Evening star., 1907-08-18

| shoulders. 1T would be useless" she re-
piled quite. so, and always remember an
| injury
Witness the raven" rejoined Mary
dryly
Precisely" said madame "a poor little
dead raven triste-was 1t not?'
The girl shrugged her shoulders in her
turn and moved to the door; she was not
at loss to understand the meaning of the
others innuendoes. but she laughed bitter
| ly Il must go. my dear Madame Syrene,
| she said lightly, before you convert me
| into a raven with a touch of your wand!"
The staircase at this embassy came down
| in one broad flight to the first landing and
there separating it descended in two mar
rover flights into the main hall. Mary
naturally chose the stair farthest from the
dining room and coming down by >the pri-
| vate entrance from the chancellerie she
found Fred Cheever standing. hat in hand,
| at the door waiting for the footman to re-
turn from an errand of inquiry. Mary S
angry impulse to snub him, to cut the
| episode short at once, checked both by
| the thought of Harriet and that other
which flashed in upon her. that he would
think her jealous because he was there to
call upon Madame Syrene, and she nodded
an indifferent and smiling greeting He
| flushed man of the world as he was the
encounter dismayed him. but Mary passed
easily to the door.
Il hope Harriet Is well?" she said sweet
ly; ''it is a perfect day outside
Miss Hadding-Mary!" he exclaimed. Il
want to tell you
Mary opened the outer door, and stand
ing in the broad light of day she looked at
him with nonchalant inquiry
Il haven't seen you since Apple voted
our way" said Cheever hurriedly, I
The footman came back to hold the door
for Mary. Madame Syrene will see you
in the morning room, SIR he said to
Cheever.
Mary smiled a mocking farewell over the
lackey's shoulder. Good day. Mr..
oh ont
But once in the open air she awoke to
realities: the little DISCUSSES Of conven-
tonality dropped away and she was shamed
to find herself strangely entangled be-
tween Madame Syrenes jealousy and Fred
Cheever's misrepresentation Mrs. Whit
ings warning recurred to- her mind the
older woman had been clever enough to
foresee the Syrene's determined pursuit of
empty threats was Conscious that she
stood on the edge of an abyss Of gossip and
| malice. and touch from this passionate
womans hand might send her shudderng
to the depths. The btterest aspect Of 1t,
too. was the injury to Harriet; the only
woman who had appealed to Mary's affec-
tions was the very one whom she seemed
doomed to affront And on the other hand
loomed Leonard Bishop. enlarged by this
ENHANCEMENT into important proportions,
as tiny object will sometimes loom black
and OF gigantic exaggeration through the
deceptive folds of a fog. The role which
had seemed so simple, the part which was
to be played easily, had become a diff
ficult matter and her future course was
tortuous with perpleXities.
Yet. in spite OF these Illuminating
giimpscs. Mary was curiously prone to de-
lay her decision, to put Off the evil hour of
departure, to underrate Madame Syrene's
ability 10 make mischief She seemed to
have lost the power to tear herself away.
and was almost thankful that the quarter
day had not yet brought the means.
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