Evening star., 1909-06-06

rebellious and not too relieved.
His motto might have been. Il could not
THOUGH he knew he would miss her, he
secretly hoped, now he was alone, that he
would rather en- Joy her desertion from their
matrimonial island for a few days. He also
compared it in his mind to a nibble at the for
hidden cake of freedom.
He made tour round the house, looking
into every room with mental fingers on his
pulse trying to measure exactly his boy1sh de-
light which he would not wholly admit to exist.
He tried several chairs in the living room.
stood with legs apart the hearth, and blew
smoke rings toward the ceiling. He wandered
up to the bedrooms, opened dress cupboards,
peered into them. looked out windows. and
| whistled with self conscious gaiety. By dinner
time he had acknowledged to himself that he
was quite forlorn. and gave up his last pretense
| of enjoying his taste of freedom.
| Dinner was gloomy episode He Propped
| up book against the fern dish and tried to
read while he ate After sticking a tine of his
fork into his cheek and thereby precipitating
| shower of French peas over himself, he gave 1t
up, and finished the remaining courses mechan-
ically and with no enjoyment
| He spent the evening huddled in an easy
| chair with his book and pipe. now and again
| doing off
He was startled bv the maid during one of
| these catnaps, who brought him some letters
| on a trav. There were three unimportant busi-
/
dine.
| He sleepv glanced over his mail and then sat
looking at the address on the letter to Geraldine.
SUDDENLY he sat upright and looked
~ searchingly at the letter under the lamp
| light. That's Bill Brownlow's writingi What
| the devil IS he writing to Gerry for!' He ap-
peared to be addressing the rug at his feet.
'And III bet this isn't the first letter! Bills a
| banked poacher, | wonder how long this has
L e ~lxf n of
writing to her right under my nose! Of course.
that great big scoundrelly giant didn't imagine
that this would be brought to me,-probably
slip on the maids part,-more than likely
| he's subsidized her"
i Colby sank back into his chair and glared at
the letter. which he held at arms length. He
| sat there torn between the desire to open the
| letter and his knowledge of the ndecency of
| the impulse. He held it up to the light to see
| if by any impossible chance he could make any
| thing out of it that way Through his brain
ran recollections of stories Of unscrupulous per-
sons who opened letters by steaming the en-
velop
Quarter hours rolled by, and he still clutched
| the damnabe thing He got up with angry
snort and threw the letter on the table, then
| put out the lights and went to bed.
| He couldn't sleep He lay for hours thinking.
| In of the small hours. he didn't know
| which, he got up. put on his dressing gown and
| felt his way into the library, once more to turn
on the light and take up the letter. He thought
he had determined to open and read it: but his
| courage failed. and the letter slipped through
| his limp fingers and he again mounted the
stairs to bed.
HE slept late that morning, and was wakened
= by the maid with telegram 1t was from
| Geraldine saving that her sister was much i'm
| proved and that she would be home that
ing.
| "Oh. would shes The sly little cat he
| thought to himself We'll, there'll be doingS
| when she does get back here, can promise her
| that
He felt tragedy in the air. There would be
a catastrophe of some kind, he was very posi-
| tive that point: but to the nature of it he
| was more than vague
| A T little after six Geraldine arrived. Glad
to see me, Larrya" she cried joyfully as
she lifted her veil and started to kiss him.
Wait, Geraldine!' said Colby in a con-
strained voice as he stepped back from her with
| uplifted tragic palm.
| And while Geraldine stood amazed, and the
maid, who not well trained. had started to
| carry up her suitcase, and nearly dropped it in
her astonshment at the scene. Colby walked
| nervousy to the library table and picked up
| the letter He solemnly brought it to his wife
| and without word held it out to her.
What's the matter little man." Geraldine
| asked in bewildered but humorous accent. as
she opened the envelop She read the contents
and, replacing the letter in the envelop. put it
/ into her muff, smiling curiously at Colby
i Well ~ she said why this chilly receDt1On