The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-02-03
By ROBERT w. CHAMBERS,
Copyrighted, 1907, by Robert w. Chambers.

ne houueu dHu lOT dWunS LdUe cOme
pretense Of eating. but presently lean
ed back and looked at his sister out OF
dazed eyes.
do you suppose" he said heavily,
that she was not entirely responsible
when-when she went away?"
IL have wondered" said Nina simply.
"Austin believes it"
II can't believe it." he said, staring
at vacancy. 81 refuse to-" And, think
ing Of her last frightened and excited
letter imploring an interview with him
and giving the startling reason, What
a scoundrel that fellow Ruthven is," he
said, with a shudder.
That night he wrote to Alike:
II Ruthven threatens you with divorce
on such a ground he himself Is likely to
be adjudged mentally unsound. 1t was a
brutal, stupid threat, nothing more. and
his insult to your fathers memory was
moro brutal still Don't be stampeded by
such threats. DiSprove them by your
calm self control under provocation. Dis
prove them by your discretion and self
confidence. Give nobody a single possi-
Bile reason for gossip. And. above all,
Alike. don't become worried and morbid
heritance. for you are as sound today an
you were when I first met you and you
shall not doubt that you could ever be
anything else. Be tho woman you can
be. Show the pluck and courage to make
the very best out OF life. have slowly
learned to attempt 1t. and It IL not din
cult II you convince yourself that It can
bo done.
To this she answered the next day:
will do my best. There 10 danger.
treachery. everywhere. and II 1t becomes
unendurable I shall put an end TO It In
ono way or another. AZ for his threat
your room and defying him to dare be-
heve evil Of me for doing it-I can laugh
at 1t now. though whom I wrote you I
was terrified. remembering how mentally
broken my father was when he died.
But, as you say, am sound, body and
mind. know 1t. don't doubt it for one
moment-except, at long intervals. when
apropos of nothing. a faint sensation of
dread comes creeping.
But am sound! know 1t 10 absolute
ly that 1 sometimes wonder at my own
perfect sanity and understanding, and 20
clearly, so faultlessly, 30 precisely does
my mind work that-and this never told
you'll am often and often able to detect
mental inadequacy in many people around
me. the slightest deviation from the nor
NAL, the least degree of mental instabil-
ity. And 1t would amaze you, too, II
should tell you how many. many people
you know are in some degree more or
less insane.
He's only serenely disagreesble to me
now. and wo see almost nothing Of one
another except over the card tables. Ger
aid has been winning rather heavily,
am glad to say-glad an long as 1 cannot
prevent him from playing. And yet I
may be able to accomplish that yet in q
roundabout way. because the apple Wis
aged and hawk beaked Mr.. Neergard has
apparently become my slavish creature
quite infatuated. And as soon as I've
fastened on his collar and made sure that
Rosamund can't unhook 1t I'll try to
make him shut down on Geralds play
ing. This for your sake, Phil-because
you ask me and because you must al
ways stand for all that is upright and
good and manly in my eyes. All, Phil,
what fool I was! And all, all my own
fault too, ALIKE.
This ended the sudden eruption of
correspondence, for he did not reply to
this letter, though IN it lie read enough
to make him gravely uneasy, and he
fell once more into the habit Of brood
ing, from which both Boots Lansing
CIllcch hdu hlluOSt NCuLtu
Also he began to take long, solitary
walks in the park when not occupied
in conferences with the representatives
of the Lawn Nitro Powder works, a
company which had recently approach
ed him in behalf of his unprotected ex-
plosive, chaosite.
Lying back there in his desk chair
one evening, Selwyn suddenly remem-
bered that Gerald had come in. They
had scarcely seen one another since
that UNHAPPY meeting in the Stuyve-
SAINT club, and now, remembering what
he had written to Eileen, he emerged
with a start from his contented dream
ing, sobered by the prospect of seeking
Gerald.
For moment or two he hesitated,
but he had said in his letter that he
was going to do 1t, and now he rose,
looked around for his pipe, found it,
filled and lighted it and, throwing on
his dressing gown, went out into the
corridor, tying the tasseled cords
around his waist as he walked.
His first knock remaining unanswer-
ed, he knocked more sharply. Then he
heard from within the muffied creak
of bed, heavy steps across the floor.
The door opened with a jerk. Gerald