Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-07
CHAPTER VII-Continued.

| victiOn of spoken and proved revelation
that Alicia In her innocent and ignorant
young girlhood had been bought and
sold. hOughe by Grey the man of a mil
! lion dollars. and sold by this horrible old
woman who chartered on so hideousiy
who thought that she was warning and
| fooling me when / knew that every word
she said was a lie But according to her
lights she was within her rights and
was certainly outside mine
| ] did not stay long, as every consjdera-
ton forbade my doing otherwise, and |
made 1t an ordinary little call. When
ross to go Mrs. Warren was effusively
polite and full of compliments / knew
that her conscience was at ease; she felt
that she had thrust me from her door
and from her daughters life and the Bit
terest part of it was my knowledge that
she was right. at least In aim. II not In
method oLAlcia had little to say. but her
| face resumed its wonted color and
Judged that she would accept the event
| in silence
The course of business kept me In
Louisville the larger part of that winter,
and. while ] strove to avoid 1t. circum-
stances compelled me to go two or three
times to the Grey house. Once Jimmy
| Warfield took me. because l was afraid
to arouse suspicion in his mind by con-
| tinued refusal. when he urged me to go.
|
Of the conspicuous people In the city
| present, and ! had not seen Alicia In a
| month. ! thought that she was paleI
than usual and that she looked weary,
but her manner as she welcomed her
| guests was as gracious and dignified as
ever. She gave her hand to me with the
customary, official smile of a hostess, but
| If she held 1t more than the tenth part
| of a second longer than usual it was
| merely because tired and tried woman
| W. ND ,hnr fnr mt q
| support. 1t was involuntary with her
and, moreover, after it was done she had
| no knowledge that 1t had been done
| Grey himself received me with an at
| fectation of brusque cordially.
! A little while later I saw something
that compelled my attention and which
aroused in me emotions of the most min
| gled nature. One of the guests was
Mrs. Pauline Harmon. a young woman
born in the farther SOUTH but the widow
of wealthy merchant of our city. She
was type of brunette beauty, rich, lam
guOrous and with a way of inviting your
attention. She made a splendid appear
ance. / cannot deny, but to my taste the
| vivid, although in certain important re-
gions there might have been little more
| Of it.
I saw Greys eye rove toward her. and
| read there what he felt. He approached
| her bye and bye, and leaned over her
with an air of admiration and intimacy.
She looked up at him and her glance
was liquid. seductive. 1t said plainly.
What fine. splendid man you are. Mr..
Grey. and how 1 like to see your A
| moment or two later she made some ex-
cuse for sending him away and the lit
tie by-play between them was probably
noticed by no one except myself. But
from long seclusion and the forced turn
ing of ones thoughts inward come a GER
tain keenness and penetration not OBJ
tanned otherwise. and I read even more
than their manner indicated.
Poor Alcia!' And Poor Alica!' !
repeated again. Her lot already bad as it
could be, it seemed to- me. bought and
worse.
/ drifted through the crowd, a word
here, a word there; a bow or a shake OF
the hand for an old friend and the same
for new one. but for my own purposes
kept one object In view. / was watching
Grey, and l took no shame for it. l saw
him come back after a while to the beau
tiful Mrs. Harmon. beautiful with fierce,
1.-THE, pantherish beauty, that has in 1t
nothing of the spiritual or intellectual but
which appeals to the physical senses only.
The same understanding. intimate glance
passed between them and l alone saw it.
In a crowd, even a dra wing room crowd.
1t is easy to hide oneself or to pursue an
object hidden from all the rest l saw
the two drift gradually away, pausing a
little on the outskirts Of the gathering and
then pass by different roads into a dim
hall. There were SO many voices. so much
shifting of the groups. like the shaking
of .colOred tints of glass. that they were
not missed for the time. and I alone no.
ticed. But I, standing by the wall in the
hail. in the shadow of heavy curtains,
saw them as they approa ched a we'll shell
tered alcove. a deep window seat l saw
them Very close together. and l. saw their
lips move as they whispered to each other
words which neither had right TO say.
They We're splendid pair of animals, l
will admit strong, young and handsome:
and ! will admit, too, my shame though it
be, that | was not sorry to see them steal
ing away together into the shadows. A
great thought. a thought of deiiverance. a
thought of way out was making a place
for itself in my mind. and my heart was
beating like that of an unframed youth.
They sat down In the window seat. and
saw Grey pull the curtains toward each
other until they were almost hidden. and
then I saw him lean forward. Now / was
stricken by remorse that l who had in
tended to live a CLEAN life should be play
ing the part of a spy. and. turning, went
back toward the drawing room. On it's
threshold l met Jimmy Warfield. and as
his eyes fell upon me felt that his glance
was singularly keen and penetrating. But
he did not ask me anything: instead he
linked his arm in mine, and 1 felt the act
to be that of a friend, of one who would
be friend through thick and through
thin Not for nothing were we of one
blood and one view.
Il also have SEEN" said Warfield, pres
emily, and while you have seen for the
first time. I have seen many times"
He offered no advice, he said nothing
that might influence me in one direction
or the other, but he loOsed my arm and
went his way, leaving me TO my own Judg-
ment or lack of 1t.
I stood on the edge of the crowd. the
pulses in my head were beating hard and
the obtrusive thought that l might find a
way, after being cast out once. forced
itself back into my mind When looked
at Alicia the hatred that I felt for Grey
was now mingled in full measure wi.
contempt. How could he, even with his
unlawful temper and unlawful mind, turn
aside from one so pure as Alicia for that
beautiful ,tiger-cat? And Alicia was the
more beautiful of the two, it did not re-
quire my partial eyes to say SO. more
beautiful in a physical sense, while to
her there was soul and a spirit which
the Harmon woman might recognize but
would never understand. Nor could Grey
either. Perhaps il was but his nature
when he turned from one who was so far
above him to another on his own plane.
Jimmy Warfeld and / left the house
together an hour or two later When
we reached the street he said as if in a
casual manner.
II take it that you have said nothing to
anybody
No. Jimmy" I replied. Il have not
said anything
II knew that you wouldn't and couldn't"
We parted at the corner and / went
alone to the hotel.
CHAPTER Win.