clear thought
was for Chilcote and their compact.
he stood, metaphorically, on a stone
In the middle Of stream, balancing
on one foot, then on the other; looking
to the right bank, then to the left. At
last, as it always did, inspiration came
to him slowly. He realized that by
one plunge he might save both Chill
cote and himself.
He crossed quickly to the fireplace
and stood by Eve. "You were right
in your belief" he said. For all that
time, from the night you spoke to me
Of Fraide to the day you had tea in
this room, I never touched a drug"
She moved suddenly, and he saw her
face. "John," she said unsteadily, "you
|-I-I have known you to lie to me
about other things"
With hasty movement he averted
his head. The doubt, the appeal in her
words, shocked him. The whole isola-
ton Of her life seemed summed up in
the one short sentence. For the instant
he forgot Chilcote. With a reaction Of
feeling he turned to her again.
"Look at mev' he said brusquely.
She raised her eyes.
'Do you believe I'm speaking the
truth?'
She searched his eyes intently, the
doubt and hesitancy still struggling in
her face.
"But the last three weeks?" she said
reluctantly. "How can you ask me to
believer?
He had expected this and he met it
steadily enough. Nevertheless his
courage faltered. To deceive this
woman, even to justify himself, had in
the last half hour become something
sacrilegious.
"The last three weeks must be
buried" he said hurriedly. mo man
could free himself suddenly from-from
q vice." He broke off abruptly. He
hated Chilcote; he hated himself.
Then Ewes face, raised in distressed
appeal, overshadowed all scruples.
"You have been silent and patient for
years." he said suddenly. "Can you
be patient and silent little longerW
He spoke without consideration. He
was conscious of no selfshness be-
meath his words. In the first exercise
Of conscious strength the primitive de-
sire to reduce all elements to his own
sovereignty submerged every other
emotion. "I can't enter into the
thing" he said; ''like you, I give no
explanations. I can only tell you that
on the day we talked together in this
room I was myself-in the full pos
session Of my reason, the full knowl-
edge Of my own capacities. The man
you have known in the last three
weeks, the man you have imagined in
the last four years, is a shadow, an
unreality-a weakness in human form.
There is a new Chilcote-if you will
only see him."
Eve was trembling as he ceased; her