Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-04-25

uue WAS not quite Tie aIuiuuoe OF ONO
who controls the game, and yet He
looked at her with a puzzled scrutiny.
Women for him had always spelled the
incomprehensible. He was at his best,
his strongest, his surest, in the presence
Of men. Feeling his disadvantage, yet
determined to gain his end, he made a
last attempt.
"How did you amuse yourself at
G%rosvenor square this morning before
Eve came to youT" he asked. The eff
fort was awkwardly blunt, but it was
direct.
Lillian was b%uttoning her glove. She
did not raise her head as he spoke, but
her fingers paused in their task. For
a second she remained ~motionless; then
she looked up slowly.
"Oh," she said sweetly, 80 / was
right In my guess? You did come to
find out whether I sat in the morning
room with my hands in my lap or
wandered about in search of entertain
ment?'
Loder colored with annoyance and
apprehension. Every look, every tone,
of Lillian's was distasteful to him. No
microscope could have revealed her
more fully to him than did his own
eyesight. But it was not the moment
for personal antipathies; there were
other interests than his own at stake.
With new resolution he returned her
glance.
"Then 1 must still ask my first ques-
ton, Why did you say, L thought it
would be your" His gaze was direct
so direct that it Disconnected her. She
laughed a little uneasily.
Because / knew"
"How did you know"
because she began; then again
she laughed. Because" she added
quickly, as if moved by a fresh i'm
pulse, Jack Chilcote made it very OBJ
vlous to any II who was In his morn
ing room at 10 o'clock today that it
would be you and not he who would
be found filling his place this after
noon. It's all very well to talk about
honor, but when one walks into an
empty room and sees a telegram as
long as a letter open on a bureau
But her sentence was never finished.
Loder had heard what he came to hear.
Any confession she might have to offer
was Of no moment in his eyes.
"My dear GIRL" he broke in brusque-
ly, don't trouble. I should make a
most unsatisfactory father confessor."
BE spoke quickly. His color was still
high, but not of annoyance. His sus-
pense was transformed into unpleasant
certainty, but the exchange left him
surer Of himself. His perplexity had
dropped to a quiet ms Of self re-
lance. His paramount desire was for
solitude in which to prepare for the
task that lay before him-the most con-
genial task the world possessed-the
u%nraveling of Chilcote's tangled skeins.
Looking into Lillian's eyes, he smiled.
"Goodby," he said, holding out his
hand. 81 think we've finished-for to.
day"
She slowly extended her fingers
Her expression and attitude were
slightly puzzled = a puZZlement that
was either spontaneous or singularly
we'll assumed. AS their hands touched
she smiled again.
"Wi11 you drop in at the Arcadian to
aight?' she asked. Its the drama
tized version of Other Mems Shoes.
The temptation to make you see it wa:
too irresistible-as you know"
There was q pause while she waited
for his answer her head inclined t.
one side, her green eyes cleaning.
Loder, conscious of her regard, hest
tated for a moment. Then his face
cleared. Right he said slowly. "Th'
Arcadian tonight"