The Washington herald., 1907-12-22
CHAPTER XLVI.


The Wisdom Of the Wise.
Vic Morris rode away from Portogar-
ten, rapidly at first, but though he was
in the finest training and the loaned ma
chine suited him 10 a marvel. he gradual
ly went slower and slower. till he could
almost have walked as fast Vida's easy
dismissal OF his offer-the completeness Of
Phil Calmonrs victory had robbed him
OF his self-conhdence.
That had always been his strong hold
his sequence. his four aces, his Austrian
Army Awfully Arrayed." as Janet had
explained 70 him more than once. He re-
membered the last expression. He thought
il sounded like Shakespeare. VIC Morris
had never failed in anything before. or
course. they had fired" him from the
incubus pIts-but then anybody who does
his work TOO well 10 please other people
must expect that. So Vic did not mind
being simply fired" His pride was not
hu-t By what man could do 20 him. But
women-girls-they were another matter.
He had. as he said. slipped up with
Vida. She had been laughing in her sleeve
had always had his own way-or taken It.
How had he? Why. by crashing through
al peevish oppositious. with his head
down. like bull charging hazel coppice
whose parted shoots smart his fanks
But suddenly. from Vida's attitude, he
conceived a dread of what was before
him. The nearer 10 Kirltown he got. the
less did DE desire 10 enter without prepa-
ration into tho presence Of Janet OF the
Eyes OF Live sapphire. He called 10
mind her letters. one by one he conned
them. He remembered whole passages.
Ecs-sitting IN the Hotel Colon. or up on
the brown sides OF the Sierra. they had
seemed pretty conclusive. But now. there
was the shock Of Eida-of Phil-onCe his
assistant, the lad % whom he had taught
the very a. +. c Of his work whom even
yet he could hardly trust $50 in his bitter
ness he told HIMSELF "tO chop kindIlnE
wood without cutting himself" Yet Phil
Calmont had been preferred before him,
II was unbelievable. Phil had held Vida
in his arms. He. the ejected-Ludovic
Morris. G. E.-had heard her laugh even
as she pushed Phil away-the laugh thar
only one man hears from q wOman-the
laugh that Vic Morris had never vet
heard In his life. And he hummed "The
did not make things easier at all
Then something that his friend. Mr..
Irongray. had said to him after he had
been fired" by those Incubus people
swan up from the under-deeps Of con-
sciousness. THE last shall be first,''
Vic had snOrted al the time. refused 10
receive il as philosophy, and had even
called il ''preachiness" to his startled
friend, the Cameronian minister. We'll.
no has been wrong and Mr.. IrOngray
right
His thoughts turned toward the Kirk on
the Hill. He would so up there, get some
lunch at the manse, and then. in the aft
ernoon, when all would be quiet at the
Fowlers', he wOuld-yes, he would go and
have II out with Janet. But Oh-in what
a different spirit-in what a chastened
moOd-nOt Vic Morris, but another. or
course, he would tell her ALL"
He climbed up the little incline. the
wagon Tuts that led from the Incubus
mines dying away as the road forked and
reforked, till only the wheelbarrow with
which the minister himself or his beadle
cultivated the manse garden could be
seen mounting the slope as a single track
Yes, the Rev. Benjamin was at home. A
little thinner. a little paler, a little more
compressed about the lips-thus Vic Nor
ris found Mr.. IrOngray. Otherwise there
was no difference in the manse, save that
a silent housekeeper of mature years had
taken the place of the Voluble mother.
who had run her sons head against so
many stone walls during her ten years
conduct Of the affairs Of the Kirk on the
Hill
Morris, Wen: Norris
And 2 handgrip said the rest Both
were strong men, and the water that
stood in their eyes may have been due
as much TO the muscular power developed
as to affection. Perhaps there was a lit
tie of both
What brings you here, Morris?"
This. however, was easier asked than
answered.
Vic had dwelt long enough in Scotland
to know how to gain time by asking for
Mr.. irongray's mother, for his mother
sister-his nephews-his nieces
his relatives unto many generations.
For a Scot may grow impatient at your
asking questions as 10 his own health.
but never when these concern the health
and appetites Of his kindred, however re-
mote
But what brings you here?" repeated
Mr.. Irongray, when all these points had
been finally cleared up and disposed Of
First. for something to eat" Stin Vic
put on the evil day. But he himself saw
that it could not be for long. The silent
elderly woman Of forbidding aspect was
already setting the table The cloth was
laid. In five minutes they would be left
alone.
Vic resolved to open all his heart He
could not have decided better
After he had spoken. Mr.. Irongray laid
down his knife and fork.
I suppose that the first thing you will
do, when you do see Janet Fowler, win be
to tell her all about your recent inter-
view with Miss Vida-ah-Romer?'
'Of course" said vic, promptly 'T
should not be an honest man unless did
sor'
Hum" said the minister. cutting him