The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-11-28

A moment later he laid his span
ners aside ani cl;m:ed from the
wagon. And he, too, made his way
to the house.
Elwood was standing at the open
window of the sitting room with his
back turned to the door when he
heard Mary coming down the passage
from her bedroom. She had been
to change her habit, and when she
entered the room she was clad in a
simple black skirt and white blouse
Beyond a generaI impression OF
her dress her husbam1 noticed moth
ing but the extreme pallor of her
face and the intense brilliancy Of
her eyes. She looked III; but there
! was more than illness in the ner-
vOus restlessness of her manner. She
came in swiftly and without speak
ing, and sat down in an armchair
in way that was very nearly a
collapse
He moved round and propped him
self on the corner of the table fac,
ing her.
How is the head?" he inquired
gently.
It's nothing" Mary wearily pass
ed hand across her forehead in
flat contradiction of her statement
It's too silly for anything; l so
seldom have ah eadache. But-you
came to say something to me?' she
went on little eagerly. Il saw. you
at work when 1 came in"
Just for moment a vague hope
possessed her that perhaps he had,
changed his mind, and she was to
accompany him on his journey. oh,
how she hoped that it might be
ride, and she shivered perceptiIbly.
Elwcod noted the weary gesture
as she pressed her hand to her
forehead just as he observed the
sudden Frightening as she put the
question.
Yes" he said. Il have been down
to the Verrickers.'
And Mary realized at once that
her hopes were not to be fulfilled.
Perhaps it was a message from Mrs.
Verricker, and she was in no mood
for commonplace messages.
In moment her thoughts drifted
absently to a scene, the memory OF
which troubled her and sent the
hot blood coursing through her veins.
1t was a scene from which she had
fled as fast as her horse could car
ry her. Even now the passionate
words of Guy Chalmer, whom she
had met during her ride out on
the ROOF Grond road, were ringing
in her ears. 1t was a scene in
which the man who had once de-
serted her, the man who had wan
tonly flung her love away, the man
who fate and her husbands whim
had forced her TO renew association
with, had made love to her, had al
ternately cajoled and threatened her
with passionate indiscrimlnation. And
she had listened. Yes, she knew
now that she had listened with a
feeling of thoughtless feminine tri-
umph. He had come back to her. And
those first moments of triumph had
been very sweet. She did not pause
to question herself the right or
wrong of her position. An acknowl-
edged feeling that Sne was beyond
his reach possessed her, and made
her poor little triumph the sweeter.
Maybe he would know now some
thing of what he had made her suf-
fer; and, she told herself, she would
have been more than human if she
hail not been just little glad.
Then a chance word Of his had
torn the veil from before her mental
vision, and revulsion of feeling had
come. Her innate honesty was stir
red. She saw the thing in its true
light, and, seeking any trivial ex-
cuse, she had fled precipitately. She
could listen no more. 1t was dig
honest; dishonest to herself, to him
but more than all to her husband,
the man who trusted her. who had
given her all he had TO bestow.
In flash there leapt to her brain
a vision of Ferman, large, strong,
plain, whose quiet kindness masked
heart that beat only for her;
whose honor was in her keeping, and
whose honor must be upheld no mat
ter what the relations between them.
And on the swift ride home
strange thing happened. Her hus-
bands large, ugly face loomed be-
fora bpr all tha Nvav homo IL waS