The Washington herald., 1908-01-26
BY
MARIA
ALBANE 81
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

sweetest task had moved him more sharp
ly than he was moved now. Indeed. then
he had been partially prepared. As he
had put it himself TO Katherine, he had
felt that the creature he loved was slip
ping gradually but surely out of his
grasp: he had been conscious that the
butterfly he had caught and chained was
iluttering restlessly (aIbeit the chain was
a glittering one). snd he had nerved him
self for the pronouncement that his love
was wearying hts devotion exacting.
And when all this had come he had met
it quietly, as something that was in
evitable. But he had suffered none the
less.
All things he had expected from Camilla
except the thing she had done. And the
astounding conviction of her dislOyalty
had been hardly more startling than this
curious phase of her nature which Kath-
crime Granger had revealed this night.
He had, like Agnes BrentOn, found it
possible to pardon in Camilla many, many
things that would have been unforgivabie
In others because he took her mental
construction into consideration first OF
all; because he regarded her as a child,
a headstrong. foolish, sweet. irresponsible
child with all the innocence that belongs
20 extreme youth. and because he knew
she had been from the beginning sur
rounded by the most disastrous influences.
And Camilla had shown him how mis-
taken he had been 70 treat her with such
tender thought.
So now with Katherine lie had placed
her apart: he realized now that he had
thought Of her as something fragrant and
beautifying, and with her own lips she
had confessed herself capable Of "a SYM
pathy for a man who was brutal, vulgar,
coarse in heart and mind
Were all women SO framed? Or was Il
merely his destiny 20 be denied knowl-
edge of woman in her true peTsonihca-
ton? The woman of sweetest compass
sion and bTdVest COmTadCship. that figure
OF nobility and mOdesty of whom poets
had sung from ages Uncounted and for
whose purity and honor men had died in
centuries gone. His mother had shown
him one side OF the picture, Camilla the
reverse now Katherine added her touch.
He sat a long time after Mr. BTentOn
had smoked his cigar and gone indoors.
He was both angry and miserable. His
feelings, as he had approached HelvertOn
that evening. had been one nearly akin
90 pleasure. lie had been glad to meet
Agnes Brenton, glad to See Katherine
again; and after the first greeting Mrs.
BreutOn had swept him into fresh cle-
ment for trouble and regret. THE fault
Is In myself" he unused, 1T must be SO.
/ am Ia my wrong groove; that's what is
at the bottom Of 1t all"
He delivered himself up wholly In this
moment 10 that old yearning 10 shake
off the trammels OF his present existence.
to be stripped Of all that made the world
envy him,
For "A brief while he had summed himself
in the glory of false paradise, and for
that brief while the Clamor Of his old
ambitions had been sllenCed. the weighty
responsibility of his money had been
changed into satisfaction, But once that
glory had been darkencd his spirit had
gone back with a rush To the old habits
the old desires.
It was. perhaps. inevitable that he
should turn against this environment of
wealth and luxury. of soft raimcnt and
cultivated beauty. since me had been
taught tho hOllOWucSs of this social life.
since trickeTy and solhshUess, lies and
/ banalities had swept so destructiyely
across his path, Not that DE condemned
wholesale; he made distinctions. There
was good everywhere. These very pe0Dlc
whose guests he was this night were I'm
themselves the surcst testimony 10 that
/ Brought IN contact now with all sorts
and conditions OF people, he was quick
to recognize that there were hearts as
honest ana as simple In tie ranks OF the
mOneyed class as in any other walk of
life. Nevertheless, Haverford's real SYM
Pathies We're with those who worked, IL
seemed TO him there must always be
more possibility OF finding gold i'm the
natures OF those who toiled and suffered
and even died together in their grind 10
put bread into the mouths of their chill
dren, than could be possible 10 the idlers
and the well cared for.
Back in the old days he had seen many
an evidence Of this golden nature packed
. away in a rough frame, an uncouth per
sOuality.
And the women OF those old days. was
not their history such as TO place them
apart FOR honor and admiration? Why. he
could bring back memories now Of tidel-
Ity, and courage, and dogged endurance
/ among those working women that made
his eyes wet and his heart thrill as he
recalled them,
And he remembered. too. that TIL this
night there had always been something
I HbtAl hdlitLtle Granger 10 remind MIN
Of those people who had been once SO
dear to him, 10 whom his heart still
turned, despite their recent churIish treat
ment Of him; who made such a close
bond between his boyhood and his present
self
Yes, Katherine had surely possessed
something Of the simplicity. that ouiet
reticent strength of those North Country
people. He was conscious now of how
much he had relied on her. lie got ur
with sigh at last. and before he wen.
| indoors he made his way To Betty's little
garden again. He stopped and touched
the rose once more with his lips. but II
seemed as II the fragrance had gone from
the flower as if the soft beauty Of the
garden had lost something. Certain II
was that as he slowly moved under the
| trees he had a sense Of loss heavily upor
him, as If in the fitting away Of that
girls white-robed figure. not merely ths
little world about him was robbed OF a
potent charm, but that there had gone
with her a sympathy. an influence that
all unconsciously had suggested TO him