The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-06

morning Anna and Alban came back from Henley They said little of their adven- lures there, save to tell of quiet days upon sunny waters; nor did the shrewd- est questioning add one iota to the tale. indeed. Gessners habitual curiosity ap peared, for the time being, to have de- serted him, and they found him affable and good humored almost to the point of wonder.
 IL had been a very long time, as Anna declared, since anything of this kind had shed light upon the commonly gloomy at mosphere of Five Gables" For weeks past Gessner had lived as a man who carried a secret which he dared to con fess to none. Night or day made no diff ference to him. He lived apart, seeing many strangers in his study and rarely visiting the great bank in Lambard street where so many fortunes lay To Alban he was the same mysterious, occasionally gracious figure which had first welcomed him to the magnificent hospitality of his house. There were days when he ap- peared to throw all restraint aside and really to desire this lads affection as though he had been his own son-other days when he shrank from him. afraid 10 speak lest he should name him the author of his vast msfortunes. And now, as 1t were In an instant, he had cast both
 
 cient bonhomie and given full rein to that natural affection of which he was very capable. Even the servants re- marked a change so welcome and so man. ifest.
 Let 1t be written down as foreordained in the story of this unhappy house, that In like measure as the father recovered his self-possession, so, as swiftly, had tho daughter jouneyed to the confines of fra -reffxF afa lx.n,- ,oI deeper lessons which the world is ever ready to teach. Anna returned from Hem ley so greatly changed that her altered appearance and caught her in the deadly liant, reckless, almost hysterical, her un- natural gaiety could not cloak her anxle- ty nor all her artilice disguise it. If she had told the truth, it would have been to admit a position. not only of humiliation but of danger. A whim, by which she would have amused herself, had created 8 situation by which she could not escape. She loved Alban and had not won his love. The subtle antagonist against whom she played had turned her weapons adroitly md caught her in the deadly meshes of his fatal net. Not for an in stant since she stood upon the lawn at Ascot and witnessed the defeat of her great horse Lodestar had she ceased 10 tell herself that the world pointed the iiilStl dl itl anu utlu up ftT 1dIlle to scorn. "They say that l cheated them," she would tell herself and that estimate of the common Judgment was entirely true.
 It had been great race upon a brilliant day of summer Alban had accompanied her to the enclosure and feasted his eyes upon that rainbow scene, so amazing in it's beauty, so bewildering in it's glow of color that it stood to his untrained im- -~~f.. tf1.x world. Of the horses or their meaning he knew nothing at all. This picture of ra- diant women, laughing. feastlng, flirting at the heart of a natural forest the vast concourse Of ectators-the thousand hues of color flashing in the sunshine. the stands, the music. the royal procession, the superbly comparsoned horses. the state carriages a spectacle 1t was. how far surpassing all that he had been led to expect of Money and it's Kingdom. Let Anna move exctedly amid the throng, laughing with this man, changing wit with another-he was content just to watch the people, to reflect upon their happy lives, 1t may be to ask himself what justification they had when the children were wanting bread and the great hosts of the destitute lay encamped beyond the pale. Such philosophy, to be sure, had but a short shrift on such helSs | llt iulpNicdl1On OI the scene QUICK k ran hot in his veins and he surrendered to it willingly These were hours to live, precious every one of then-and who would not worship the gold which brought them who would not turn to it as to the lodestar of desire?
 And then the race. Anna had talked of nothing else since they set out in the mo- tor to drive over to the course. Her an ger against Willy Forrest appeared to be forgotten for the time being-he, on ms part eying Alban askance, but making no open complaint against him. met her in the paddock and repeated his assur- ances that Lodestar could not lose.
 They run him down to evens, Anna" he said, and precious lucky we were to get the price we did. Therell be some howls tonight, but what's that to us? Are we q philanthropic society, do we live to endow the multitude? Not much, by no means, oh, dear. no. We live to make an honest bt-and we'll make it don't butt in. I've laid all that can be got at the price and the rests best in your pocket You'll want bit for the other races-eh what? You didn't come here to knit stockings, now did you, Anna?"
 She laughed with him and returned to see the race. Her excitement gave her a superb color heightened her natural beauty and turned many admiring eyes upon her. To Alban she whispered that she was going to make a fortune, and he watched her curously. almost afraid tor himself and for her. When the great thrill passed over the stands and they're on' echoed almost as a sound of distant thunder, he crept closer to her as though to share the excitement of which she was mistress. The specks upon the green were nothing to him--those dots of color moving swiftly across the scene, how odd to think that they might bring riches or beggary fin their traini This he knew to be the stern fact, and when men began to shout hoarsely. to press together and crane their necks, when that very torrent of sound which named the distance arose, he looked again at Anna and saw that she was smiling. She has won,' he said, she will be happy tonight
 The horses passed the post in cluster. ,Alban, unaecustomed to the objects or race-course, had not an eye so we'll trained that he could readily distinguish the colors or locate with certainty the po- sition of the "pink-green sleeves-white cap"-the racing jacket of Count Dona- to- as Anna was known to the Jockey Club. He could make out nothing more than a kaleidoscope of color changing swiftly upon verdant arena, this and an unbroken line of people stretching away to the very confines of the wood lands and a rampant wall of stands and boxes and tents For him there were no niceties of effort and of counter effort. The jockeys appeared to be so many lit- tie monkeys clinging to the necks of wild chargers who rolled in their distress as though to shake off the imps tormenting them. The roar of voices affrighted him he could not understand that lust of