Evening star., 1908-01-12
THE AWAKENING OF
HELENA RICHIE.
By MARGARET DELAND,
Asthof Of dr. Lavendars People," Old Chester Tales" Et
Copyright by
Bv MARGARET DELAND,

ters of the east window, her face blazed
with angry color, and she threw her head
up with surge Of pride. II he doesnt
want me. l don't want him." she said,
aloud She pulled the lace bertha from
her shoulders and began to take out her
hairpins; II shan't be the one to say
Let us be married. -
When she lay down in the darkness, her
eyes wide open, her arms straight at her
sides, it flashed into her mind that Fred
erick was lying still and straight, too.
His face must be white now; sunken per-
haps; the leer of his pale eyes changed
into the SLY smile Of the dead Dead;
Oh, at last at last.-and her mind rushed
back to it's own affairs. That hor-
rible old Mr.. Wright and his insinua-
tions; how she had worried over them
and over the difficulty of getting away
from Old Chester. only that afternoon.
I.Ah, well. she need never think of such
things again, for never again could any
one have an insulting thought about her;
and as for her fear that Lloyd would not
want her to leave Old Chester-why, he
would take her away himself! And once
outside of Old Chester she would have
place in the world like other women. She
was conscious of a sudden and passion
ate elation: Like other women. The
very words were triumphant! Yes, like
that dreadful Mrs. King; oh, how intol-
erably stupid the woman was, how she
disliked her.; but when Lloyd came and
they went away together. she would D.
like Mrs King, She drew an exultant
breath and smiled proudly in the dark
ness. For the moment the covering
fear was forgotten. > How soon could
he come? He ought to have the telegram
by 10 the next morntng-too late to eaten
the express for Mercer. He would take
the night train and arrive at noon on
Saturday day and a half to wait And
at that she realized with sudden astonis n
ment that it was still THURSDAY. II
seemed hours and hours since she had
-1.ly
read that telegram Yet IL was scarcely
an hour ago that she had been dancing
the Virginia reel with those terrible peo-
pie, A little later she had noticed Wll-
liam King lingering behind the departing
guests: how annoyed she had been at ms
slowness Then he had taken that enve-
lope out of his pocket-she gasped again,
remembering the shock of its contents.
! In this tumult of broken and incoherent
thought the night passed IL was not
until dawn that her mind cleared enough
| for consecutive thinking. and when IL dio
she was so fatigued that she fell asleep
and slept heavily till awakened by an
| ANXIOUS knock at her door. HAD Mrs
| Richie one of her headaches? Should
Sarah bring her some coffee?
"Why, what time is it? Has David
gone to school? What. Ten O'Clock. she
was broad awake at that-he must nave
cot the dispatch Allowing for delays,
| mis- answer ought to reach her by noon
| She sprang up with the instinct. to do
| something, to get ready! She began to
! plan her packing the thrill o. action
| tingiing through her. She dressed hur-
riedly, looking incessantly at the CLOCK,
| and then laughing TO herself. W hat dl--
! ference did it make how late 1t was
| By no possibility could Lloyd appear On
| the morning stage-unless, yes, IL was
| possible: Mr. Raynor might nave tele-
raphed him No; Mr.. Rayner had never
| recognized the situation. Lloyd could not
| reach her until noon on Saturday: ne
| could only telegraph. She sighed and re-
signed herself to facts, drinking the coffee
| Sarah brought her. and asking WhetAer
David was all right. Poor darling. hav-
| Then she looked at the clock; Lloyd's dis
patch could hardly arrive for another
| hour.
The still. hot morning stretched inter
| minably before her y dozen times 1t
brought down from the garret A dozen
times some underlined sense of fitness held
her back When his answer came. when
he actually said the word-tnen; but not
till then. What time was 1t? After
IL, She would go into the garden. where
she could look down the road and have
the first glimpse of Eddy Minns climbing
the hill With her thoughts in galioping
confusion, she. put on her fiat hat with
its twist of white lace about the crown
and went out into the heat. From the
bench under the big poplar she look &c
across at the girdling hills, blue and hot
in the still flood OF noon below her was
the valley. now a sea of treetops islandeC
with Old Chester roofs and chimneyS
there was no gleam of the river through