The Red Cloud chief., 1907-03-22

WlIn Ills party. All Ills lnlereSt, all Ills
relaxation even, lay In his work and
what pertained to It. His strength was
like a solid wall, his intelligence was
sharp and keen as steel. The moment
was his, and by sheer mastery Of will
he put other considerations out of sight.
lie forgot Chilcote and forgot Lillian,
not because they escaped his memory,
but because he chose to shut them from
Il.
or Eve he saw but little in this time
Of high pressure. When a man touches
the core OF his capacities, puts his best
into the work that I'm his eyes stands
paramount, there Is little place for and
no need of woman. She comes before
and after. She inspires. compensates
or completes: but the achievement, the
creation, is mans alone. And all true
woinen understand and yield to this
%unspoken prcccpt.
Eve watched the progress of his la
Dor. and in the depth Of her own heart
the watching came nearer to actual
living than any activity she had known.
She was an onlooker-but IN onloolier
who stood, as it We're, OF the steps Of
the arena, who, by a single forward
movement, could feel the sand under
her feet, the breath of the battle on
her face. and i'm this knowledge she
rested satisfied.
There were hours when Loder SEEM
ed scarcely conscious Of her existence,
but on those occasions she smiled in
In, ,,,A ..n, n,,l x,.a,t ~, xx,ntttn.,
She knew that each day before the aft
ernOon had passed he would come into
his sitting ROOM, his face thoughtful,
his hands f,ill of books or papers, and,
dropping into one of the comfortable,
studious chairs, would ask laconically
for tea. This was her moment of tri-
umph and recompenSe-for the very
Inconsistencies of his coming doubled
its value. He would sit for half an
hour with preOccupicd glance or with
his ideas sorted themselves ana fell
into line. Sometimes he was silent for
the whole half hour. sometimes he com
meuted to himself rs he scanned his
notes. but on other ami rnrcr Cc'l-
sious he talked, speaking his thoughts
and his theories aloud. With TIE en-
joymcnt of Il nan who knows himself
fully in his depth. while Eve slipped her
tea or stitched peacefully at IL strip OF
embroidery.
On these occasions she made u per.
feet listener. Here and there she en-.
couraged him with an intelligent re.
mark, but she never interrupted. She
knew when to be silent and when tC
speak, when to merge her w individ'
uality and when to make it felt. III
these days of stress and preparation he
came to her unconsciousIy for rest; he
treated her as he might have treated d
younger brother-relying on her discre
ton, turning to her as by right fol-
sympathy, comprehension and friend
ship. Sometimes as they sat silent /,
the richly colored, homelike room Eve
would pause over her embroidery ant
let her thoughts spin ~momentarily for
ward-spin toward the point where
the brunt Of his ordeal passed, he mus
of necessity seek something beyond
mere rest. But there her thought
would inevitably break off and thu
blood flame quickly into her cheek.
Meanwhile Loder worked persistent
ly. With each day that brought til,
crisis of Fraide's scheme nearer his &c
tivity in~creased-and with it an inten
styling of the nervous strain. For |
he had his hours of eX~altatiOn he ais
had his hours of black apprehension
1t is all very well to exercise a ghos
by sheer strength of will, bu II ha
also to eliminate the idea that gave !
existence. Lillian Astrupp, with he
manifested evidence and her ephemera
interest, gave him no real uneasiness
but. Chilcote and Chilcote's possibl
summons were matters of graver cor
sideratiOn, and there were times whe
they doomed very dark and sinister
What If ut the very moment of fulfil
ment- But invariably he snapped tn
thread of the supposition and turne
with fiercer ardor to his work of pref
a~ration.
And so the last morning Of his pre-
baton dawned, and for the first tim
he breathed freely.
fro BE Continued