Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-02-28

III dual role Loder slept H. he
- was not man over whom i'm
agination held any powerful sway. His
doubts and miSgivngs seldom ran to
speculation upon future possibilities.
Nevertheless, the fact that. conscious
ly or uncOnsciously, he had adopted a
new attitude toward Eve came home
to him with unpleasant force during
the hours Of darkness and long before
the first hint Of daylight had slipped
through the heavy window curtains he
he'd arranged a plan Of actiona plan
wherein, by the simple method Of alto
gether avoiding her. he might soothe
his own conscience and safeguard Chill
cote's domestic interests
1t was satisfactory if somewhat
negative arrangement. and he rose next
morning with feeling that things had
begun to shape Themselves But chance
sometimes has disconcertlng knack of
| forestalllng even our best planned
schemes. He dressed slowly and de-
/ scended TO his solitary breakfast with
! the pleasant sensation Of having put
( last night out of consideration by the
! turning over OF q new leaf. but scarce
! ~ had he opened Chilcote's letters
scarcely had he taken cursory glance
ut the mornings newspaper than 1t was
borne in upon him that not only a new
leaf, but whole sheaf Of new leaves, had
been turned III his prospects by a hand
infinitely more powerful and arbitrary
ia
space OF few moments that the lei
sure Eve might have claimed. the lei
sure lie might have been tempted to de
vote to her, was no longer his to dis
pose Of. being already demanded OF
him from a quarter that allowed of NJ
refusal.
For the fret rumblnG Of the politica
earthquake that was 70 shake the coun
try made itself audible beyond denia
on that morning of March - when thu
news spread through England that. il
Wow of the disorganiZed state of the
Persian army and the shah's conse
Quent inability to suppress the open in
surrection of the border tribes in thu
northeastern districts OF Meshed, Rus
sia, with great show Of magnanlmity
had come to the rescue by diSpatchn:
n large armed force from her mlitar.
station at New across the Persian
frontier to the seat Of the disturbance.
TO many hundreds of Englishmel
who read their papers on that mOrnin,
this announcement conveyed but little
That there is such Il country as Persi;
we all know, that English interests pre-
dominate in the south and Russian in
terests in the north we have all super
fcially understood from childhood, bu
in this knowledge, coupled with tn
fact that Persia Is comfortably IA
away, we are apt to rest content. 1t i
only to the eyes that see through lonl
distance glasses. the minds that rcgarl
the present MS nothing more or les
than an inevitable link joining the fu
ture to the past, that this distant, de
batable land stands out in It's true pc
litlcal significance.
To the average reader of news tn
statement of Russins move SCENE,
scarcely more important than had tn
first report Of the border rislngs II
January, but to the men who hat
watched the growth of the disturbanc
1t came charged with portentous mean
Ing. Through the entire ranks OF tn
opposition. from Fraide himself down
ward, 1t caused thrill of expectation
that peculiar prophetic sensation tina
every politician has experienced a
some moment OF his career.
In no member of his party did thi
feeling strike deeper root than in Lodel
Imbued with lifelong interest in til
eastern question. specially equipped b.
personal knowledge to hold and Pre-
claim an opinion upon Persian affairs
he read the signs and portents with In
stlnctlve insight. Seated at Chilcote'
table, surrounded by Chilcote's letter
and papers, he forgot the breakfas
that was slowly growing cold. forgo
the interests and dangers. personal
pleasurable, of the night before, Will
his mental eyes persistently conjure
up the map of Persia, travelling wit
steady elaboration from Merv to Nc
shed, from Meshed to Herat, from Hel
at to the empire of India! For 1t wa
not the fact that the Hazaras had rise
against the shah that occupied tn
thinking mind, nor was 1t the fact tina