Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1907-07-19
CHAPTER XvIl.-continued.

When you leave Shall go straight o.
up to bed"
I'D like toto see your room
where you live" said /. more to my
self than to her.
Il sleep in bare little box" shr
replied with a laugh Its like a cell
A friend of ours who has the anti-gern
fad insisted on it, But my sitting
room isn't SO bad"
"Langdon has the anu-germ fad,
said l.
She answered Yes" after a pause
and in such strained voice that
looked at her. flush was just dyinf
out of her face He was the friend
spoke Of, she went on.
You know him very well?'' | asked
We've known him-always," said
she. Il think he's one of my earliest
recollections. His fathers summer
place and ours adIoin. And once
guess it's the first time / remember
seeing him-he was a freshman At
Harvard. and he came along on a
horse past the pony cart in which a
groom was driving me- And II
was very little them begged him 10
take me up, and he did. / thought he
was the greatest, most wonderful man
that ever lived" She laughed queerly.
when I say my prayers, used to
imagine a god that looked like him to
say them to-
| echoed her laugh heartily. The
Idea of Mowbray Langdon as a god
struck me as peculiarly funny, though
natural enough, too.
Absurd, wasn't it?" said she. But
her face was grave, and she let her
cigarette die out
Il guess you know him better than
that now?"
"Yes-better," she answered. slowly
and absently. "Hes-anything but
god"
And the more fascinating on that
account" said l. 81 wonder why
women like best the really bad, dan
gerous sort of man, who hasn't any re-
spect for them. or for anything"
l said this that she might protest.
ct least for. herself But her answer
was vague, musing, Il wonder
wonder"
I'm sure you wouldn't" protested
earnestly. for her.
She looked at me queerly.
Can | never convince you that I'm
just a woman?" said she mockingly.
"Just a woman, and one man with
your ideas of women would fly from"
Il wish you wereI" ] exclaimed.
''Then-Id find it $3.50 impossible to
give you up"
She rose and made slow tour of
the room, hating on the rug before
the closed fireplace a few feet from
me. I sat looking at her
Il am going to give you up" said
at last
Her eyes. staring into vacancy, grew |
larger and intenser with each long, /
deep breath she took
81 didn't intend to say what I'm 1
about to say--at least, not this even
ing" | went on, and to me it seemed /
TO be some other than myself who was
speaking Certain things happened
down town to-day that have set me to /
And-I shall do whatever
can for your brother and your father.
But you-you are free,"
She went to the table, stood there
In profile to me. straight and slender
as sunf1ower stalk She traced the
silver chasi- in the lid of the cigar
cite box with er forefinger; then she
took a cigarette and began rolling it
slowly and absently.
please don't scent and stain your
fingers with that filthy tobacco" said
rather harshly.
And only this afternoon YOU were
saying you had become reeonciled to
ny vice-that you hads canonized ii
Along with me--wasn't that your
,hrase9" This indiferentiy, without
urning toward me, and as if she were
of something else.
$50 | have" | retorted. But my
oblige me this once.
She let the cigarette fall into the
,ox. closed the lid gently, leaned
gainst the table, folded her arms
Ipon her bosom and looked full at
ne | was as acutely conscious of her
very movement of the very coming
nd going of the breath at her nos
rils. as man on the operating table ,
J conscious of the slightest gesture or
be surgeon. /,
you are-suffering, she said and s
er voice was like the flow OF oil upon
burn. Il have never seen you like
MS. didn't believe you capable OF +
of much feeling"
could not trust myself to speak. O
Bob Corey could have looked IN on n
lat scene, could have understood ii,
ow amazed he would have beeni a
What happened down town to- {.
ayr" she went on. Tell me. il | a
ay know" h
"rn tell you what ! didn't think. a
N minutes ago. I'd tell any human y
sing." said l. They've got me n
raped down in the press. AT ten il
clock in the morning precisely at Il
going to put on the q
rews." laughed. Il guess they'll Ii