Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1907-06-26
CHAPTER VIII.


/ returned to my hotel soberly
enough. I had told my little allegory
lightly; Now l asked myself if I
should not apply it seriously to
myself. Only this morning | had
mapped out for myself clear path
to be followed And already was a
siren reckoning? Already was en-
chanted?
l was intensely irritated that /
should have allowed myself to be in
terested by this Sophie de Varnier
For the past hour had been playing
dangerously near the fire. 1t had not
yet burned me; but could / honestly
say that it had not warmed, intoxi-
Gated, allured? Very we'll, / must be
careful not to compromise myself in
the future.
Two women had met me at the part
ing of the ways
One of them had set me a task,
holding herself proudly aloof, promis-
ing nothing. If this task were actu-
ally accomplished, the reward was to
be the deed itself.
And now another woman had come
radiant, glittering, subtle perfume
lulling the senses. Her wild beauty,
her charm, had been frankly displayed
to enthrall me. She had promised a
definite adventure. AS to the reward
it seemed to me too brazenly obvious.
/ f1icked the ash angrily from my
cigarette. And was l really tempted?
Hardly, resolved savagely. And yet
l was not fool enough to be blind to
the fact that the situation was not
without its danger.
My shoulder was tapped. I was
seated in the vestibule of my hotel.
l looked up, startled. A well-groomed
man in the early thirties lowered over
me, an American l saw at once The
round, jocund face was vaguely fa-s
miliar.
YES" exclaimed a burly voice, ct
is really old Haddon.'
1 grasped the hand he held toward
me with emotion. Here was a friend,
an American, and l needed friend
badly just now.
had not seen Locke since we were
at college together. We had never
been intimate, but the big hearted
Robinson Locke had been a character
among his classmates.
At first / hesitated to his cordial
greetings; I was afraid he had not
heard my story. But presently he
plunged into the episode that had
made me notorious for day Then
I knew he had come to stand by me-
1T is a brutal lie, of course" he
stormed Indignantly, but even if it
were true" He clapped my Shout
der
'It is true-at least in measure"
ROT" he exclaimed with cheerful
skepticism, lowering his person into
the yielding expanse of an armchair
by my side. Tell me about it,
Unless you insist, prefer not to-"
l said quietly, reckoning waiter 1T
was just horrible accident Frankly,
to have saved his life was impossible.
But i might have died with him. 1
didn't. There you have my disgrace
in nutshell
He looked somewhat glum at this
cold-blooded explanation and stirred
uneasily in his chair. / watched him,
pulled at his cigar, searching my face
keenly.
Rot" he cried again, and this time
with conviction. IF you feel any dis
grace, it is your own fault, Haddon.
If you were the coward they say you
are, you wouldn't sit there smiling at
me. You would rave and swear by all
the gods that you were innocent. I
don't want to hear your story. But I
want you to know that you have one
friend from home to stick up for YOU.
and to believe in YOU
l. was too movedtto speak.
That's all right, them he said with
gruff gentleness. 1t must be hell to
be over here alone and everybody
kicking YOU
oh. that was to be expected. Of
course' But last night had AN ex-
perience that wouldn't go through
again If I could help. itrs
no BE coNTIhuEDa