Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-09-01

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to hope, that there might be a chance
for me-"
She came close and laid her hand
upon his shoulder.
Now that he is dead | shall ask
you one question: Ought / to have
forgiven him?"
How can answer that?"
You nave answered it. In your
heart, being man, you think that real
love ought to be able to pardon any
thing.
After slight pause, she continued
vehemently: eff he had run away
with that woman, I could have for
given him. But to stay on in her hus-
bands house, his companion, his
FRIEND! Oh, how shameful. how
abominable! and it went on for years"
Yes: purgatory.''
why do you plead his case7" She
looked at him keenly. "Is it because
he is dead?"
mo"
"You are not like the Mottlsfonts,
who think only good should be spoken
of the dead?"
Certainly not"
In a case of this kind, one wants
to know the truth. He did not look
as If he had suffered At the trial ne
behaved brazenly"
She spoke interrogatively, appealing
to his Judgment because she mis-
trusted her own, which hitherto-as
he knew-had never failed her. Sud
denly, he realised the issues at stake.
Like Charters, before him, he had
always thought of Joy Vennable as a
woman with certain masculine at
tributes Only masculine in the sense
that the enormous majority of women
are without them. He had admired
her selr-reliance, poise, executive abil-
lty, and, within limits. her freedom
from convention, or, rather, her
power of stepping bravely outside the
circle of Mottisfontain tradition. It
had not occurred to him that these
qualities were artificial rather than
natural; the result of an adored
fathers inability to play the part for
which he had been wrongly cast Now
he saw her relaxed in mind and body,
plastic, and the more alluring because
her weakness solicited so subtly his
strength. Hope animated him again
Here was the woman not able to stand
alone, not able to resist importantly,
who, sooner or later, would fall glad
ly into protecting arms.
He perceive much more than this.
He had read her Alright when he
contended that she belonged to that
large army of women who do not mar
ry the man they love. If Joy fully
realized that she loved Hugo Charters
and that he was not unworthy of her
love, she would remain single all her
life. On the other hand, if she per-
suaded herself, or was persuaded by
another, that her love had been be-
would try to cast it from her as rub
bish to the void" And then, heart
whole. she might be woed and won.
At this moment, worn out by suf
fering, bewildered and forlorn, she
entreated his judgment, and would
accept it as final. And so little was
required; a careless shrug of the
shoulder, the uplifed brow, the deri-
sive smile. She would know then that
if pride constrained him to decent
silence concerning rival, such silence
could only be interpreted to mean re-
probation.
These thoughts fluttered like hon.
ing pigeons into his mind as he heard
Joy saying:
Il loved the man who worked here
with us, not the man who went down
upon the Luna"
"You loved an ideal man, Great
ure of the imagination?
Il suppose So" She spoke grudg-
ingly. 1.-THE other was contemplate.
I couldn't have loved him. l couldn't
couldn't"
you repeat that because you are
not sure?'
The blood flew to her cheeks.
1T was cruel to say that" she
faltered. IF you knew how have
struggled -"
81 can guess" he replied grimly.
tits not easy to cast out angels or
devils, when once they are in posses.
sion"
you seem to see into my mind. If
1t is devil that Is tearing me, l
can cast it out-and l will. Why
don't you help me? Why do you
stare at me so Strangely"
His face worked. And then the
innumerahje LITTLE acts of calfdonial