Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-11-28

"You know this?"
"AliXe told me when we were school
girls. And for days she was haunted
with the fear of what might one day
be her inheritance That is all know,
Phil"
He nodded and for awhile made some
pretense of eating, but presently lean
ed back and looked at his sister out of
daZed eyes.
DO you suppose" he said heavily,
that she was not entirely responsible
when-when she went away"
Il have wondered" said Nina simply.
"Austin believes it."
81 can't believe it." he said, staring
at vacancy. Il refuse to-" And, think
ing of her last frightened and excited
letter implOring an interview with him
and giving the startling reason. What
a scoundrel that fellow Ruthven is" he
said, with shudder.
That night he wrote to Alike:
II Ruthven threatens you with divorce
on such a ground he himself is likely to
be adjudged mentally unsound. 1t was a
brutal, stupid threat. nothing more, and
Ills Ills III 10 your LatHeI ) memory was
more brutal still Don't be stampeded by
such threats. Disprove them by your
I calm self control under proVocation. Dis
! prove them by your discretion and self
| confidence. Give nobody single posi-
| BILE reason for gossip. And, above all.
| Alike, don't become worried and morbid
| over anything you might dread as in
| heritance. for you are as sound today as
| you were when / first met you, and you
| shall not doubt that you could ever be
| anything else. Be the woman you can
| be. Show the pluck and courage to make
the very best out of life. l have slowly
| learned to attempt it, and it is not diff
cult If you convince yourself that it car
| be done.
To this she answered the next day:
will do my best There is danger.
treachery, everywhere, and if it becomes
| uncomfortable / shall put an end to it In
one way or another. AS for his threat
| incident on my admitting that / did so to
your room and defying him to dare be-
lieve evil of me for doing i'll can laugh
at it now, though when l wrote you
was terrified. remembering how mentally
broken my father was when he died.
But, as you say. am sound, body and
mind. L know 1t. l don't doubt it for one
moment-except, at long intervals, when
apropos of nothing, faint sepsation OF
| dread comes creeping.
But 1 am sound! l know 1t so absolute
| ly that l sometimes wonder at my owr
| perfect sanity and understanding, and Sc
clearly. so faultlessly, precisely doe:
my mind work that-and this l never told
you'll often and often able to detec
mental inadequacy in many people around
me, the slightest deviation from the nor
NAL, the least degree of mental instabil
ity. And 1t would amaze you, too, IL
should tell you how many. many people
| you know are in some degree more Of
less insane.
He's only serenely disagreeable to M
: | now, and we see almost nothing of on
another except over the card tables. Ger
aid has been winning rather heavily,
am glad to say-glad as long as / canno
prevent him from playing. And yet
may be able to accomplish that yet in
> roundabout way, because the apple Wis
aged and hawk beaked Mr.. Neergard ha
apparently become my slavish creature
, quite infatuated. And as soon as Iv
fastened on his collar and made sure tina
Rosamund can't unlock 1t I'll try I
, make him shut down on Gerald's play
/ ing. This for your sake, Phil-becauS
you ask me and because you must al
ways stand for all that Is upright an
= good and manly In my eyes. All, Phi
IL what a fool was! And ALL all my owl
fault too! ALIKE.
I. This ended the sudden eruption o
correspondence, for he did not reply t
y this letter, though in 1t he read enoug
. to make him grayely uneasy. and b
fell once more into the habit of brood
" ing from which both Boots Lansin
, and Eileen had almost weaned him.
! Also he began to take long, solitar
. walks In the park when not occupie
in conferences with the representative
of the Lawn Nitro Powder works,
c.! company WHICH had recently approach