The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-12-01

en- upon her wrist as II 1t OWNED her
madness.
His light stick aswing in his hand,
his step free and incautious as ever,
gray and slender and seeming to look
more at the ground than at them, the
two women watched him drawing
near. His was the seeming of quiet
guest at the quietest of house parties.
To meet him Flora saw she must meet
him on the high ground of his reserve.
AS he came under the light Of the
porte-cochere his look, his greeting,
his hand. were first for Mrs. Herrick
I'VE were afraid we had missed you
altogether" said she.
1T was l who somehow missed your
carriage, was hardly expecting to be
expected at such an hour"
Flora watched them meeting each
other so gallantly with a trembling
compunction. Mrs. Herrick, who
trusted her, was giving her hand in
sublime ignorance. 1t was vain that
Flora told herself she had given warn
ing She knew she had thrown the
softening veil of her spiritual crisis
over the ugly material fact. Had she
said, II want you to uphold me while
l meet thief whom l love and wish
to protect. He's magnificent in all
other ways except for this one OBJ
| session." she knew Mrs. Herrick sim
ply would have cried, Impossible, out
rageous!" Yet there they stood to-
gether, and as Flora looked at them
she could not have told which was of
the finer temper Kerr's bearing was
so unruffied that it seemed as If he
had flown too high to feel the storm
Flora was passing through. But
! when he turned toward her, in spite
of himself. there was eagerness in his
manner. He looked questioningly at
her, as If no time had interviewed, as
II moment before he had said to ner
through the carriage window, II will
give you "a hours" and now her time
had come to speak.
Only the thought that time was
| crowding him into bags end gave
her courage to vow she would speak
that night. Yet not now, while they
stood just met in the deepening dusk,
in the sweet breath of the early flow
ers; nor later when they passed in
friendly fashion, the three of them,
through fairy labyrinths of arch and
mirror, into the long, high, glistening
room, whose round table, spread,
seemed dwarfed to mushroom height;
nor yet, while this semblance of COM
panionship was between them, and
the great proportions of the place
| lifting oppression, left them as un-
conscious of walls and roof as though
they were met in the open. The clock
twice marked the passing hour. She
had never heard Mrs. Herrick speak
so howingly nor Kerr listen SO well,
, placing his questions nicely to draw
out the thread of her theme. Yet
Flora guessed his thought must be
fixed on their approaching moment,
as hers was-on the moment when
they should be ready to quit the table
| and Mrs. Herrick would leave them
| to themselves.
1t was the appearance of the
aproned maid that broke their unity.
The last course was on the table, the
last taste of it's pungent fruit essence
on their tongues-and what was the
| girls errand now? The eye of her
mistress was inquiring.
Some one has come, Mrs. Herrick.' y
The woman's proper formula seemed
to fail her. She looked as if she had
been frightened.
Some one?" Mrs. Herrick showed
asperity. What name"
HE is coming in" As she spoke
the girl shrank little to one side.
| With his long coat open, hanging
from the armpits, with rufled hair
and lips apart, and from breathless
ness little smiling, Harry appeared
in the doorway. Kerr leaned forward
Mrs. Herrick did not move. She was
facing the last arrival and she was
smiling more fiexibly, more naturally
than Harry; but it was Flora who
found the first word.
You! II thought it was Clara
She was struggling for nonchalanee
Tor poise, at this worst blow, so un
| expected.