The Yale expositor., 1907-05-31


want. and during those hours not
muscle OF her tall, slender figure had
moved, not a change had passed over
the beautiful, pallid face. The tiny
parlor, shabby and bare. was but dim
ly lighted. An incomer could have
been at first sensible only of the dark
ness; but, as sight adapted itself to
the interior twilight he would have
been bold indeed not TO have shrunk
IN dread from that terrible, immobile
figure and the sinister glitter OF her
baleful eyes.
For Sibyl Clayton was thinking not
so much of her husbands death as the
manner of ii, and she was praying
with an intensity of fervor that was
fast consuming her vitality, praying,
pleading offering her soul in ex
change for means of avenging that
death. 1t had required IL years to do
ii, but here, at last, Philip Clayton lay
dead, and to her tortured spirit his
murderer seemed as far above any
earthly punishment as the very stars.
Was it really so many years ago
that she had considered herself the
happiest girl in all the world, only to
learn that she knew not what happi-
ness was until Phil Clayton came WOO
ing? II seemed but yesterday and
yet the IL years were like unto as
many centuries of torture and agony.
For a serpent entered her paradise.
In those halcyon days. wherever
there was a man who laid his two
eyes upon her, she numbered an adj
mirer where she bestowed the merest
glance in return, a lover. She had
more than glanced at Phil Indeed,
her eyes had become haZy while look
ing into his; they presently fell from
before his ardent look; rich tide of
color mounted to her cheeks, and from
that moment she was his, body and
soul. There were times when she re-
garded her passion for Phil Clayton
with awe and fear, so wildly it Crap
pied her.
But the conquest had not been one
sided by any means, for Phil loved
her with all the ardor that his deep
lleNh4O anu iNA NphhtlA VI LtahNs
could inspire
Neil Black had loved her, too. how
ever-so vehemently and selfishly that
he had devoted his life to revenging
himself upon the successful rival The
words of his threat still rang in Sibyl
Clayton's ears. He had spoken with
deadly quiet that made her turn swift
ly to shield her lover with her own
body; but Neil Black had merely
laughed at her, and as he laughed she
had shivered.
Mark me WELL Clayton words
now started out from the tumult of
her brain with the suddenness of a
cry-'you have taken from me the one
thing / have desired above the whole
world. You know / am ambitious for
wealth and power; that | crave the
good things of life and enjoy them;
that / have won everything upon
which l have set my heart | would
toss them ali away for that woman
aye, even my life in exchange for a
year with her, with or without heI
iove-and do you think that | will
stand idly by and see her plucked
from me?' And here again he had
laughed that terrible laugh. "You
were born with wealth, Clayton; so
was she. But | fought a bitter fight
for mine, and mean to be cheated of
nothing.
Nov hear me: am going to devote
every minute of my life to make of
, yours a blackened wilderness-to
change the sweet fruit of your love to
ashes upon your lips; am going to
OF: my strength against yours-my
wealth, my brain, against your wealth
and your brain-until you curse the
day that you were born" Then he
aad bowed low and left them.
And how well had Neil Black sue
I ceededi Every undertaking of her
husbands had brought him only loss
He had not been man to shrink from
such a challenge-nay, he had even
| laughed at IL; but the tine soon came
when he had to buckle on his armor
n grim earnest, only to behold lance
after lance broken against the impreg-
| AlOil VI hio NnllC lIdk
enemy's web encompassed him closer
and closer with the passing years. One
night Philip and Sfbyl Clayton looked
into each others eyes and silently
read therein the ruin that was theirs.
But that was not ALL AS the Clay.
ton fortunes dwindled, as each sue.
ceeding enterprise met failure and
disaster. Neil Black had waxed and
grown greater until he was man to
be reckoned with in the world. He
held many invisible but powerful
strings in his hands, and at the end of
each was a puppet that danced as its
master pulled its own particular
string. Some of the puppets were IN
humble walks of life. some in high
some were among great corporations
and a few even on the bench. They
numbered legislators and senators
ward-heelers and mayors. but one and
all danced obediently when he pulled
he strings. And so, with bit of art
.ul preparation, the aligning OF few
innocent aDDparinq circumstances a