Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-12-06

ventiOns, respectful Of those legal and
moral rules laid down by some rigid
material spirit lurking in mankind.
But now when the moment had come,
when the responsibility had de-
these things had in no way persuaded
| her.
Then this was herself, creature
| too much concerned with the primal
harmonies of life to be impressed by
the nodulations her decade set upon
them. This was that self which she
| had obscurely cherished as no more
real than fairy; but at Kerr's accla-
nation 1t had proclaimed itself more
real than flesh and blood, and Kerr
himself the most real thing in all her
life.
Then what was Harry? The bland
| implacable announcement of Shima
had summoned him up to stand beside
Kerr more clearly than her own eyes
could have shown him
Kerr, with his brilliant initiative,
might carry him off, but Kerr was
still the quarry. For had not Harry,
from the very beginning, known
something about him? Hadn't he at
| first denied having seen him before,
and then admitted it? Hadn't he
dropped hints and innuendoes without
ever an explanation? She remember
ed the singular fact of the embassy
ball, twice mentioned, each time with
that singular name of Farrell Wand.
And to know-if that was what Harry
knew-that a man of such fame was
in community where a ring of such
fame had disappeared-what further
proof was wanted?
Then why didn't Harry speak? And
what was going on on his side of the
affair? Harry's side would have been
her side few days before. Now, I'M
accountably, it was not. Nor was
Kerr's side hers either. She was
| standing between the two-standing
hesitating between her love of one
i and her loyalty to the other and what
he represented. The power might be
hers to tip the scales Harry held,
| either to Kerr's undoing, or to his
plOLCOllOl1s AT ltdSL sue luOu6uI Sic
might protect him, if she could dis
cover Harry's secret. Her special,
authorized relation to him-her right
to see him often, question him freely
even cajole-should make that easy.
| But she shrank from what seemed like
betrayal, even though she did not be-
tray him to Kerr by name.
Then, on the other hand she doubt
| ed how much she could do with Har-
ry. She wasn't sure how far she was
prepared to try him after that scene
of theirs. She had no desire to pique
| him further by seeing too much of
Kerr. On her own account she wanted
for the present to avoid Kerr. He
reused feeling in her that she fear
ed-a feeling Intoxicating to the
senses, dazzling to the mind, unknit-
| ting to the will. How could she tell,
if they were left alone, that she might
| not take the jewel from her neck, at
his request, and hand it to him-and
damn them both? If only she could
| escape seeing him altogether until
| she could find out what Harry was do
| ing and what she must do!
Meanwhile, there was her promise
to Ella. She recalled it with Difficult
| ty. 1t seemed a vague thing in the
light of her latest discovery, though
| she could never meet Clara in disa-
| greement without a qualm. But she
made the plunge that evening, before
Clara left for the Buffers, while she
was at her dressing-table in the half
disarray which brings out all the soft
ness and the disarming physical
charm of women. From her low chair
| Flora spoke laughingly of Elias per-
turbation. Clara paused, with the
| powder puff in her hand, while she
| listened to F1oras explanation of how
Ella feared that some one might, aft
! er all these years, be going to marry
Judge Butler. Who this might be she
did not even hint at. She left it ever
so sketchy But the little stare with
which Clara met it, the amusement,
| the surprise, and the shortest possible
| little laugh, were guarantee that Clara
| had seen 1t all. She had filed out
F1oras sketch to the full outline, and
| pronounced it, as Flora had, an alb
/ surdity. But though Clara had
/ laughed, she had gone away with her
delicate brows little drawn together,
as If she'd really found more than a
| laugh, something worth considering,
| in Elias state of mind.
She heard the wheels of Clara's de-
| parting conveyance. Now was her
| chance for an interview with Harry
She spent 20 minutes putting together
! three sentences that would not arouse
| his suspicious. She made two copies,
| and sent them by separate messen-
| gers, one to his rooms, one to the
club. with orders they be brought
| back if he was not there to receive
| them. Then-the business of wait
| ing in the large house full of echoes
and the round ghostly globes of cleo
| trio lights, with that thing around
| her neck for which-did they but
know of it-half the town would break
| in her windows and doors.
The wind travelled the streets with
| out, and shook the window-casings.
| She covered over the library fire,
listening. The leaping flames set her
shadow dancing like goblin. A bell
rang, and the shadow and the flame
gave higher leap as If in welcome of
what had arrived. She went to the
library door. In the glooms and lights
outside Shima was standing, and two
messengers. 1t was odd that both
] should arrive at once. She stepped
back and stood waiting with quicker
pulse. Shima entered with two let
l tiers upon his tray. She had a mo-
ment's anxiety lest both her notes had
oeen brought back to her, but no-the
envelope which lay on top showed
Harry's writing. She tore it open
hastily. Harry wrote that he would
/ ha dafiChfoS and might ha hriDc a