Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-03-28

pose was very young. you were
very unapproachable and--and we had
no love to make the way easy" For q
second her glance faltered and she
looked away. IA woman's-a girls
disillusioning Is very sad comedy-it
should never have an audience" She
laughed little bitterly as she looked
back again II saw all the deceits, all
the subterfuges, oil the-lies." She
said the word deliberately, meeting his
eyes.
Again he thought of Chilcote, but his
face paled.
II saw it all. lived with 1t all till
/ grew hard and indifferent-till I &C.
quiesced in your nerves as readily as
the rest Of the world that hadn't sus-
pected and didn't know" Again she
laughed nervously "And thought the
Indifference would last forever. IL one
lives in groove for years, one gets
frozen up never felt more frozen
than on the night Mr.. Fraide spoke to
me OF you--asked me to use my influ-
ence; then. on that night
Eyes. On that night?" Loder's voice
was tense.
But her excitement had suddenly fall
en-. Whether his glance had quelled 1t
or whether the force Of her feelings
had worked itself out 1t was impossi-
BILE to say, but her eyes had lost their
resolution. She stood hesitating for a
moment. then she turned and moved
to the mantelpiece.
'That night you found me changed r
Loder was insistent.
"tyhanged+-and yet not changed"
She spoke reluctantly. with averted
head.
"And what did you think"
4 Again she was silent. Then again =
faint excitement tinged her cheeks.
II thought she began. 1T seem
ed Once more she paused. hamper
ed by her own uncertainty, her own
sense OF puzzling incongrulty. II don't
know why I speak like this" she went
on at last. as IL In justification of her
sell, ''or why want to speak. But .
feeling-an extraordinary, incompre-
he1lsible feeling seems to urge me on.
The same feeling that came to me on
1 the day we had tea together-the feel
Ing that made me--that almost made
me believe
Il believe whatT' The words escaped
him without volition.
At sound of his voice she turned.
"E!elieve that a miracle happened" she
said; "that you had found strength.
had freed yourself"
h From morphia 7"
From morphia."
In the silence that followed Loder
4 lived through a century Of suggestion
ard indecision His first feeling; was
for himself, but his first clear thought
was for Chilcote and their compact.
He stood, metaphorically, on stone
in the middle Of stream, balancing
! or one foot, then on the other; looking
to the right bank, then to the left. At
last, as it always did, inspiration came
/ to him slowly. He realized that by
one plunge he might save both Chill
cote and himself.
/ He crossed quickly to the fireplace
and stood by Eve. You were right
In your belief" he said. "For all that
time, from the night you spoke to me
or Fralde to the day you had tea In
this room, never touched drug"
She moved suddenly, and he saw her
face. John she said unsteadily', you
III have known you to lie to me
4 about other things"
4 With hasty movement he averted
his head. The doubt, the appeal in her
/ words, shocked him. The whole isola-
/ ton of her life seemed summed up In
the one short sentence. For the instant
he forgot Chilcote. With reaction Of
feeling he turned to her again.
"Look at mev' he said brusquely.
She raised her eyes,
do you believe I'm speaking the
truth?"
She searched his eyes intently, the
6oubt and hesitancy still struggling in
her face.
'tBut the last three weeks?" she said
reluctantly. How can you ask me to
1 believer
He had expected this and he met 1t
steadily enough. Nevertheless his
courage faltered. To deceive this
woman. even to Justify himself, had in
,he last half hour become something
sacrilegious.
1.-THE last three weeks must be
buried" he said hurriedly. mo man
could free himself suddenly fronl-from
"a vice" He broke off abruptly. He
hated IChilcote; he hated himself.
Then Ewes face, raised in distressed
appeal, overshadowed all scruples.
you have been silent and patient for
years." he said suddenly. Can you
be patient and silent little longer?"
He spoke without consideration. He
was conscious of no selfishness be-
meath his words. In the first exercise
of conscious strength the primitive de-
sire to reduce all elements to his own
sovereignty submerged every other
emotion. ~ can't enter into the
thing" he said; 'like you. give no
explanations. can only tell you that
on the day we talked together In this
room I was myself-in the full pos
session Of my reason, the full knowl-
edge of my own capacities. The man
you have known in the last three
weeks, the man you have imagined in
] the last four years, is a shadow, an