Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-08-29

away 1t seemed as II inquire rose De-
fore her through the mist they made.
It was not the man with the brown
beard and bleaming eyes she had
seen that night; 1t was the blind
woman, who had gone on from court
to court and from year to year, till
her father had been forced at last to.
"club her down"
CHAPTER w.
OF all the Trafford family it was
Paula who had least of the clearness
of vision aud promptness of action
that were so remarkable in her
parents. Her thought worked slowly
and somewhat illogically. She was
not capable of large conceptions, and
when she tried to trace for herself
a definite line Of duty it soon lost it
self in vagueness. In small way of
life she would have fulfilled the daily
task with scrupulous devotion helped
by the very absence of choice: but as
mistress Of fortune such as that
which she was already allowed to
spend she felt herself bewildered. It
was as If she had a birds range of
flight without the birds instinct for
finding the way
She was conscious of this as she sat
on the following morning. looking
over her correspondence Everything
in the room about her suggested
wealth. She herself, in soft trailing
garment that seemed to be woven of
gossamer and the petals of pale-pink
flowers, looked as far removed from
the practical side of lie as Princess
| n ,I>olJ IL hi
toinette. Her coffee brought to her in
the gold-plate service kept in the
hotel as delicate attention to pass,
ling royalties. was beside her on the
table and she slipped as she read.
The Dukes daily letter she glanc-
ed through first laying it down with a
sigh. When she had read the notes
from her friends, she separated the
letters OF invitation from those Of pre-
mature congratulation on her report
ed engagement. Then she attacked
the large pile Of envelopes, the nature
of whose contents she knew only too
well. They were all requests for con
tributions of money to charities OF
various kinds, and she swept thea
aside with gesture OF Impotence
In spite of herself, her thoughts wen,
back to the man she had seen last
night-the man who was evidently
a gentleman" but who looked poor.
j For a man to look poor" seemed
to Paula the last touch Of the pitiable
All the men with whom she had much
to do had at least the outward air d
riches. This man, on the contrary
bore the stamp Of one obliged to deny
himself. Yes, that was 1t. She could
see it now. 1t was not poverty that he
4 depressed so much as self-denial. This
very clothes he wore were thread
bare. She had noticed that detail
sub-consciously at the time, and now
it came back to her significantly
i Well, he had mother and a siste,
: dependent on him; 1t was only tor
likely that he should be forced int
nobleness of the sacrifice that appeal
ed to Paula; that was not the stand
ard by which she had been taught x
i Judge; it was rather the pitifulnes'
involved in the necessity for making
that kind Of sacrifice at ALL The mel
of her family put forth gigantic efforts
and carried them out to gigantic sue
cesses. She understood that; she wa.
used to it; but that man Of her owl
world, one who was on such footin,
as to be casually presented to her
self-that such a man should be driv
en- to pinching, sordid, petty econom
les In clothing, and perhaps in food
had in 1t something of the shameful
1t put him at once, in her imagina
ton, into the class of people withou
money-the seekers, the wheedlers
} the beggars. she was not Indifferent
to poverty, but she could not helf be
Ing distrustful of it. She had seel
SO much of it, fawning and whining
with the back bent and the hand Out
. stretched! She could not remembe
the time when they, the Traffords
had not been tracked down by pet
TONERS. They had moved anon
them like European tourists anon
; Egyptian fellaheen, with cries TO
backsheesh forever ringing in thei
ears. Whether from the individua
or the institution, the demand 70
) money never ceased.
She had come to give carelessl,
with a royal prodigality, but none tn
less with certain contempt for thos
who asked of her. They wearied he
they goaded her. There were so man
!, of them that she was tempted {
class every one who had not hug
means Of his own among their nun
: Der. For the minute she saw Roge
l Winship there; he was poor, tha
was a sufficient reason why h
should put his hands out like th
' rest.
t Then came the thought of whs
e had made him poor. She went owe
4 again the discussion of last nigh
s Her father had eaten the heart out {
the Winships' business before the
Q had ever heard Of him. He had la
: out his plan of campaign to rui
them five or six years ahead VIII,
did it mean? What could she de
Could she do anything7 Was there
right and wrong to the situation.
She leaned her head on her har
and tried to think; but the compile
Questions at issue were Of the so