Mexico Missouri message., 1910-07-21

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to her feet at once, SO bold, so radical,
30 beautiful and so innocent. One c.
her first converts had been the onl.
son of a multi-milLonaire, bygone DO.
nanza king of the Pacific slope. His
conversion was not so much an effort
Of pure reason as of primal passion.
although that fact was in no wise ap-
parent to her. She would find that
out later. This modern Hypatia,
skilled in the learning Of the schools,
burning with exhaustless zeal, per-
meated with fiery energy, was yet as
innocent in some ways as any of her
humber sisters. AS that good Book
which she disdained in the newer illu.
limitations which had come to her,
might have said of her, she was in the
world but not Of It.
Unconsciously she fulfilled many in.
functions of him who had she but
known 1t was the greatest of philoso.
piers. Naturally she kept herself
unspotted from the world. Yet when
the young man who had engaged her
affections proposed to her that they
should put her theories In practice,
after some hesitation she had acceded
to his proposition. 1t was a species of
self-immolation not far from heroism
that made her consent. Indeed, she did
not realize how heroic it was. With
no other ceremony than a clasp of the
hand and an unspoken, wordless
promise OF trust, devotion, single,
hearted alliance, publicly and before
God and man, without a thought for
the one and with nc full realization
Of the thoughts Of the other-at least
on her part-they had gone away to-
gether, hand in hand; he and she to-
gether, in love like any other pair
since Eve mated with Adam In the
dawn Of the worlds first morning.
Yet there has never been an Eden
OF which man has known without its
serpent. In the cabin of that gorgeous
yacht, Sathanas reared his head. The
first week or so of the adventure had
been filled with idyllic happiness, hap
piness so great that it was strong
enough to quiet certain low, still, small
voices of conscience which the woman
rightly ascribed to a strange atayism
Of ancient prejudice to which her phil
osophy was as yet unequal
However, such conditions did not
long persist. Her disciple was in
clined, presently she found to her sor-
row, to take somewhat lower view
Of the situation than suited her own
high-souled views. The ardor of her
devotee cooled as his passion in
creased. Shut up in the narrow con-
fines of ship-great and splendid
though this yacht was beyond magma
tion-little characteristics heretofore
unsupported developed in the mere
man. The course Of true love was not
so smooth as the summer seas over
which they sailed. The air in which
they lived was rufled by fiurries in
which experience would have found
presage for coming deeper storm. The
image that had feet of clay sought for
similar earthly alloy in the companion
image which was made of pure gold
all through, and finding it not, re-
sented it desperately. The convert
having gained his desire, weakened in
his principles. There was no relaxa-
ton in bis devotion, in his tenderness,
in anything outward and visible, but
the high philosophy which had made
the Joint effort almost a self-sacriflce
Of demonstration was slowly vanish
ing from one heart while the other
chung the more tenaciously to 1t.
1t was the old, old story. In little
the catspaw developed into the TEN.
pest. When It appeared it came with
surprising swiftness. The woman
found that in neither abstract thought
nor mental speculation was there any
protection for her. There might be
no God In heaven, but there was a con-
science in her breast. Finally she
broke away from the man so far IA
she could do so when they were both
in the same ship of which he was lord
and master. She would haye nothing
more to do with him save that which
common decency and the bare ciVili-
ties Of life demanded Of her. Denied
the privileges upon which he had
counted, the man grew savage and
showed the cloVen foot The disagree
ment became quarrel The quarrel
ran through several phases. Ashamed
Of himself he had recanted at first
Then he had sworn again allegiance
to the specious philosophy which she
now realized he had only protested
consciously or unconseiously, that hi
might possess her. But she was noe
deceived. There was no truth in hi
words; his asseverations carried no
conviction to her soul. Again he
stormed and ragged; once more he
apologized and appealed. but the
periods of calm grew shorter and the
periods OF storm grew longer and more
vehement. The woman alone was