Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-16

relief INTO an easy chair. Wingrare stood
before her.
You are tired tonight" he remarked.
Il am always tired" she answered.
wearily. Il begin to think that l always
shall be"
He said nothing. Lady Ruth closed her
eyes for. a moment. as though from sheer
fatigue. Suddenly she opened them again
and looked him full in the face.
Who was she?" she asked.
Il do not understand he replied
1.-The child you We're with-the inge-
nue., you know-with the pink cheeks
and the wonderful eyes. Is she rrom one
of the tneaters. or genuine artcle?"
The young lady to whom you refer"
he answered. lis the daughter of an old
friend of mine. / am practically her
guardian. She is in London studying
painting"
You are her guardian" Lady Ruth
repeated. Il am sorry for her
You need not be-, he answered. 4
trust that 1 shall be able to fulfill my
duties in a perfectly satisfactory man
ner''
ooh! I have no doubt of it" she an
swered. Yet I am sorry for her.
You are certainly he remarked. mot
In an amiable mood"
Il am in rather desperate one. if that
as anything" she said, looking at him
with something of the old light in her
tired eyes.
You made a little error. perhaps in
those calculations" he suggested 1t
can be amended"
Don't be a brute" she answered,
fierce1y.
He shrugged his shoulders.
That sounds a little severe" he re-
marked
Don't take any notice of anything
say tonight she murmured, softly. Il
am little mad. 1 think that everything
Is going against me! l know that you
haven't grain of sympathy for me
that you would rather see me suffer than
not: and yet You see give myself away
entirely. Why shouldn't 1? Part Of it is
through you in a way"
4 rather fanced," he remarked that
up to now
Yes! of course she interrupted. you
saved us from ruin. STAYED it off. at any
rate And you held over the reckoning!
She paused. Again her eyes were
searching his.
Il am a little tired of it all. you see"
she continued Il don't suppose Lumley
and L can ever be the same again. since
l brought him-that cheque. He avoids
being alone with me-I do the same with
him. One would think-to watch the
people, that the whole transaction was
in the Morning Post. They smile when
they see us together. they grin when they
see you with anybody else. It's getting
hateful, Wingrave,
Il am afraid" he said, quietly. that
you are in a nervous, representative
state. No one else can possibly know of
the little transaction between us. and. so
far as l am concerned. there has been
nothing to interfere with your relations
with your husband"
You are right" she answered. II am
losing my nerve. l am only afraid that l
am losing something else. l haven't an
ounce of battle left in me. I feel that 1
should like tO'close my eyes and wake up
in new world and start all over again"
1t is nothing but a mood he assured
her. eThose new worlds don't exist any
longer, They generally consist of for
eign watering places where the sheep
and the goats house together now and
then. I think I should play the game out.
Lady Ruth. until"
Until what?'
Perhaps to the end" he answered.
who can tell? Not I! By this time to-
morrow it might be I who would be re-
"Yes?'
lives to live"'
<"'I should like" she whispered very soft
how that you will never be my instructor.
What of your ward?'' -
Well! What of herr" he answered
calmly. -, -. -...-.
She shivered a little.
You were very frank with me once.
Wingrave.' she said. You are a man
whose life fate has wrecked. fate and +!
You have no heart left. no feeling. You
can create suffering and find 1t amusing.
I am beginning to realize that"
He nodded. i
There is some TRUTH" he declared, Gin
what you say"
what Of that child? Is she. too, to be
a victim?"
Il trust" he answered, that you are
not going to be melodramatic"
Il don't call 1t that. I really want to
know. l should like to warn her.
I am not at war with children" he
answered. Her life and mine are as far
apart as the poles"
Il had an odd fancy. when I saw you
with her." Lady Ruth said, slowly. she
is very good.looking-and not so abb
surdly young"
coldly. which 1 think you had better
get rid Of"
I'm way she continued thought
fully. Il should like to get rid of 1t, and
l know. You are very little over forty
You are barely in the prime of fife. you
are strong, you have the one thing which
society today counts almost divine
great, Unreasonable wealth! Can't you
find some one to thaw the SHOWS"
Il loved a woman once he answered
ct was a long time ago, and it seems
strange to me now"
Lady Ruth lifted her eyes to his and |
their lambert fires were suddenly re-
kindled.
Love her again. she murmured |
What is past is past. but there are the.
days to come. Perhaps the woman, too, |
is little lonely"
It think not he answered. calmly. |
The woman Is married, she has lived |
with her husband more or less happily |
for a dozen years or so! She is 4 little |
ambitious. a little fond of pleasure but |
a leader of society. and I am sure, a |
very reputable member OF it. To love her |,
again would be as embarrassing 10 her
as 1t would be difficult for me. You, my /
dear Lady Ruth, 1 am convinced would |
be the last to approve of it,
You mock me-" she murmured bending
her head. rs forgiveness also an impossi-
blity?"
Il think" he said. that any sentiment
whatever between those two would be sin
gularly misplaced. You spoke of Melba,
think! She is singing in the further room"
Lady Ruth rose up, still and pale. There
was fear In her eyes when she looked at
him.
rs it to be always like this. them" she
said.
'rAh," he answered -"I am no prophet
Who can tell what the days may bring? In
the meantime"
The marchioness was very much in re-
quest that evening. and she found time for
only few words with Wingrave
What have you been doing to poor
RUTH" she asked. II never saw her look
so ILL.,"
Indeed" he answered, Il had not no
ticed it,