The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-11-03

the room, ran quickly down the stair.
The house was hushed; no passing
but her own, no butler in the hall, no
kitchen.maid on the back STAIR Only
grim faces of pictures-ancestors not
her own-glimmered reproachful
upon her as she fed past Light
echoes called her back along the hall.
The furniture, the muffling curtains,
her own reflections flying through the
mirrors, held up to her her madness,
and by their mute stability seemed to
remind her Of the shelter she was
leaving-seemed to forbid.
She ran. This was not shelter; it
was prison. He was rescue; he was
light itself. The only chance for her
was to get near enough to him. Near
him no shadow lived! The thing was
to get near enough. She rushed d.
rect from shadow into light. She
came out into the sun, into the gar
den with it's blaze of wintry summer,
its whispering life and the free air
over it. The man standing in the
middle of it, for all his pot hat and
Gothic stick, was none the less its
demigod waiting for her, laughing.
He might we'll laugh that she who had
written that unflinching letter should
come thus flying at his call; but there
was more than mischief in him. The
high tide of his spirits was only the
sparkle of his excitement. 1t was
evident that he was there with some
thing of mighty Importance to say.
Was it that her letter had finally
touched him? Had he come at last to
transcend her idea with some even
greater purpose? She seemed to see
the power, the will for that and the
kindness-she could not call 1t by an
other word-but though she was be-
seeching him with all her silent atti-
tude to tell her instantly what the
great thing was, he kept it back a mo-
ment, looking at her whimsically, in
diligently, even tenderly.
Il have come for you," he said.
"Oh, for mel" she murmured. Sure.
ly he couldn't mean that! He was
simply putting her off with that.
II mean it, mean it," he assured
her. This doesn't make it any less
real, my getting at you through a gar
den. Better" he added, "and sweet
of you to make the duller way i'm
possible"
She took a step back 1t had not
been play to her; but he would have
it nothing else. He, too, stepped
back and away from her.
Come" he said, and behind him
she saw the lower garden gate that
opened on the grassy pitch of the
hill, swinging idle and open. The
sight of him about to vanish lured her
on, and as he continued to walk back
ward she advanced, following.
"Oh, where?" she pleaded.
with mel" Such a guaranty of
good faith he made 1t!
She tried to summon her reluctance.
But why?"
"We'll talk about it as we go along"
His hand was on the gate. I'VE can't
stop here, you know. She'll be watch.
ing us from the window"
Flora glanced behind her. The win
dows were all discreetly draped-
most likely ambush-but that he
should apprehend Clara's eyes behind
them! All, then, he did know what he
was about! He saw Clara as she did.
She would almost have been ready to
trust him on the strength Of that
alone. Still she hung back.
But my things!" she protested.
She held up her garden hat. "And my
gown!" She looked down at her frail
silk fiounces. Was ever any woman
seen on the street like this!
"Oh, la, la, Ia" he cut her short.
I'VE can't stop to dress the part.
You'll forget EN-"
She smiled at him suddenly, looked
back at the house, put on her hat
the garden hat. The moment she had
dreaded was upon her In spite of her
warning reason, in spite of every.
thing, she was going with him.
(To BE CoNTINUED.)