The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-11-27

while thase thoughts took 0radua1
form IN The young ma1's mtnd. and.
although The deck was deserted, MIN
wayiand had now no nssd b oaze har
once hsadstroaS woosr.
He could not put into words the
change that wa working - hin. but
she saw Il. and. gEaspang III nsaning
at last, she began to battle IKE .
q mother for her child. His AWAKEN
ing had bsen slow. and hers was even
slower, but once she found her power
over him waning her sense Of loss
grew and grew n he failed to answer
to her half spoken appeal
Womanlike. she capitulated At last.
What matter II he stayed here where
his hopes were centsced1 This life In
the north had claimed MIN. and she
would wait until he came for her. But
still he did not respond. and It was not
long until she had persuaded herself
that his battle with the wilderness had
put red blood into his veins and his
conduct had been no worse than that
Of other men Finally she tried to
voice these thoughts. but she only led
him to q stif1 denial Of the charges she
wished to forgive. Al she saw him
slipping further away from her she
summoned all her arts to rehndle the
flame which had burned % steadily.
and when these failed she surrendered
every prejudice. 1t was his love she
wanted. All else was secondary. At
last she knew herself. She could have
cried at the sudden realization that he
had not kissed her since their parting
in Chicago, and when she saw he had
no will to do 20 the memory Of his last
embrace arose to torture her. She was
almost glad when . launch bringing
her father came from the shore and
the old man Joined them.
The two men bore Themselves with
unbending Formally. unable ~ yet to
forget their mutual wrongs. The In
terruption gave Boyd the opportunity
he had not been brave enough to make.
and he babe them both goodby. for the
tide was 1T its Hood. and the hour Of
their departure was At hand.
There were q meaningless exchange
Of words and a handshake in the glare
from the cabin light that showed MI
dred's pallid lips and frightened eyes.
Then Emerson went over the side. and
the darkness swallowed him mp.
The girl ciutched at her fathers
arm, standing a. II frozen while the
creak Of rowlocks grew fainter and
fainter and died away. Then she
turned.
You see, he Gamer she said
The old man saw the agony that
blanched her cheeks and answered
gently:
"Yes, daughterr' he struggled with
himself. "And If you wish It be may
come again"
But he won't come again That Is
what makes it % hard: he viii never
come back"
She turned away. but not quickly
enough to keep him from seeing that
her eyes were vet. Wayne Wayland
beheA what he would have given half
his mighty fortune to prevent He
cried out angrily. brt she anticipated
his thought.
mo. no. you must never tujufo him
again. for he was right and We were
wrong. You see I-couldn't under
stand"
He left her staring into the night
and walked heavily below.
Emerson felt a great sense Of relief
and deliverance as he leaned against
bis oars. His heart sang to the muir
muir Of the waters oversize. For the
nrst time in many mohtAs he felt
been and how narrow had been his
escape from q life that could lead to
but one result! The girl was sweet
and good and wonderful in many
ways, but three years had altered him
more than he had realized. He had
begun to understand himself that
very afternoon. when Cherry had told
him her own unhappy secret. The
shock Of her disclosure had reused him
from his dream. and once he began to
see himself ~ he really was the rest
had come quickly. He had been
doubtful even when he went out to
the yacht, but what happened there
had destroyed the last trace Of I'M
certainty. He knew that for him
there was but one woman in all the
world. It was no easy battle he had
fought with himself. He had been
reared to respect the conventions, and
he knew that Cherry's life had not
been all he could wish. But he front
ed the issue squarely and tried to
throttle his inbred prejudice. Al
though he had felt the truth Of Fra
ser's arguments and Of Cherry's own
words. he had still refused to yield
until his love for the girl swept over
him in all its power: then he made his
choice.
The one thing he found most difH-
cult to accept was her conduct with
billiard. Those other charges against
the girl were vague and shadowy. but
this was concrete. and he was familiar
with every miserable detail Of it It
took all his courage to face 1t, but he
ewore savagely that II the conditions
had been reversed Cherry would not