Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-06-13
CHAPTER xvli.-contlnued.


When you leave l shall go straight on
up to bed"
I'D like toto see your room
where you live" said /, more to my
self than to her.
81 sleep in a bare little box" she
replied with a laugh. Its like a cell.
A friend of ours who has the anti-germ
Tad insisted on it. But my sitting
COON isn't SO bad"
"Langdon has the anti-germ fad"
said /.
She answered EYES," after a pause,
and in such a strained voice that l
looked at her. A flush was just dying
out of her face. "He was the friend l
spoke Of" she went on.
you know. him very well?" l asked.
We've known him-always," said
she. 81 think he's one of my earliest
r~ecollections. His fathers summer
place and ours adioin. And once-I
guess it's the first time l remember
seeing him-he was a freshman at
Harvard, and he came along on a
horse past the pony cart in which a
groom vas driving me. And FL
was very little them begged him to
take me up, and he did. thought he
was the greatest, most wonderful man
that ever lived" She laughed queerly.
when l say my prayers, I used to
imagine a god that looked like him to
say them to-"
I echoed her laugh heartily. The
idea of Mowbray Langdon as a god
struck me as peculiarly funny, though
natural enough, too.
Absurd, wasn't it?" said she. But
her face was grave, and she let her
cigarette die out.
II guess you know him better than
that now?" n
"~Yes-better," she answered, slowly
and absently. "He's-anything but a
god!"
"And the more fascinating on that
account" said I. 81 wonder why
women like best the really bad, dan
gerous sort of man, who hasn't any re-
spect for them, or for anything"
l said this that she might protest,
at least for herself. But her answer
was a vague, musing, Il 'wonder-I
wonder"
I'm sure you wouldn't" I protested
earnestly, for her.
She looked at me queerly.
Can | never convince you that I'm
just a woman" said she mockingly.
@Just a woman, and n a man with
your ideas of women would fly from"
Il wish you were!" l exclaimed.
~'Then-Id find 1t $3.50 impossible to
give you up"
She rose and made a slow tour OF
the room, hating on the rug before
the closed fireplace a few feet from
me. | sat looking at her.
Il am going to give you up" l said
at last.
Her eyes, staring into vacancy, grew
larger and intenser. with each long,
deep breath she took.
~ didn't intend to say what I'm
about to say-at least, not this even
ing" | went on, and to me it seemed
to be some other than myself who was
speaking. Certain things happened
down town to-day that have set me to
thinking. And-T shall do whatever l
can for your brother and your father.
But you-you are free!"
She went to the table, stood there
In profile to me, straight and slender
as a sunfiower stalk. She traced the
silver chasings in the lid Of the cigar
cite box with her forefinger; then she
took a cigarette and began rolling ii
slowly and absently.
please don't scent and stain your
fingers with that filthy tobacco" said
I rather harshly.
"And only this afternoon you were
saying you had become r%econciled to
my vice-that you had ~canonized il
along with me-wasn't that your
phrase?" This in~differently, without
turning toward me, and as il she were
thinking Of something else.
so | have | retorted. But my
mood-please oblige me this once"
She let the cigarette fall into the
box, closed the lid gently, leaned
against the table, folded her arms
upon her bosom and looked full al
me. l was as acutely conscious Of her
every movement, Of the very coming
and going of the breath at her nos
trils, as a man on the operating table
Is conscious Of the slightest gesture OF
che surgeon.
you are-suffering!" she said, and
her voice was like the flow OF oil upor
a burn. II have never seen you like
this. / didn't believe you capable d
-of much feeling"
| could not trust myself to speak
If Bob Corey could have looked in OF
that scene, could have understood 1t
how amazed he would have been!
What happened down town to
day?" she went on. Tell me, If
may know"
'TI tell you what didn't think
ten minutes ago, I'd tell any human
being" said !. They've got me
strapped down in the press. At ter
O'Clock in the morning-precisely al
ten-they're going to put on the
screws" I laughed. Il guess they'll
have me squeezed pretty dry before
noon"
She shivered.
"So>you see" | continued, II dom
deserve any credit for giving you up
I only anticipate you by about twenty
four hours. Mines death-bed repent
ance,"
I'D thought Of that" said she re
fiectively. Presently she added
.'Then, it is true" And ! knew Sammy