Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-06

CHAPTER XVII-Continued.
Copyright, 1907. BY John Lspe Company.
septimus stared at him in amazement

CHAPTER XVII-Continued.
Septimus stared at him in amazement.
Yes. To clear my mind and brain OF
it. To get a couple of nights sleep after
the rest of the weeks nightmare. The
concern is going to hell as fast as 1t can
and"-he stopped in front ot Septimus
and brought down his hands in q pas
sionate gesture-'1 can't believe it.
can't believe it. What I'm going through
| God only knows
IT at least had no notion said Septi-
| mus And I've been worrying you with
my silly twaddle about babies and guns. "
Its a godsend for me to hear OF any
thing save ruin and the breaking up OF
all that was dear to me in life. It's moi
like failure in an ordinary business. L,
has been infinitely more than q business
to me. 1t has been q religion. 1t Is still
That's why my soul refuses to grasp
facts and figures
He went on. feeling a relief in pouring
out his heart to one who could under
stand. To no one had he thus spoken.
With an expansive nature he had the
strong mans pride. To the world in gen.
eral he turned the conquering face of
Glenn Sypher, the Friend of Humanity, of
Sypher's Cure. To Septimus alone had
he shown the man in his desperate revolt
against defeat. The lines around his
mouth deepened into lines of pain, and
pain lay behind his clear eyes and In the
knitting Of his brows.
II believed the Almighty had put an in
strument for the relief Of human suffering
into my hands. / dreamed great dreams.
saw all the nations Of the earth bless
ing me. l know I was damned fool. SO
are you. So is every visionary. So are
the apostles, the missionaries, the ex-
plorers-all who dream great dreams-all
damned fools, but glorious company all
the same. I'm not ashamed to belong to
1t. But there comes a time when the
apostle finds himself preaching to the
empty winds. and the explorer discovers
his Ell Dorado to be a barren island. and
he either goes mad or breaks his heart.
and which Of the two I'm going to do ]
don't know. Perhaps both"
''Zora Middlemist will be back soon."
said Septimus. "she is coming by the
Marseille by the end of next week."
She writes me that she may winter in
Egypt. That is why she chose the White
Star Hne," said Sypher.
Have you told her what you've told
me?
No" said Sypher, land I never shall
while there's a hope left. She knows - S
fight. But I tell her-as l have told
my damned fool Of a soul-that L shall
conquer. Would you like to go to her and
say, I'm done-I'm beaten? Besides, I'm
not
He turned and poked the fire. smashing
q great lump of coal with stroke of his
muscular arm as If it had been the skull
of the Jebusa Jones dragon. Septimus
twirled his small mustache and his hand
inevitably went to his hair He had the
scared look he always wore at moments
when he was coming to a decision.
But you would like to see Fora.
wouldn't you?" he asked.
Sypher wheeled round. and the express
sion on his face was that of a prisoner
in the Bastille who had been asked
whether he would like q summer BAN
quet beneath the trees of Fontainebleau.
you know that very well'' said he.
He laid down the poker and crossed the
room to chair.
I've often thought Of what you said in
Paris about her going away. You were
quite right. You have a genius for say
ing and doing the simple right thing. We
almost began our friendship by your say
ing 1t. Do you remember? 1t was in
Monte Carlo. You remember that you
didn't like my looking on Mrs. Middle
mist as an advertisement. Oh, you needn't
look uncomfortable. my dear fellow. 1
loved you for it. In Paris you practically
told me thAt / oughtn't to regard her as
q kind Of fetch for the Cure and claim
her bodily presence. You also put before
me the fact that there was no more rea-
son for her to believe in the Cure than
yourself or Hegisippe Cruchot. II you
could tell me anything more" said he,
earnestly, II. should value it."
What he expected to learn from Septi-
mus he did not know. But once having
exalted him to inaccessible heights, the
indomitable idealist was convinced that
from his lips would fall words Of gentle
Olympian wisdom. Septimus. blushing at
his temerity in having pointed out the
way to the man whom he regarded as the
incarnation Of force and energy. curled
himself up awkwardly in his chair, clasp
ing his ankles between his locked fingers.
At last the oracle spoke.
If I were you," he said. before going
mad or breaking my heart 1 should wait
until I saw Fora
VERY well. 1t will be a long time. Per-
haps so much the better. 1 shall remain
sane and heart-whole all the longer
After dinner Sypher went round to The
Nook" and executed his difficult mission
wishes. which involved, the vilifieation of
the innocent and the Qualification of the
guilty, went against his conscience. He
omitted, therefore. reference to the de-
moniac RACES which turned the home into
an inferno, and to the quarrels over the
machine for elongating the baby's nose
Their tempers, were Incompatible; they
found q common life impossible; so, ac-
cording to the wise modern view OF
things, they had decided to live apart
while maintaining cordial relations.
Mrs. Oldrieve was greatly distressed.
Tears rolled down her cheeks onto her
knitting. The old order was changing too
rapidly for her. and the new to which 1t
was giving place seemed anarchy to her
bewildered eyes. She held up tremulous
hands in protest Husband and wife iiv
ing apart SO cheerfully, for such trivial
reasons! Even II one had suffered great
wrong at the hands of the other 1t was