Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-09-28

her brows, and she regarded him with
the expression of perplexity he hal
not seen for so many months She
was trying to understand the strange
methods by which men regulated their
affairs, and of which even Wiltshire
spoke with tolerance.
What institutions for example?"
"Well-take the governments of the
world, as an illustration. They're
fairly good governments, on the whole
most of them. And yet, practically
all are inspired by an Unsuitable
greed, and the most ferocious deter.
mination to make one countrys gain
out of another country's loss It's
not much of an exaggeration to say
that envy. hatred and malice, are the
normal sentiments of every nation to-
wards every other You can't open a
newspaper, even in the most piping
times of peace without seeing that
the growing Of cabinets at each other
IN London, Paris, Berlin. St. Peters
burg, Washington, Vienna, Toxic, and
home, is as savage and incessant as
That of team of Esquimaux dogs.
We have a whole honored profession
whose duties are in the field of hood
Wlnklng, half-truths, and evasion. We
dress 1t up in gold lace and cock
ed nat. and give 1t high place in
our society. We have another pro-
iession Of which the work is to shed
blood and wreck homes and spread
ruin. We give it sword and uni
form, and call 1t noble. Now, / cite
tnese merely as examples OF the way
In which mankind contents Itself
with defective moral standard. It's
diihcult to blame the soldier if he
Kills, or the diplomat if he equivo-
Gates or the statement if he brushes
another people to aggrandize his own.
It's what's expected. It's the way
the world acts
Il don't see that that makes it any
better" she argued, with feminine
dislike of, compromise.
III doesn't make the act any bette.
perhaps, but 1t helps us to understand
the agent. Few people question, few
people are able to question, the moral
conditions they find around them.
They accept them and live in them.
And" he added, significantly, most
men engaged in financial affairs do
like the Others"
You mean that they conform to a
low standard?"
I'm afraid that's what I have to
mean"
When minute or two had passed
In silence, he took hen hand and rails.
ed 1t to his lips. Leaning back, with
eyes closed she allowed him to re-
peat the caress. But she was think
Ing of the day when, beneath the
questioning eyes of the woman in
black and green, Winship had told
her that he loved her.
CHAPTER XIII.
Ihere were several reasons for
keeping the fact Of Paula's engage
ment to the Duke Of Wiltshire TEN,
porary secret from the outside world.
Iranord himself was receiving only
TOO much publicity at the time, and
ne shrank from seeing his daughters
name brought prominently into the
american press, as it would be If the
news were known even to few. As
the wedding was to take place in
January, 1t was decided that 1t would
De soon enough after Christmas to
let the information get abroad.
Inese details were arranged be-
tween Wiltshire and Trafford alone
Paula acquiesced with a submission
which barely concealed her listless-
ness. Inc two men gave themselves
up TO the enjoyment of their happi.
ness with an odd unanimity. They
inade conf1dants of each other and
discussed their respective hopes far
ln0o every night. Paula posed like Il
goduess IN shrine, while they found
mutual delight in singing hymns and
weaving garlands in her praise They
were, In fact, too busy with the serv-
ICE OF the temple to observe that
tnelr divinity grew thinner and thin
ner and paler and paler, day by day.
because she smiled at them and con-
sented to all their arrangements, they
1alled to notice that, in the hours they
spent together the number of words
she uttered COULD be counted.
1t was not till they returned to
Paris for Christmas and the wedding
mat Trafford and Wiltshire receiv-
ed the first shock of enlightenment.
what have you been doing to
her?' more than one old friend ex-
CLAIMED. If | had met her in the
street, ! don't believe should haya
known her."
The impression made on the father
anu lue fOpeT was one OF uneaSineSS
rather than Of alarm Instead of their
plans for London in February, with
Il opening of Parliament and tho
presentation OF the new Duchess at an
early Court. they began to talk .,t
Egypt. Algiers and Biskra. Trafford
had no doubt that she would be bet
ter when she was married. Wiltshire
was sure she would regain strength
and color in the eagerness of putting
into practice the great scheme of
restitution they had planned.
1t was for this reason that he Le
gan thinking over the matter of tie
million to be forced upon Winship. He
had done nothing in that cause MS
yet though Trafford had referred to it
once or twice as promise Wiltshire
had made him. The business which
had been repugnant at first began to
have aspects that appealed to him
when he thought of the pleasure his
success would give Paula.
During the three months since they
had become engaged, he had been
slowly forming his own theory of the
&c.,