Charlevoix county herald., 1907-04-27
CHAPTER XXIV.-Continued.

don incidence at anchor | glanced
toAard Steuben Point-where his
cousins. the Vivians, lived-and
thought [ recognized his launch at
their pier. We saluted the Incidence;
the Incidence saluted us. My launch
was piDed away and took me ashore
l stroIled along the path that wound
round the base of the hill toward the
kennels. At the crossing Of the path
down from the house, l paused and
fingered on the glimpse of one of the
corner towers of bthe great SNOWY
palace. | was muttering something
| listened 70 myself. 1t was: Null
HOLLAND, Mrs. Mulholland and the four
little Mulhollands." And | felt like
laughing aloud, such a joke was it
that should be envying a policeman
his potato patch and his fat wife and
his four brats. and that he should be
in position to pity me.
You may be imagining that, through
al, Anita had been dominating my
mind That is the way it is in the
romauces: but not in life. No doubt
there are men who brood upon the
impossible. and moon and maunder
away their lives over the grave of
dead love; no doubt there are people
who Wi. say that, because | did not
shoot I4augdon or her, or myself. or
A. to q desert or pose in the crowded
places of tho world as the last scene
Of a tragedy, | therefore cared little
about her. | offer them this sugges-
ton: A man strong enough TO give
a love worth a woman's while is
strong enough to live on without her
when he finds he mas not live with
her.
As stood there that summer day,
looking toward the crest of the hill,
at the knocking mausoleum of my dead
dyelm, | realized what the incessant
battle Of the street had meant to me.
There is peace for me only in the
storm" said |. But thank God. there
is peace for me somewhere.
Through the foliage | had glimpses
Of some one coming slowly down the
zgzag path. Presently. at one OF the
turnings halfway up the hill, appeared
MOWbrly Langdon. What is he do
Ing here. thought |, scarcely able to
believe my eyes. Here of all places!'
Aud then forgot the strangeness of
. his being at Dawn Hill in the strange
ness % his expression. For it was APP
parent, even at the distance which
separated us. that he was suffering
from some great and recent blow. He
looked old and haggard; he walked
Ike I man who neither knows nor
cares where We is going.
ID Re had not seen me, and my inn
Pulse was to avoid him by continuing
on toward the kennels had no es-
peCil' feeling against him; | had not
lost Anita because she cared for him
or he cor her, but because she did not
care FOR me-simply that TO meet
would be awkward, disagreeable for
us both At the slight noise Of my
movement to go on. he halted, glanced
round eagerly, as if he hoped the
sound had been made by some one he
wished to see. His glance fell on me.
He stopped short, was for an instant
Disconnected; then his face lighted up
with deyilsh JOY. You" he cried.
''Just the mani" And he descended
more rapidly.
Az first [ could make nothing of this
remark But as he drew nearer and
nearer and his ugly mood became
more apparent, | felt that he was look
iag forward to provoking me into Civ
Ing him q distraction from Whatever
was tormenting him. | waited. y few
minutes and we were face 10 face.
CutWardly calm. but my anger slowly
lighting up as he deliberately applied
% il tire torch of his insolent eyes He
wa wearing his old familiar air of
cynical assurance. Evidently. with
MS recovered fortune. he had recov-
ersd his conviction OF his great SUI
periority TO th6E rest of the human
race-the child had climbed back on
the chair that made it tall and had
forSctten its tumble. And | was won
darinE again that |, so short a time
before, had been crude enough to be
fascinated and fooled by those tawdry
posings and pretenses. For the man,
as 7 now saw him, was obviously shall
low and vain, slave to those poor
Cman -the-world passiOns-ostenta-
ton and cynicism and skill at vices old
as mankind and tedious as a tread
mill. the commonplace routine of the
idle aud foolish and purposeless. \
clover. handsome fellow, but the more
pltiful that he was by nature above
the uses 20 which he prostituted him
self
He Fought lard to keep his eyes stead
fly on raine: but they would waver and
shift. not. however. before had
found deep down in them the begin
nings OF fear. You see, you were
mistaken" said |. You have nothing
10 say 60 me--or to you.
he knew had looked straight to the
bottom of his real self, and had seen
49, l., Ia, nxo,,v mon Win