The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-14

LADY ATHLYNE
Copyright, 1908, by BRAM STOKER Entered at Stationer's HalI-An rights reserved


DeSOSeseOOooo00Sootoo0 too0eoee0oeooe0oeoeb - the Drive he had seen Joy he had thought her a beautiful girl. The act of rescuing her had made her of the supremest interest to him. But it was not till he had sat beside her and look ed into her eyes that he felt that love had come. No man could look into those beautiful eyes and remain un- touched. But this man, heart-hungry and naturally suspectible after some years of campaigning, fell madly in love. His very soul had gone down in to the depths of those unfathomable eyes, and come back purified and sweetened-like the smoke drawn through the rose-water of hookah Every instant that he sat beside her the spell grew upon him. Joy was very strong. She was woman all over; type of woman who seems to draw man to her as the magnet draws the steel. Athlyne was a very masculine person and therefore peculiarly sensi- tive to the influence. That deep think ing young madman who committed suicide at twenty-three, Otto Weining- CT, was probably right in that wonder full guess of his as to the probably solution of the problem of sex. All men and all women, according to him. have in themselves the cells ofS both sexes; and the accredited masculinity or femininity of the individual is de- termined by the multiplication and de- velopment of these cells. Thus the ideal man is entirely or almost entirely masculine, and the ideal woman is en- tirely or almost entirely feminine. Each individual must have a prepOnderance. be it ever so little. of the cells of its own sex: and the attraction of each in divfdual to the other sex depends upon it's place in the scale between the high est and the lowest grade of sex. The most masculine man drews the most feminine woman. and vice versa; and so down the scale till close to the bor- der line the great of nPrSOnS who. having only development of few of the qualities of sex. are easily satisfied to mate with any one. This is the true principle of selection which is one of the most important of Ma ture'S laws: one which holds in the lower as we'll as in the higher orders of life. geological and botanical well as human. It accounts for the way in which such a vast number of persons are content to make marriages and even liaisons. which others. higher strung. are actually unable to under stand.
 As yet, of course, Joy being a young woman, had not her power developed. Such an unconscious power takes in the course of it's development it's own time. Instinct is a directing princf- pie, and obedience can be given to it in many different ways. With Joy it's course had been slow, the growth of time alone. Up to now there had been no disturbing element in her
 
 in a quiet house in a quiet neighbor- hood where there were but few in habitants of her own class; and where, therefore, the percentage of even to her, as there must be to any girl like her, certain protecting oppo- sitionS. She was at once practical and sentimental, sensuous and dainty. Her taste was her first line of defence to the attacks of the baser qualities of her own, nature. Nothing could appeal to her thoroughly which did not answer widely divergent condi- tionS. Aunt Judy had summed her up we'll in saying that she would, if she ever fell in love, give herself ab- so1utely. But it must be the right man to whom she did so give herself; conditions which she had laid down for herself. A girl of her up-bring- ing-with a father and mother who adored her each in special way; with youth all the more actively because she professed the staidness of age which is without hope; and with no intimate relationships or friendships leaning to, but a conviction of TO- nance as a prime factor of life. Life" was to her not that which is, but that which is to be. As the world of the present. where such thoughts are, is not one which is lit and coloured by love, the world of the future is the World of Love. The Fairy Prince who is to bring so much happiness-when he comes-is no mere casual visitor to feminine child hood. He is as real to the child's imagination as the things of her walk ing life, though his nodding plume has little in common with the material things which surround her. As she grows older so does he change from, coming more into harmony with living fact; till at last in so,~te lofty mo- ment, whose memory is a treasure for after life, the ideal and real merge in one.
 To Jo the hour had come. The Prince Charming who had swept across her path in such heroic fash ion was all that she had ever longed for. He was tall and strong and handsome and brave. He was a gen. tleman with all a gentleman's refined ways. He had taste and daintiness, though they were expressed in mas culine ways. He too had love and passion. How could she not know it who had seen-had fe1t-his soul sink into the deeps of her eyes. where mer-t maids-like her own soul peeping from behind the foliage of the deep had smiled on him to lead him on. How could she forget that strong arm which was thrown around her waist and which tore her from her saddle just in time to save her from horrible death. How could she forget the sec onds when she hung on him for life, her arms clasped around his neck.
 (To be Continued.)