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

He rose and walked the length of the
room. and when he had gained the bay
; window he looked back at her. She did
not move and her head, the pretty arch
of her neck. the graceful lines of her fig
ure brought him quickly to her side. He
took her hands roughly and drew her to
her feet
Yes. l came home when 1 did to see
you alone" he cried, eagerly. You knew
I would come: you counted on it; you
| were sure of it.'
What a mind reader you are." she
laughed. looking languidly up at him.
He clasped her hands in both his own
and peered into her face. Her eyes ques-
| toned him long: they held him away
from her as though by physical force
Then the color surged suddenly in her
face and throat as he bent toward iel
lips and she cried out softly and freed
herself.
mo. No. Not like that
There is no other way. You didn'
think you could come here and begin all
with me and have me forget! / tell you
am not brass or wood! No woman
was ever 50 much to any man as you are
to me. If 1 had not been a fool you
would have belonged to me: and now,
now you are here and we cannot be less
know that; l know it,
She was looking at him questioningly.
with a wide-eyed gravity, and she was
very white. She lifted her head slightly.
courage, and took a step that brought
her close to him; she laid her hands on
his shoulders.
Wayne. I want you to help mel want
you to help me to be a good woman"
Her pallor had deepened: her lips trem-
lod
why did you come here? If You
wanted my help you took q strange way
of getting ito 1t strikes me that the rea-
son you came is something that we had
better not go into
THAT is not like you, Wayne. I sup
pose-I suppose-it would not occur to you
that l admire and love your father: that.
after the life l have led. the shelte: of
such home as this and the protection of
such a man mean more than 1 know how
to describe. l haven't the words to .eN
you what it means!' she ended. with a
little moan, and then: 1T was only
chance that threw me again in your
way"
I'm not so sure of that" he replied.
harshly. Il think your mother must have
chuckled to herself at finding. that she
could catch the father if she couldn t
land the more sophisticated SON. She
Those are nice things you have'-his eye
swept her gown-"and if your mother has
gone abroad it's fair assumption that
She tapped the Craighill till pretty soon
after the wedding-if not just before!'
You have no right to make such in
situations. It's infamous. l don't in
tend that you shall insult me under this
roof
..JTnder this roof he Knocked.
"Oh. I understand that it's yours; that
when your father dies it will belong to
YOU; but while he lives it's my shelter.
it's my home; the first, Wayne, that l
ever had"
He studied her with a puzzled look in
his eyes, He had thought he knew her
that out of his earlier knowledge he could
readily establish a new tie. The thought
of this had filed his mind from the mo-
ment he had recognized her photograph
at his fathers table.
What l ask you for, Wayne. what
beg you to give me. is my chance. l
have never had it yet. 1 have been hawked
about and offered in a good many mar
kets I might have been married to you
if mamma had not counted too little on
YOUR sanity and tried to get money out
of you before she had you we'll hooked.
1t is possible that l was a little-just
little slow at the game. l let you escape