The San Francisco call., 1909-08-22
CHAPTER XIV
A Lady I'm Distress

HE had returned. ready for pitched
battle with Clara, and on the
threshold there she had met the
very turn in the affair that she
had dreaded all along-the setting of
Kerr and Harry upon each other.
These were two whom she had kept
apart even in her mind-the man to
whom she was pledged, with whom she
had supposed herself. in love, and the
man 5or whom she was flying in the
face of all her traditions. She had not
scrutinized the reason of her extraor-
dinary behavior; not since that dread
ful day when the vanishing mystery
had taken positive form in him had she
dared to think how she felt about Kerr.
She had only acted, acted; only asked
herself what to do next, and
never why; only taken his cause
upon herself and made 1t her own. as
II that was her natural right. She
could hardly believe that it was she
who had let herself go to this extent
All her life she had been docile to pub
lie opinion, buXom TO conventions re-
spectful of those legal and moral rules
laid down by some rigid material spirit
lurking in mankind But now. when
the moment had come when the re-
sponsibility had descended upon her.
she found that these things had in no
way persuaded her. They were not
vital enough for her proposition They
had no meaning now-no more than
proper parlor furniture for a castaway
on desert island.
Then this was herself, creature too
much concerned with the primal har-
monies of life to be impressed by the
modulations her decade set upon them
This was that self which she had oh
scurely cherished as no more real than
fairy; but at Kerr's acclamation it
had proclaimed itself more real than
flesh and blood, and Kerr himself the
most real thing in all her life.
Then what was Harry? The bland
implacable pronouncement of Shima
mad summoned him up to stand beside
Kerr more clearly than her own ewes
could have shown him. Surely she was
giving TO Kerr what belonged to
Harry, or else she had already given
to Harry what ought to have been
kerrs That was her last conclusion.
II was horrible, it was hopeless. but it
was not untrue. 1t had crept upon her
so softly that it had taken her I'M
aWares. She was appalled, at the I'M
reason of passion. Unsought by him.
unclaimed, in every common sense
stranger to him-how could she belong
to him? And yet of that she was sure
by the way he had unveiled her tbe
first night, by the way he had ouick-
ened her dreaming into life. AS MANY
times as she had fancied what love
was like she had never dreamed ~
could be like this 1t was nocl,erI, 49,
she could be concerned for one who
only wanted of her-plunder. YET II
was so. She was as tremblingly con-
cerned for his fate as if she owned
MS whole devotion; and his fate at this
moment she was convinced was in
Harry's hands
Kerr, with his brilliant Initiative
might carry him of. but Kerr was stiIi
the quarry. For had not Harry. from
one very beginning. known something
about him? Hadn't he at first denied
having seen him before. and tben go
mitted 1t? Hadn't he dropped hints
ana Innuendos without even an ex-
planation? She remembered the singu
lar fact Of the embassy ball twice
mentioned, each time with that singu-
lar name of Farrell Wand And to
know-if that was what Harry knew
that man of such fame was in
had disappeared-wha further proof
was wanted7
Then why didn't Harry speak? And
what was going on on his side of the
affair? Harry's side would have been
her side few days before Now. un
accountably, it was not Nor was
Kerr's side hers either She was
standing between the two-standinp
hesitating between her love of one
and her loyalty to the other and what
he represented. The power might be
hers to tip the scales Harry held. either
to Kerr's undoing. or to his protection.
At least she thought she might pro-
tect him, if she could discover Harrv,s
secret. Her special. authorized rela-
ton to him-her right to see him often.
question him freely-even cajole-
should make that easy But she
shrank from what seemed like BETRAYAL
even though she did not betray him to
Kerr by name.
Then on the other hand she doubted
how much she could do with Harry.
She wasn't sure how far she was pre-
pared to try him after that scene of
theirs. She had no desire to pique him
further by seeing too much of Kerr.
On her own account she wanted for
the present to avoid Kerr He reused
feeling in her that she feared-a
feeling intoxicating to the senses.
dazzling to the mind, unknitting to
the will. How could she tell, If they
We're left alone together for long
enough space Of time, that she might
not take the jewel from her neck, at