Evening star., 1908-01-24
CHAPTER XXXII.

! bul ne ulu not speak again.
CHAPTER XXXII.
/ Helena had asked DIR. Lavendar TO keep
| David out Of abject fear OF William King
| The doctor had granted her until Sunday
to give him mp without explanations; IL
she had not done so then. he must. he
SAID. doggedly. tell In sending the
child to the rcctory she had not given
him up; she had only declared a truce.
She had tied DIR. Kings hands and gained
a breathing space in which to decide what
| she must do: but she used to watch the
hill road every morning with scared eyes
lest he should stop on his way UP to Ben
Jamin Wrights to say that the truce was
over. David came running joyously home
two or three times. for more clothes or
10 see the rabbits or to hang about her
neck and tell her of his journey. I-pon
one of these occasions he mentioned
casually that Alice had gone travelling"
Helena's heart stood still; then beat suf-
focatingly IN her throat while she drew
| the story piecemeal from the chids lips
She said" David abbled. that he
didn't know you. An she said
And where was he-Mr. Pryor. all this
! time? she demanded. breathlessly She
i opened and shut her hands and drew i,
| her breath. wincing as If in physical pain.
! across all the days since that meeting OF
the innocents. she felt his anger fiaying
her for the contretemps. Ii brought home
| TO her, with an aching sense of 6nality
the completeness of the break between
| them. But 1t did more than that Even
| Whlle she cringed with personal dismay.
she was cropping blindly toward a deeper
ana ulViner despair: Those two young crea-
| lures were the cherubim at the east OF
the garden. bearing the sword that turned
every way. By the unsparing light OF
that flashing blade the two sinners stand
ing outside saw each other: but the one
at least. began to see something elsa--thp
glory of the garden upon which. thirteen
| years ago. she had turned her backi -
Helena did not ask any more questions
! DaVld. iounging against her knee chat
tered on. ending with candid and un-
complimentary reference to Mr. Pryor;
but she did not reprove him. When hay-
ing. as II were. displayed his sling and
his bag of pebbles he was ready TO run
!oyously back to the other home. she
kissed him silently and with a strange
new consciousness of the everlasting dif-
ference between them. But that did not
lessen her passionate determination that
William King should never steal him
from her! Yet how could she defeat her
enemy?
A week passed. and still undecided. she
wrote TO DR.. Lavendar asking further
hospitality for David: Il want to have
f nim with me always. but just now am a
| little uncertain whether I can do 80. be-
cause am going to leave Old Chester. [
will come and ask you about 1t in few
/ days
She took the note out to the stable TO
George and bade him carry 1t to the
rectory: as she went back to the empty
house she had a glimpse of Mr. and Mrs
Smiths jewel-fike eyes cleaning redly
upon her from the gloom of the rabbit
| hutch, and desolate longing for David
made her hurry indoors. But there the
silence, unbroken by the child's voice
was unendurable; 1t seemed to turn the,
confusion of her thoughts into actual
morse. 80 she went out again to pace up
and down the little brick paths between
the box borders of the garden The morn
/ ing was still and warm; the frost of
sharp night had melted into threads OF
mist that beaded the edges of blackened
| leaves and glittered on the brown stems
or withered ANNALS. Once she stopped to
pull up some weed that showed itself still
| green and arrogant. spillng its seeds
from yellowing pods among the frosted
| MOWERS; and once she picked. and put in
| to the bosom of her dress a little belated
monthly rose, warm and pink at the
heart but with blighted outer petals. She
found IT impossible to pursue any one line
of thought to its logical outcome: her
mind flew like shuttlecock between a.
dozen plans for William Kings defeat.
"Oh, | must decide on something,' she
thought. desperately. But the futile morn
ing passed without decision. After din
ner she went resolutely into the parIor
and sitting down on her little low chair,
pressed her fingers over her eyes to shut
out any possible distractions Now
she SAID, Il Will make up my mind.
A bluebottle fly buzzing up and down
the window dropped on the sill. then be-
gan to buzz again. Through the yenc-
tlan blinds the sunshine fell in bars across
the carpet; she opened her eyes and
sible, SO irresistible; the nearest line
touched her. foot: her skirt: climbed to
her listless hands: out in the hall the
clock slowly struck 3: her thoughts
blurred and ran together her very fears
seemed to sink into space and time and
silence. The sunshine passed over her
lap resting warm upon her bosom: up
and up. until, suddenly. like hot finger,
IT touched her face. That reused her:
she got up, signing, and rubbing her eyes
as If she had been asleep. No deci-
sion.
Suppose she should go down into the
orchard? Away from the house she might
be better able to put her mind on it. She
knew spot where hidden from curious
eyes. she could lie at full length in the
grass. warm on a western slope. David
might have found her, but no one else
would think of looking for her there
When she sank down on the ground
and claSped her hands under her head
her eyes were level with the late-blos--
soming grass that stirred a little i'm an
unfelt breath of air: two frosted stalks OF
goldenrod nodded and swung back and
nodded again, between her and the sky
With absent intentness she watched an
ant creeping carefully to the top of a
head of timothy, then jolting off at some
jar she could not feel. The sun poured
full upon her face; there was not cloud
anywhere in the unfathomable blue still
ness. Thought seemed to drown in seas
of light. and personality dwinded until
her pain and fright did not seem to belong
TO her. She had to close her eyes to shut
herself into her own dark consciousness:
How should she keep her child?
Cro be continued tomorrow)