Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-01-11

watching the blue smoke curling up ward from her cigarette.
 Sylvia, distrait. but with downcast eyes on fire under the fringed lids, was thinking of the check Siward had giv- en her for Sagamore. The transaction for her had been business one on the surface only. She had never meant to use the check. She had laid it away among a few letters. relics, pleasant souvenirs of the summer. To her the affair had been softened by a delicate hint of intimacy-the delight he was to take in something that had once been hers had given her faint taste of the pleasure of according pleasure to man. And this is what he had done
 In ones and twos the guests reported as the dusk curtained fog closed in on Shotover. Quarter came, dry as chip under his rain coat, but his silky beard was wet with rain, and moisture powdered his long. soft eyelashes and white skin, and his flexible fingers as he drew off his gloves seemed startling in their whiteness through the gather ing gloom.
 "I suppose our evening walk is out of the question" he said, standing by Sylvia, who had nodded greeting and then turned her head rather hastily to see who had entered the room. It was Siward, only q vague shape in the gloom, but perfectly recognizable to her At the same moment Marion Page rose leisurely and strolled to- ward the billiard room.
 Our walk?" repeated Sylvia ab- sently. It's raining. you know" Yet only day or two ago she had walked to church with Siward through the rain. the irritated major feeling oblis- ed to go with them. Her eyes follow ed Siward's figure, suddenly dark against the door of the lighted bil- Hard room. then brilliantly illuminated as he entered. nodded acceptance to MortImer's invitation and picked up the cue just laid aside by Agatha Caithness, who had turned to speak to Marion.
 His fiancee's inattentlon was not agreeable to Quarter. A dozen things had happened since his arrival which had not been agreeable to him-her failure to meet him at the Fells Cross ing and the reason for her failure and her informal acquaintance with si- ward. whose presence at Shotover he had not looked for, and her sudden in- timacy with the man he had never particularly liked and whom within six months he had come to detest and to avoid.
 In a few years indifference to ST. ward had changed to passive disap- proval. that again to an emotionless dislike. ana when the scandal at the PatrOons club occurred for the first time In his life he understood what 1t was to fear the man he disliked. For if Siward had committed the insane imprudence which had cost him his title 10 membership he had also done something. knowingly or otherwise, which awOke in Quarter a cold, slow fear. and that fear was dormant. but present now. and It for the time being dictated his attitude and bearing to- ward the man who might or might not be capable Of using viciously a knowI- edge which Quarrier believed that he must possess.
 For that reason when 1t was not possible Co avoid Slward his bearing toward him was carefully civil. ST. lence was always desirable to Guar rier. Silence concerning all matters was a trait inborn and congeuiaIly cultivated to a hsbit hy him in every snaIr of life-In business. In leisure. in the methodical pursuits of such pleasures ss a limited intellect permit ted him. in personal and family mat ters. in public questions and financial problems
 He listened always. but pever Invited cUa1denoes- lac mad no opinion to express when invited. And be became very. very rSch-
 And oyer 1t all spread c thin mem brane of vanity. nervogs. not intel IecfuaL sensItiveness. for all sense of hunor was absent In this man. wboee snHe when not . physical effort vas automztfcaIIy and rnethodicsliy rs-poa- sive to certain fixed cues
 CTo De consinusay.