Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1911-01-18
CHAPTER XxI.-continued.

CHAPTER Xxl.-Continued
It was plain to Flora from the mo-
ment she set foot over the threshold
that the house was to be no mean al
ly Of theirs, but Mrs. Herrick was
making it help them doubly in their
hard interval of waiting. Alone to.
gether with unspoken, unspeakable
things between them-things that for
mere deceny of honor could not be
Cttered-with nothing but these to
think of, nothing but each other to
talk at, they must yet, in sheer
desperation and suspense, have inev-
itably burst out with question and
confession. had not the great house
been there to interpose its PERSONAL
ty. And the way Mrs. Herrick was
making the most of that! The way
Immediately, even before she had
shown anything, she began to revivi-
fly the spirit of the place, as the two
women stood with their hats not yet
of in the room that was to be Flora's
talking and looking out upon the
lawn
And her silence, with her express
rsive self as well as with her words,
Mrs. Herrick was terminating it all
the while they lunched and rested,
still in the upper rooms overlooking
the garden. And later, when they
made the tour of the house, she be-
gan unwinding from her memory in
oidapfe IF SIC aorIv bagfpp;pgs ,,;oooc
of it's intimate, personal history, as
one would make friend familiar to
another friend. And these past his
tories and the rooms themselves were
leading Flora away out of her anxious
self, were soothing her prying appre-
tensions, were giving her a detach-
ment in the present, till what she so
anticipated lay quiescent at the back
of her brain.
But it was there. And now and
then, when in a gust of wind the
lights and shadows danced on the
dim, polished floors, it stirred; and
lat the sound of wheels on the drive
below 1t leaped, and all her fears
again were in her face. At such mo-
iments the two women did look deep
lly at each other, and the suspense.
the premonition, lowered in Mrs. Her
irick's eyes. 1t was as unconscious,
as involuntary, as Flora's start at the
swinging of a door; but no question
crossed her lips She let the matter
as severely alone as if it had been a
Jewel not her own. Yet, it came to
Flora ali at once that here, for the
first time. she was with one to whom
she could have revealed the sapphire
on her neck and yet remain unchal-
Ilerged.
"Ah, you're too lovely!" she burst
out at last. 1T is more than 1 deserve
that you should take 1T all like this,
as if there really wasn't anything"
The elder lady's eyes wavered little
at the plain words.
I'm too deeply doubtful Of It to
take 1t any other way" she said.
THAT is why feel most guilty"
Flora explained. For dragging you
into it and then-bringing it into your
house" She glanced around at the
high. quiet, damasked room. Such
a thing to happen herei'
"Ah, my dear"-Mrs. Herricks
laugh was uncertain-"the things that
have happened here-the things that
have happened and been endured and
been forgotten! and see" she said,
laying her hand on one of the walls,
'the peace of 1t now!"
Flora wondered. She seemed to
feel such distances of life extending
yet beyond her sight as dwindled her,
tiny and innocent.
ut isn't what happens, but the
way we take 1t that makes the after
ward" Mrs. Herrick added.
The thought of an afterward had
stood very dim in F1ora's mind, and
even now that Mrs Herricks words
confronted her with it she couldn't
fancy what It would be like. Shs
couldn't imagine her existence going
On at all on the other side of failure.
But suppose" she TREMENDOUSLY
urged. suppose there seemed only
one way to take what had happened
to you, and that way, if it failed,
would leave you no afterward at all,
no peace. no courage, nothing"
Mrs Herrick's eyes fixed her with
their deep pity and their deeper ap-
prehension. There are few things
so bad as that" she said slowly, "and
those are the oGes we must not
touch"
Flora paused a moment on the
brink of her last plunge. do You
think what / am going to do is such
a thing as that?'
ooh, my poor child. how do know?
hope. I pray it is mott" Her fingers
closed on Flora's hand, and the girl
clung to the kind grasp. Il was a
comfort. thought it could not save her
froua tie real fnality.