Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-22
Septi11at1s
BY VII LIAM LOCKE
Copyright. 1908. BY the Phillips Publish.
fv Company
Copyright, 1909, By John Lane Company


CHAPTER TX.
Septimus had never seen a woman faint
before. At first he thought Emmy was
dead. and rubbed agonized hands together
like a fly. When he realized what had
happened he produced large jackknife.
which he always carried in his trousers
pocket-for the purpose. he explained. OF
sharpening peneils-and offered it to Fora
with the vague idea that the first aid to
fainting women consisted in cutting their
stay laces. Fora rebuked him for fulfil
ity and babe him ring the bell for the
maid
1t was all very sudden. The scene had
been one that of late had grown so famtl-
tar-Zora and Septimus porting over world
| Itineraries. the latter full OF fneffectual
suggestion and irrelevant Renaissance,
and Emmy reading by the fire. On this
occasion it was the Globe newspaper
which Septimus, who had spent the day
| in London on an unexecuted errand TO
his publisher, had brought back with him.
Evening papers being luxuries in Nuns
mere. he had hidden it carefully from
! Wiggleswick, in order to present it to the
ladies. Suddenly there was q rustic and
slither by the fireplace, and Emmy. in
a dead faint hung over the arm OF the
chair. In her hand she grasped the outer
sheet of the paper. The inner sheet. &C
cording to the untidy ways of women
with newspapers lay discarded on the
| floor.
| With Septimus' help Fora and the maid
carried her to the sofa; they opened the
window and gave her smelling salts Sep
timus anxiously desired to be assured that
she was not dying, and Fora thanked
heaven that her mother had gone to bed.
Presently Emmy recovered consciousness.
Il must have tainted" she said, in a
whisper.
114v.
side. Are you better?'
| Emmy stared past Fora at something
unseen and terrifying.
1T was foolish. The heat, I suppose.
Mr.. Sypher's burning board" She turned
an appealing glance to Septimus. did
say anything silly?'
l. When he told her that she had slipped
over the arm Of the chair without a word,
AS soon as she had revived sufficiently
she allowed herself to be led ups'tairsi
but before going she pressed Septimus
hand with feverish significance.
Even to SO inexperienced a mind as his
the glance and the hand shake conveyed
a sense Of trust, suggested dimly rea-
son for the fainting fit. Once more he
stood alone and perplexed in the little
drawing room. Once more he passed his
/ long fingers through his Struwel Peter
hair and looked about the room for in
spiration. Finding none, he mechanically
gathered up the two parts Of the news
paper. with mans instinct for tidtness
! in printed matter, and smoOthed out the
| crumples that Emmy's hand had made on
the outer sheet. Whilst doing so para
| graph met his eye. causing him to stare
| helplessly at the paper.
/ 1t was the announcement OF the mar
, riage Of Mordaunt Prince at the British
| consulate in Naples.
The unutterable perf1dy of man! For
the first time in his guileless life Septimus
| met it face to face. To read Of human
depravity in the police reports is one
thing, to see it fall like black shadow
across ones life is another 1t Mortified
him. MOrdaunt Prince had committed
| the unforgivable sin. He had stolen
girls love, and basely. meanly. he had
/ skunk off, deceiving her to the last. To
i Septimus the lover who kissed and rode
away had ever appeared despfcable f1g-
i ure of romance. The fellow who did 1t In
real life proclaimed himself an uncon-
scionable scoundrel The memory of EN-
! my's forget-me-not blue eyes turning into
Il sapphires as she sang the villains praises
smote him. He clenched his fists and put
TO incoherent use his limited vocabulary
of anathema Then fearing, in his ex-
cited state, to meet Fora, lest he should
betray the miserable secret. he stuffed
| the newspaper into his pocket and crept
out of the house.
| Before his own fire he puzzled over the
problem. Something must be DONE But
what? Hale Mordaunt Prince from his
brides arms and bring him penitent to
| Nunsmere? What would be the good OF
that. seeing that polygamy is not openly
sanctioned by western civilization? Pro-
coed to Naples and chastise him? That
were better The monster deserved It,
| But how are men chastised? Septimus
had no experience. He reflected vaguely
/ that people did this sort of thing with a
| horsewhip. He speculated on the kind Of.
horsewhip that would be necessary. A
hunting crop with no lash would not be
| more effective than an ordinary walking
stick. With lash 1t would be cumbrous,
| unless he kept at an und1gnified distance
and f1icked at his victim as the ringmas-
| ter i'm the circus flicks at the clown. Per-
| haps horsewhips for this particular pur-
pose could be obtained from the Army
and Navy stores. 1t should be about
three feet long, flexible and tapering to
| point. Unconsciously his. inventive fac
ulty began to work. When he had devised
! an adequate instrument, made of fine
steel wires ingeniously plated, he awoke.
somewhat shamefacedly, to the common
] places of the original problem WHAT was
/ to be done?
/ He pondered for some hours, then he
sighed and sought consolation in his bas-
/ soon: but after few bars Of Annie
/ Laurie" he put the modifying instrument
| back in it's corner and went out for
/ walk 1t was starry night of frost
i Nunsmere lay silent as Bethlehem, and a
\ star hung low in the east. Far away
across the common cleaned one solitary
i light in the vicarage windows: the vicar
! good gentleman, finishing his unruf1ed
4 sermon while his parish slept. Otherwise
I darkness spread over everything save the
sky. Not a creature on the road. not a
creature on the common, not even the
anne donkey. Incredibly distant the ia mt
| sound of railway whistle intensified the
stiffness. Septimus' own footsteps on the
crisp grass rang loud in his ears. Yet
both stiffness and darkness felt compan-
ionable, in harmony with the starlit dim
ness Of the mans mind His soul was
having it's adventure while mystery filled
| the outer air. He walked on, wrapped in
the nebulous fantasies which passed with
him for thought. needless. as he always
was. of the fight of time. Once he halt
ed by the edge of the pond, and, sitting
OF bench, lit and smoked his pipe until
the cold forced him to rise. With an in
stinctive desire to hear some earthly
sound, he picked up a stone and threw 1t
into the water. He shivered at the ghost
ly splash and moved away, himself an in
effectual ghost wandering aimlessly in
the night.
The wears lamp had been extinguished
long ago. A faint breeze sprang up. The
star sank lower in the sky Suddenly, as
he turned back from the road to cross
the common for the hundredth time, he
became aware that he was not alone.
Footsteps rather felt than heard were In
front of him. He pressed forward and
peered through the darkness, and finally
s.S Jo