The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1907-04-11


playing with him. In his perplexity he
glanced across the room toward the
fireplace
Lillian saw the look. won't you sit
down?" she said, Indicating the couch
i promise not to make you smoke I
shan't even ask you to take off your
glovesv'
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 wo-
man who, knowing herself without ade-
quate weapons, withdraws from CON-
bat that has proved ffuitless, 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
that she possessed the telegram filled
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 4 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, it wasn't
Jack Chilcote expected to seev
After her statement there was a
pause. Loder's position was difficult.
1nstinctively 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 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 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
determined to gain his end, he made a
last attempt.
GLOW did you samuse yourself at
Grosvenor square this morning before
Eve came to you?" 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
second she remained motionless; then
she looked up slowly.
"Oh," she said sweetly, $50 I was
right in my guess? You did come to
find out whether I sat in the morning
room with my hands in my lap or
wandered about in search of entertain
ment?"
'Loder colored with annoyance and
apprehension. Every look every tone,
Of Lillian's was distasteful to him. No
microscope could have revealed her
more fully to him than did his own
eyesight. 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 must still ask my first Ques-
ton, Why did you say, Il thought it
would be your" His gaze was direct
so direct that it disconnected her. She
laughed little uneasily.
Because knew"
GLOW 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
vious to any one who was in his morn
ing room at II o'clock today that it
would be you and not he who would
be found filling his place this after
noon. It's all very we'll to talk about
honor, but when one walks into an
empty room and sees a telegram as
long as letter open on a bureau
But her sentence was never finished.
Loder had heard what he came to hear.
Any confession she might have to offer
was of no moment in his eyes.
MY dear GIRL" he broke in brusque-
~, "don't trouble. I should make a
most unsatisfactory father confessor."
He spoke quickly. His color was still
high, but not of annoyance His sus-
pense was transformed into unpleasant
certainty, but the exchange left him
surer Of himself. His perplexity had
dropped to quiet sense Of self re-
lance. His paramount desire was for
solitude in which to prepare for the
task that lay before him-the most con-
genial task the world possessed-the
unraveling Of Chilcote's tangled skeins.
Looking into Lillian's eyes, he smiled.
"Goodby,'' he said, holding out his
hand. II think we've fnished-for to-
day."
She slowly extended her fingers.