Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-01-30

| ed. All he knew was that no matter
how his mind might busy itself with
Other. thoughts, it always circled back
| 10 Camilla in some fashion or other.
AS he drew nearer to the smoke and
the fog of the great city he closed
| MS eyes and dreamed of the day be-
fore-of that wide eXpanse of restless
sun-klssed sea, with the sky fading in
the distance into glorious sweep Of
gold and purple and grey.
In his imagination he could hear
again the break of the waves on the
wet beach mingling with the musical
hum of the car, and he could feel
once again that sense of delight. al.
most of possessive delight, as he had
looked back ever and anon, and had
met the smile of Camillas sweet ewes
and pensive lips.
She seemed to be cut away from
MIN altogether by this darkness and
heavy atmosphere.
The yellow gloom fell like a pail
on all that was bright and beautiful
and desirable
He longed to go back to the coun.
try; above ALL he longed to see her
again, and quickly
CHAPTER Ill
When he reached his mothers
house in Kensington. Rupert Haver.
ford was met with the information
that she had left town the preceding
day
The house was all shut UP, and the
servant who opened the door to him
wore no apron or cap.
He passed into the hall thoroughly
vexed.
I Of course by this time he ought to
| nave been well prepared for any
| startling move on the part of his
mother who never by any chance did
those things which were expected OF
her, or, indeed, anything that she had
announced she intended doing.
He put the parlour-maid through a
cross-examination.
Il came UP from the country on
purpose" he said to her, naturally H.
ritated. II understood from letter
that was sent on from my house that
my mother had had an accident. and
that she was anything but wel!"
| NO more she is, SIR" said the
maid DIR Mortlock, he was quit
angry when he come here this. morn
ing and found Mrs. Baynhurst gone:
|
day from Mr.. Cuthbert, saying as he
was i'll in Paris, and the mistress she
fused herself into a fever, and
wouldn't rest satisfied, so she left last
night. She wasn't no more fit to
travel than this doormat sir You
see. there was all but a smash-up
with the brougham"
Rupert Haverford was frowning
sharply
who is with my mother?" he
asked.
"she's took Seedlings. her maid
that is, sir but not Miss Granger.
Most portable she'll have to join Mrs.
Baynhurst in day or two.
The maid rambled on loquaciously,
and Rupert Haverford quickly gather
ed that his mother must have had a
nasty shock, as her carriage had ap-
parently just escaped collision with q
runaway cab She was not nerv-
Gus or timid woman far from it:
but of late she had been in anything
but good health. and this journey to
Paris appeared to haverford not
merely an altogether needless ia
| tigue, but very foolish undertaking
on her part.
In all probability his half-brother's
serious illness would signify nothing
more than an ordinary cold.
| 1t was so typical of Cuthbert Bayn-
hurst to write in sensational way
about himself; equally typical of Their
mother to take immediate alarm
when any such news reached her.
1t relieved Rupert Haverford to be
angry with his half-brother now. He
had made it principle never to be
angry with his mother. 1t was SO use
| less. She was strange creature.
was Rupert's mother. In sense
they were nothing more than &C.
quaintances, for she had left his faith
er when he had been a baby of few
months.
Octavia Marling had married John
| Haverford in hurry, and had regret
ted the haste almost Immediately.
Their life together had been unsup-
| portable. 1t would. however, have
! been a very unusual kind of man who
would have found life possible with
a woman of her peculiar tempera-
ment and mental attributes. even in
the most easy-going circumstances,
and when such a woman was boxed
down into the narrow limits of a
struggling existence passed in a dull,
smoke grimed. small provincial town.
the result was inevitable.
Rupert's father had adored his wife,
but he could not live with her.
She was a brilliant woman, wom-
an with the brains, the will, the ten
acious strength Of man, woman
who made rules for herself, and quiet
ly and firmly rebelled against the po-
sition which tradition and nature had
allotted to her sex.
When she had borne child she
had felt Inundated; motherhood was
a natural evil she admitted SO much,
but there were women created spe-
cially for the purpose, and she was
assuredly not one of those women
She put the baby away from her as
she put other Objectionable things,
and fell back on her work with new
and deeper intentions.
She had been engaged, at the time
when poor little Rupert came into the
world. on an historical work of some
| f,,Io IL,