Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1910-11-23

mixed up in t." He had come near
her again. and the point of his long
| forefinger rested on her arm. She
was motionless. overwhelmed with
pure terror, with despair.
why not give it to me now" he
urged. since. of course, you can't
keep il? l could have it now In spite
of you"
Everything in her sprang up in
antagonism to meet him. Il know
what you are" she cried, but you
1 shan't have it, You have no more
/ right to it than l. You can't get it
away from rae. and l shan't give it to
you
/ He had grown suddenly paler: his
! eyes were dancing. fastened upon her
breast. His long hands closed and
! opened. She looked down, arrested
4 at the sight of her hand clenched just
| where her breath was shortest, over
the sapphire's hiding-pace.
He smiled. How easily she had be-
trayed herself! But she abated not a
| jot of her defiance. challenging him,
now he knew its Kidding place, to
take the sapphire if he could But he
| did not move. And 1t came to her
! then that she had been ridiculous 10
/ think for an instant that this man
| would take anything from her by
force. What she had to fear was his
will at work upon hers, his persuasion,
his ingenuity. She thought of the pur.
pie irises. and how he had drawn
them toward him in the crook of his
| cane-and her dread was lest he
meant to overcome her with some
/ subtlety she could not combat.
The click of a moving latch brought
his eyes from hers TO the door.
Some one is coming in" he said In
a guarded voice. 1t warned her that
her face showed too much, but she
! could not hope to recover her com.
posture. She hardly wanted to. She
was ir a state to fancy that secret
could be kept by main force; and she
turned without abatement of her reck.
less mood and took her hand from
where she had held it clenched upon
her breast and stretched It out to
Mrs. Herrick.
The lady had stood in the doorway
a moment-a longfeatured. whitish.
modelled face. draped in a dull green
veil, tall figure whose flowing skirts
of black melted away into the back
ground of the hall-before she came
forward and met her hostess hand
with a clasp firm and ready.
I'm so glad to find you here" she
said. She looked directly into Flora S
eyes, into the very center of her agi.
tation. She held her tremulous hand
as If neither of these manifestations
surprised her; as II young woman
and a young man i ,olloquy might
often be found In such a state of mind.
Flora's first emotion was guilty
relief that. after all, her face had not
betrayed Kerr. But she had no sooner
murmured his name to Mrs Herrick, no
sooner had that lady's gray eyes light
ed upon him, than they altered their
clear confidence. The situation as
reflected in Flora looked naive
enough, but there was nothing naive
about Kerr. The very perfection OF
his GOODNESS, there in the face of her
burning agitation. was appalling.
Mrs. Herricks face was taking on
an expression no less than wary
What he was, Mrs. Herrick could not
dream. She could not even suspect
what Flora believed. But in the light
of her terrible discovery Flora dared
not have him suspected at all.
Now, If she had ever in her life,
she talked over the top of her feel
ings; and though at first to her ears
her voice rang out horribly alone.
presently Mrs Herrick was helping
her, adding words to words. II was
the house they spoke Of, the San Ma
teo house. the subject about which
Flora knew Mrs. Herrtck had come
to talk; but to Flora 1t was no longer
a subject. 1t was barrier, a shield.
In this emergency 1t was the only
subject large enough IN I'LL the gap,
and much as Flora had liked the idea
of IL, she had never built the house
so large, SO vivid. so wonderfully tow
ering TO please her fancy as she was
doing now to cover Kerr. With ques.