Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-25

Il could have held you If l had wanted
to-and 1 suffered for it afterward You
may be sure she punished me for that
II dare say she did," he muttered.
watching her.
IF it hadn't been that I really cared
for you, Wayne. l think l should have
gone ahead. You thought you were elud-
ing me; the fact is that 1 precipitated
| that row myself to give you your chance
to get away. The mater wanted to follow
you into the courts: l stopped that by
burning your letters and declining to give
any aid"
"Ha! my benefactress, you are discov-
ered!"
mo. that is not the tone for you to take
with me, Wayne. / have no intention Of
asking favors. l think" and she pom
dered gravely. as though anxious to be
exact. Il believe 1 realize the enormity
of what have done perfectly. and l ask
forgiveness, mercy. kindness. / have
bought my freedom. and want to be
sure l shall have it-and peace. oh, peace,
decency to stop being a vagabond. flung
in the eyes of every man suspected of
having money! That mother of mine
didn't sell me at the last; made the bar
gain. And now that / bear your father
name / am not going to dishonor it: am
not going to bring any cloud upon his old
age, no disgrace and no shame. There Is
no nobler man in the world than he is,
and as fast as can, with my poor, miser-
able. hideous past. and my poor wits, l
am going to try to live up to him. There
is just that one prayer in my heart-after
all these temptations. and heartache.
heartache, heartache.-that ! may be a
good woman-a good woman. Wayne!
What a wonderful thing it would be if
could-goodness. with peace!''
Her voice was low and failed wholly
now and then. and he found himself
watching her lips to read the words that
his ears lost. He had been rejoicing in
the thought that his father was the vic
tim of a vulgar connivance between an
avaricious and designing woman and a
willing and not too scrupulous daughter
and the situation was one which he had
counted upon playing with I'm his own
fashion. The gossamer web of this hope
now fluttered broken on the wind. In the
silence that followed he saw for an in
slant the ignoble and shameful aspect of
the thing that had been in his heart.
Then a new idea flashed upon him: it
was base, base enough to satisfy even
this stubborn mood in which Mrs: Craig
hills appeal had left him. He felt joy
in his cunning: his heart warmed as the
anger and resentment against his father
took form again The conquest was not
to be SO easy as he had imagined, but it
would be all the sweeter for delay. Ven
geance for wrongs and injustices might
yet be secured. He experienced thrill
of qualification that his mind had re-
sponded to this need in defeat. His
ina gination built up q new tower of pos
sibiiities upon fresh foundation: it was
this new wife who had been deceived in
the marriage, not his father! He would
gain in the end what he sought, and the
blow at his father should lose nothing
of its force when strengthened by her
disappointment and humiliation. 1t was
inconceivable that Roger Craighill would
ever treat the woman as an equal; that
there could ever be any real sympathy
between them. With all the zest of youth
in her, and with red love of life. she was
sure to seek escape from the bleak zone
he, as Roger Craighill's son, knew well.
but whose far-lying levels she now saw
rosy with promise.
Mrs Craighill had not looked at Wayne
through the latter part Of her recital and
appeal: but she rose now and turned to
him smilingly. She wore an air, indeed.
of having defined an unassailable posi-
ton; of having fully mastered it's defense,
with her own soul supreme in the citadel.
Her confidence revealed itself in her voice
as she addressed him: he was piqued %
find that she apparently dismissed him a
little condescendingly. as though their flu
ture relations were established on a basis
determined by herself. and that there
was no question of maintaining them
there.
Goodbye. Wayne; / must run along