The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-09-08
CHAPTER XIV Continued.

CHAPTER XIV (COntinued).
With but one good hotel open. and only
a sprinkling of guests dotted over its big
rooms. the little English contingent was
thrown more together than If there had
been the usual crowd. To lessen the
constraint Of the long lamplit evenings
Lady StOrmont had given her voice
against private sittins-room, but she
regretted 1t now. since It was impossible
70 exclude Ashe, a recent guest. a man
to whom they owed an unforgettable
debt. from their circle. Why she now
found his presence so irksome she could
hardly say That Basil should resent it
she did not wonder a man In love is
always one-sided, but that a man in
Ashes position should presume to Miss
Stormont was absurd and ell the more
as IsObel evidently avoided him: but
before another day had passed Lady
Stormont had become intentionally
conscious Of some undercUrrent beneath
tie still conventionalIy smooth surface.
A woman Of the great world is not
easily deceived within her own sphere.
IsObel might avoid Ashe, but she was
intensely conscious Of his presence. her
mother saw. while Ashe was too plac-
idly unaware Of her GOODNESS. What it
might be she could not divine. but that
there should be the faintest hint of any
thing beyond the most formal acquaint-
ance between her daughter and Evelyn
Ashe was not TO be thought Of: yet she
could not take the easy and obvious
way to put an end to Il by leaving Ter
matt. Ashe would hardly have the ef-
frOntery TO follow them again as he
had done from Caux. Sir David, for
some reason OF no reason. could not be
induced to leave, though every day saw
more visitors departing down the valley
With an Englishman's craving neces-
sity for doing something, Conyers had
persuaded the unwilling guides TO un-
dertake some of the lesser. expeditions,
which at least filed up the time and re-
heved the women Of Ashes company.
He was always one OF the party. for
there was as yet no open breach be-
tween the two young men. although Con
yers regarded the other with something
Of the watchful suspicion Of the dog In
possession, an attitude which, IN the cir
cumstances. gratifed Mr. Ashes humor.
On one day when no more distant ex-
petition could be arranged. the whole
party had gone TO a tiny village far up
a lateral valley-a cluster Of quaint
chalets, weathered almost black. and
budding together with scarce a passage
between. as If covering close for shell
ter. The tangle Of flowers through which
the rocky path climbs in summer was
long gone; the sky was a hard. unbrOken
gray. against which the mountains were
bitten out in cold, terrible clearness
There was no relief from the harsh
nonotony Of black and white and gray
OF rock and ice and snow. One Of the
ragged. uncouth-looking peasants came
out from a chalet shook his head at the
yelled sky, and muttered something un-
intelligible-a warning to 90 back. ap-
parently.
Lady StormOnt had fingered behind the
others. and now a sudden dread of the
place overcame her; a panic longing ia
get away from the deadly, ominous
stiffness, the vastness, the savage DESC
lation Of this cold wilderness Of snow
The mountains seemed sinister, sentieni
shapes, brooding over some dire secret
The terrific form Of the Matterhorn
towering close above seemed an embOd-
fed menace.
David" she cried as her husband ap-
peared round the jutting corner Of a
chalet. do let us leave here tomorrow
I would go tonight II I could. I don't
often trouble you with fancies, but Tn
afraid of this place. I feel as II some
thing dreadful viii happen here. Do LET
Us 90 tomorrow. II we don't. I think
the manager will turn us out, or we will
get showed up for tho winter" trying
10 laugh.
Il am scrTy. Marian. that you don't
Ike it," said Sir David. abstractedly
Now. I've enjoyed getting up to the
SHOWS once more.
As he glanced round, HIS wife thought
that she had never seen face less sug-
gestive Of enjoyment.
But about Tomorrow" she urged.
I'VE shall go tomorrow, certainly
since YOU wish tiff some letters come
that I've been waiting on
But. my dear We needn't wait for
anywhere"
I can't go till I get them. I cam
risk them going astray," with the sud
den obstinacy which was now so easily
reused. They are too important. They
they may mean everything-life OF
death"
That IS very important certainly
said Lady StOTmont. dTyly- These strange
little Outbursts OF her husbands by turn.
alarmed or angered her Life was nOf
an Adelphi drama with mysterious Sc
cTets II hope your letters viii come to-
morrow, then" she said. "as, frankly
I would Ike 10 go. If only to get rid o.
Mr.. Ashe. 7 don't think his company {,
good for Isobel. don't know what It is
but I think you must surely have noticed
that she IS not Ike herself to-day-she i
either silent or else too excited
'Tsobel-IsobeI-it is always Isobel!
can't go; I can't sacrifice everything Il
her." cried Sir David in a sudden far,
u anger.