Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-02-06

- ssa.
"You need not 90 a,pou; qcill do that"
DISCARD followed him with the patient
apathy of the large and mystitied.
And so they left her-amid the dis
order of the half unpacked wedding
presents-amid the ruin of her own
life. Perhaps, after all, she was not
wholly bad. Few people are; they are
only bad enough to be wholly unsatis-
factory and quite incomprehensible.
She must have known the risk she was
running. and yet she could not stay her
hand. She must have known long be-
fore that she really loved Jack Mere
dith. and that she was playing fast
and loose with the happiness Of her
whole life.' She knew that hundreds
of girls around her were doing the
same, and, with all shame be it men
toned, not few married women.
But they seemed to be able to carry
it through without accident or him
drance. And illogically, thoughtlessly,
she blamed her own i'll fortune.
She stood looking blankly at the
door which had closed behind three
men, one old and two young, and per.
haps she realized the fact that such
creatures may be led blindly, help
lessly, with n single hair, but that that
hair may snap at any moment.
She was not thinking of Guy DISCARD.
Him she had never loved. He had
only been one of her experiments, and
by his very simplicity, above all, by his
uncompromising honesty, he had out
witted her.
1t was characteristic of her that at
that moment she scarcely knew the
weight of her own remorse. 1t sat
lightly ON her shoulders then, and 1t
was only later on, when her beauty be-
gan to fade, when years came and
brought no Joy for the middle aged
unmarried woman, that she began to
realize what it was that she had to
carry through life with her. AT that
moment thousand other thoughts
filled her mind; such thoughts rs one
would expect to find there. How was
the world to be deceived? The guests
would have to be put off, the wedding
countermanded, the presents returned
And the world-her- world-would
laugh in its sleeve. There lay the
sting.
"Where are you going:" asked Mere
dith when jey were in the street.
| Home"
They walked on few PAGES to
| gether.
"May l come with you:' asked
Meredith again.
| Certainly; have good deal to tel.
you"
They called cab, and singularly
enough, they drove all the way to Rus
sell square without speaking. These
two men had worked together fol-
many months, and men who have q
daily task in common usually learn tc
perform it without much Interchange
Of observation. When one man gets to
know the mind of another, CONVERSE
| ton assumes place of secondary i'm
portance. These two had been through
more incidents together than usually
fall to the lot Of man; each knew how
| the other would act and think under
given circumstances; each knew what
the other was thinking now.
The house in Russell square, the
quiet house in the corner where the
cabs do not pass, was lighted up and
astir when they reached it. The ole
butler held open the door with a smile
Of welcome and faint aroma of whis
ky. The luggage had been discreetly
removed. Joseph had gone to Mr.
Meredith's chambers. Guy DISCARD led
the way to the smoking room at the
back of the house-the room wherein
the eccentric DISCARD had written his
great hlstory-the room in which Vic.
tor Durnovo had first suggested the
simiacine scheme to the historians
son.
The two survivors of the originating
trio passed into this room together and
closed the door behind them.
"The worst of ones own private
tragedies is that they are usually only
comedies in disguise" said Jack Mere.
dith oracularly.
Guy Oscard grnnted. He was look.
ing for his pipe.
"If we heard this of any two fellows
except ourselves we should think it an
! excellent joke" went on Meredith.
Oscar nodded. He lighted his pipe
and still he said nothing.
Hang It," exclaimed Jack Mere
dith, suddenly throwing himself back
in his chair, lit is a good joker
He laughed softly, and all the while
s stndyins G Guv oscor mlss, face 'A'''' were