The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-09-08


of the Chatworth ring, or whether it
was just the sight of Kerr himself as
he sat there that stirred her, she
didn't try to distinguish.
But suppose he was your own
thief" she urged; took your own
things, l mean," she hastily amended,
"and suppose he turned out to be-
some one you knew and liked" She
hesitated. She had come at last to what
she really wanted to say. She had
brought out a question that had been
teasing her fancy at intervals all the
while he had been talking, and he had
not even heard it. He wasn't even look
ing at her. She had caught him of
his guard. He was looking across her
shoulder straight down the dim vista
of the room to the little blaze of bor-
dering light. He was looking at Har-
ry. No, Harry was looking at him.
Harry was looking with steady, an
intent gaze, and Kerr meeting tit
might have been merely the blank
glare Of his monocle-seemed, to
Flora, to meet it little insolently.
She fancied in the instant something
to pass between the two men, some
thing which, this time, she did not
mistake for jealousy-a shade too dim
for defiance or suspicion, deep
scrutiny that struggled to place some
thing, some one.
Flora felt a sudden wish to break
that curious scrutiny. 1t had broken
her little moment. 1t had shattered
the personal, almost intimate note
that had been sounded between them.
The look Kerr turned back to her was
vague, and stirred in her a dim re-
sentiment that he could drop it all so
easily.
Shall we join the others" 1t was
the voice with which she had begun
with him, but her eyes were hot
through their light mist Of lashes, and
he threw her a comprehending glance
Of amusement.
"Oh, no." he assured her, I'VE can't
help ourselves. They are going to
join us"
Ella Butler, in the van of her pro-
cession, was already descending upon
them. Her approach dissipated the
last remnant of their personal mo-
ment. Her presence always insisted
that there was nothing worth while
but instant participation in her gen
iality, and whatever subject it might
at the moment be taken up with.
This conviction of Elias had been
wont to overawe Flora, and it still
overwhelmed her; so that now, as
she followed in the trail of Elias
marshaled force, she had a guilty feel
ing that there should be nothing in
her mind but a normal desire for sup
per.
Yet all the way down the great
stair, "the Corridors of Time" where
the white owl glared his CLASSY wis
dom on the passings and counter
passings, she was haunted with the
thought that Harry had seen the ex-
traordinary Kerr before; not shaken
hands with him, perhaps-perhaps not
|
across some distance, once glimpsed
him, and had never quite shaken the
memory from his mind. For there
was something marked, notable, unfor-
getable in that lean distinctiveness.
Against the sleek form of the men
they met and shook hands with, he
flashed out-seemed in contrast fairly
electric. She saw him, just ahead of
her where the crowd was thickening
in the door of the supper room, max.
ing way for Clara through the press
with that eXasperating solicitude OF
his that was half ironic.
The room, hot, polished, fiaring re-
fections of electric lights from its
glistening floor, announced itself the
heart of high fastivity, through the
midst of which their entrance made
an added ripple. The flushed faces
of the women under their flowers, un.
der their pale-tinted hats, with their
smiling recognitions to Clara, to Flora
to Ella, smiled with sharpened in
terest. 1t proclaimed that Kerr was
stranger, and, in a circle which
found itself little stale for lack Of
innovations, desirable one.
Apparently the dominant note ot
their party was Elias clamorous Sc
lection for the supper; but to Flora
the more real thing was the atmos
phere OF excitement and mystery she
had been moving in all the evening
She was pursued by the obsession ol
something more about to happen
something imminent - though, o.
course, nothing would; at least, how
could anything happen here, to them
And by them" she meant hersel
and these people around her so stupid
ly talking-the eternal repetition O.
the story she had read out that even
ing to Clara, and not one glimmer o.
light! She wondered If her obsessio1
was all her own-or did it reach tt
one of them? Certainly not Ella; mo-
Judge Butler, settled into his collar
choosing champagnes. Clara? She
had to skip Clara. One never knew
whether Clara had not more behinC
her smooth prettiness than ever sh,
brought to light? Kerr? Perhaps
With him she felt potentialitie
enormous. Harry? Never. Harr.
was being appealed to by all the won
en- who could get at him as to his par
in the affair-what had been his sen
. sations and emotions? But Flor
knew perfectly well he had had none
He was only oppressed by the atten
ton his fame in the matter, and tn
central position of their table, brough
him. Protesting, he made his part a
small as possible.
"Oh, confound it, If l can't get a
. nv nystarsIn he comnlained leanin