The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-06-06
CHAPTER Xxx.
The Repentance That Came Too Late

The Repentance That Came Too Late
For the first time in his life the man
Of the island played the coward. He
was afraid TO be alone. The others
;he Officers of the ship, that is, NOT
Langford-he had gone back to his
own yacht, declining the captain s in
gitation to dinner-would have re.
ipected the islanders mood and have
eft him TO himself, but it was cvi-
dent that he craved their society.
Whitaker and the old chaplain sus-
pected how it would be with him. but
they knew that sooner or later he
would have to retire to rest, and sooner
or later he would be alone.
Their sympathies were entirely on
the woman's side If the man had
been an ordinary, normal man they
would not have tolerated his conduct
for an instant, although any interfer-
ence on the part Of strangers would In
truth have been very delicate matter
in such an affair of the heart. But
they realized instinctively that he
could not be Judged as other men; that
whatever his training and teaching
had been he had not the advantages
that the world would give, which not
the most beautiful and devoted of WON
en- could impart unaided. and that he
was to be pitied, rather than con-
demned and fanlted.
And then his grief was so obvious,
that, in accordance with natural and
cheer him up. They encouraged him
to ask questions They told him
many things in reply that the wom-
an could not have told him; that he
had half dimly suspected, but had not
known. They cleared up to him many
things which had seemed mysteries
and strange to him.
And on their part they marveled at
the things he did know, at her thor
oughness with which he had been
taught. and at the wonderful acuteness
of perception which he displayed. The
woman had marveled at it, too, but
she had become used TO 1t in three
years of intimacy They saw it I'M
mediately with greater surprise
In such engrossing conversation the
long hours passed until the striking
eight and it was midnight. No one
had any desire to sleep in view of
the unusual and stimulating expert
ence which both parties to the inter
change of thought IN the play of ques-
tion and answer were enjoying. But
1T was the captain, hard-headed and
practical, who gave the signal for re.
firing. The men were not accustomed
10 disregard even the suggestions Of
A spare cabin in the wardroom had
been arranged for the islander. and
there provided with the unwonted lux
ury OF night wear after a hearty
"Good night" from the lieutenant com
mander and fervent 'fGod bless YOU
from the old chaplain he was left
to his own devices. The strangeness
snowy linen, the silk paiamas, the con-
fining area of the cabin, the sudden
touch with luXuries of civilization
would in itself have kept him awake.
had he been as heart whole and as
care free as when the woman had
landed upon the island. But, indeed,
the strangeness of these things
aroused no emotions in his mind at
all, for the moment he was alone, his
desperately to keep upon other things,
reverted to her. What was she doing
for the first time alone upon that is.
land? What was she thinking? He
realized that no more than he could she
be sleeping.
These were the first moments that he
could give TO reflection. the first quiet
hours that he could spend in consider
ing the situation and in getting back
his rudely disturbed balance. There
had been method in his training, and he
had been taught the value of consider
ing series OF events logically in all
their lights and bearings. Lying in
the comfortable berth. he reviewed at
length and deliberately the history of
his life from the day that he had been
born when he first bent over her sleep.
ing upon the sand until that great glad
hour when, the earthquake enlightening
him, he tore the rocks asunder clasped
her in his arms and pressed the first
kiss that he had ever given any one
upon her lips,
Unfuchingy he reviewed with
what calmness he could muster the
scenes of the morning and the day. He
lights and bearings the information
that had been given to him, He tor
tured himself by the deliberate slow
recalling of every detail and then
quiverIng as if under the stimulus of
some blow upon a raw wound he re-
viewed his own conduct. Enlighten-
ment came to him in that dark and ST.
lent hour, He discovered first of al!
that he loved her; that the check and
counter check and variation and alter
alton in his emotions had been swept
away in a great development of
moro transcending feeling. IF she
should ask him that question on the
morrow as to whether he loved her
as he had on that never-to-be forgotten
niGnI ne WOnln St1Il answer no be-
cause he loved her more.
And then he discovered that he
wanted her more than he had ever de-
sired her before; that she was more
necessary to him than ever he had
dreamed she would be; that here was
no question of honor or duty, indeed,
but Of love overwhelming, obsessing.
And then he admitted that She was
purity even holiness itself; that he
had behaved TO her like n cur; that
he had been neither grateful, nor kind,
nor tender. nor loving. He began to
wonder fearfully if, after having failed
so egregiously and terribly, there was
any possible chance that she could ever
care for him again. Fate had brought
her into intimate contact, he realized,
with two men. One had treated her
outrageously in the beginning and had
nobly made amends. He hated Lang
ford, and yet his sense Of justice forced
him to admit that he had played the
man at last, while he, the islander,
had treated her outrageously and in the
end had played the fool Was there
chance that she would forgive him7