Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-04-05

Masquerader
By KATHERINE CECIL THURSTON.
Author of THE Circle"
copyrsht. 1904. by Harper &
By KATHERINE CECIL THUR
Author Of The Circle" E

/, be overrated. 1t gives the precise lever
necessary for the big move at the re-
assembling" He spoke with great ear
nestness and unusual haste. As he
finished he took step forward. but
that's not ALL" he added. "Fraide
wants the great move set in motion by
a great speech, and he has asked me
| to make It,"
For moment Eve waited. She look
| ed at him in silence, and In that silence
he read in her eyes the reflection OF
his own expression.
"And your she asked in suppress
ed voice. what answer did you
give?"
| He watched her for an instant, tax
ing strange pleasure in her flushed
face and brilliantly eager eyes; then
| the joy Of conscious strength, the sense
Of opportunity regained swept all 9TH
er considerations out of sight.
81 accepted" he said quickly. Gould
any man who was merely human have
done otherwise!"
That was Loder's attitude and action
on the night of his jeopardy and his
success, and the following day found
! his mood unchanged. He was one of
| those rare individuals who never give O
promise overnight and regret 1t In the
morning. he was slow to move, but
when he did the movement brushed all
! obstacles aside. In the first days of his
usurpatlon he had gone cautiously, half
fascinated, half distrustful. Then the
reality, the extraordinary tangitllity OF
1 the position had gripped him when,
matching himself for the first time with
| men Of his own caliber, he had learned
his real weight OH the day Of his pro-
test against the Easter adjournment.
with that knowledge had been born the
i dominant factor in his whole scheme
/ the Overwhelming, insistent desire to
manifest his power; that desire that
4 Is the salvation or the ruin Of every
| strong man who has once realized his
strength. Supremacy was the note to
which his ambition reached. To tram
I pie out Chilcote's footmarks with his
| own hand had been his taclt Instinct
! from the first. Now it rose paramount.
1t was the whole theory Of creation
the survival Of the flttest-the deep.
egotistical certainty that he was the
better man.
And it was with this conviction that
/ he entered on the vital period Of bis
dual career. The imminent crisis and
his own share In 1t absorbed him alb
solutely. In the weeks that followed
his answer to Fraide's proposal he gave
himself ungrudgingly to his work. He
wrote. read and planned with tireless
energy. He frequently forgot to eat
and slept only through sheer exhaus.
1 ton. In the fullest sense Of the word
he lived for the eliminating hour that
was to bring him failure or success.
He seldom left Grosvenor square IN
the days that followed except to confer
with his party. All his interest, all his
relaxation even. lay in his work and
what pcrtained to it, His strength was
4 like a solid wall, his intelligence was
sharp and keen as steel. The moment
i was his, and by sheer mastery Of will
he put other considerations out, OF sight
He forgot Chllcote and forgot Lillian
not because they escaped his memory
but because he chose to shut them from
it.
i OF Eve he saw but little in this time
Of high pressure. When man touches
4 the core Of his capacities, puts his bes,
into the work that in 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 tht
4 creation, is mans alone. And all true
women understand and yield to THIS
unspoken precept
4 Eve watched the progress OF his Ia
Dor, and in the depth Of her own hear
the watching came nearer to actua
i living than any activity she had known
She was an onlooker-but an onlookel
who stood, as it were, on the steps OF
the arena, who. by a single forward
movement, could feel the sand under
her feet, the breath of the battle or
4 her face, and in this knowledge she
reted satisfied.
There were hours when Loder seem
ed scarcely conscious Of her existence
but on those occasions she smiled II
her serene way-and went on waiting
She knew that each day before the aft
ernoon had passed he would come init
his sitting room, his face thoughtful,
his hands full Of books or papers, and,
dropping into one Of the comfortable,
studious chairs, would ask lacon1cally
for tea. This was her moment of TIL.
umph and recompense for the very
Inconsistencies of his coming doubled
dts value He would sit for half an
hour with preoccupied glance or with
keen, alert eyes fixed on the fire, while
his ideas sorted themselves and fell
into line Sometimes he was silent fol
the whole half hour, sometimes be com
mented to himself as he scanned his
notes, but on other and rarer occa
sions he talked. speaking his thoughts
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