Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-09-14
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Walked
Right in

splendid stairway George and
Laura followed. Excluded from the
approaching conference, Paula, never
theless went forward timidly behind
them. At the foot of the stairs she
paused The sounds of wheels had
caught her ear Her father was re-
turning. She would see him and make
one plea, even if it were silent one.
She stepped aside, standing incon
spicuously by the pedestal of sta
tue.
Flinging his hat and rain-coat 10
the footman In the ante-chamber. Paul
Trafford entered. with set lips and
rapid stride In his eyes was the look
with which boards of directors were
familiar, but which Paula had never
seen 1t was the look that quenchea.
inquiry before it could rise and 3bore
down opposition as If in sheer inso.
| lence of strength 1t was the look
that turned weaker men into enemies
and drew hatred from those who were
made rich by his cooperation. To
Paula it was new and frightening. She
crept out of the shadow of the statue
and stretched out her arms towards
him.
She would have caught him, touch
ed him at the least; but he put up
| his hand to keep her back. She gasp
ed 1t. but he tore 1t from her, and
pushed her away,
She staggered, regained her footing
on the polished floor, staggered again
and, recoiling towards the pedestal,
fell. 1t was an accident, the mere
miscalculation Of his iron strength,
but as ssle reeled and went down,
Trafford thrilled with a sense of sat:
isfaction The very brutality Of the
act was an assignment to the pain OF
his outraged alteration. At the turn
ing of the stairway he glanced down
at her as she lay. Let her lie! She
was the one being in the worlc
against whose blow he had no power
O fdefence, and she mad stuck him.
He passed on to him room and rang
for his secretary Two minutes later
he was debating letters on business
Z. 1t was partly the instinct for work
partly the impulse to seek refuge in
the commonplace from this upheavel
in his affections He had not reach
ed the point OF considering the situa
tion in its practical light, practica
man though he was. All he coult
think Of now, all there was room fol
in his big intelligence, was the fac
I that his little girl, the one creature
on earth whom he loved with ar
idolatrous tenderness, had taken {
step which, as she must have known
beforehand, would create crue
breach between them. No matte
how 1t turned out now. the fact tina
she had done it would be there.
10, 3y,1, liz,
In the same strain of him. When h
J. had thrust her from him the actiol
. had taken her by surprise. Not ever
. significance. 1t was only when sh
passed up the stairway, that sh
he had put upon her
For a second or two she lay quit
still. She pressed her cheek on tn
: cold. polished wood. drinking in he
humiliation. When she dragged hel
! self up, two hectic spots were. blaZin
] on her cheeks, while in her soft eye
was light that made them curionsl
? like her fathers. AS she marche
: upstairs her head was high, and he
, step firm, with determination a
: together new to her. 1T came owe
: her then that she could never b
4 again the clinging. dependent Paul
t Trafford of the past. Whatever sh
: did in the end, she knew that, oil
side herself, there would be no sta
( sure enought to lean on. She mus
] be, In the future, her own guide, he
r own Judge, putting forth into tn
night alone. Between leaving he
S fathers door and reaching Roger Wi,
9 ships, there was dark, unknow
: road to travel. but she must face |
1t was difficult to believe that he
fathers protecting love would not b
there. She was so used to it tn;
to be without 1t was like being witt
out shelter. Instinctively she year.
ed to strech out her hand to hi
again, but the impulse died in the r
collection that he had struck b.
i down -,