The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1911-03-02
CHAPTER XIX.
The Conquered Soul.

"Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
| thank whatever gods there be
For my unconquerable soul.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid
w. f. Henley.
The bringing in of tea broke off
the recital for a minute or two.
Evelyn poured out with firm hands
which did not shake. Vernon sat ador-
ing her, wondering at her beauty
and the things she said. The mind
of the younger girl was in whirl,
not unlike that produced in her
Aunt Emma by the notion of Jem's
love affairs. Evelyn had always seem
ed immune, as one might say.
The silence between them as they
ate and drank, did not seem awkward
but blessed thing, showing that
| they were really friends. Before long
Evelyn began to speak again.
you see," she said, my mind was
fixed entirely upon what, to me,
would be the social, the practical,
tho aytorna1 copcanuancac nf doiny
what | called, and what all my SO
would have called, an unconventional
thing. The Church would call it NOR
tai sin, to live with a man who had
a wife living, though her wifehood
was, and for eleven years had been,
merely nominal. The Church-and in
cidentally, the law too-would con-
demn such a union as we proposed
| felt furious with the stupidity, the
cruelty, of such on idea. A man in
Cecl's position was, told myself,
forced into sin, because he was not
allowed openly to have woman's
companionship, though authority
would wink at any irregularities in
his life. ! felt quite certain, in M
own mind, that we should be com.
pletely Justified in marrying, in de-
ceiving the world, and seeming to
conform to rule. All ] feared was
the possible consequences of detec-
tion.
For month / lived in curious
mixture of bliss and delirium. was
so exquisitely happy that l used to
weep at the bare notion of it; but
| was so restless that ! dare not sir
down to do a bit of needlework, for
fear of my own thoughts. We had |
to be very, very careful, to avoid !
arousing Miss Brett's suspicious, or
those of any one else. The secrecy
of our snatched movements, the rap
ture of the letters we wrote. made |
of life a kind of lovely, feverish
dream
"One day there came into my mind |
a very curious idea. | suddenly re-
solved that | must go down to the .
asylum where Cecils wife was, and |
see her.
THE idea of my doing so was to
him very touching, and he was quite
willing for me to go if it could be
done without risk. 1 was entirely my
own mistress, and accustomed to go
and come as | pleased; and | had a
friend in the north-not an intimate
friend, but a girl who had been at
the same school in Lausanne, and
now lived at Alnwick. She had long
begged me to give her a weekend,
and | planned to go to her, and make
a small detour upon my homeward
journey When it came to the point,
it was so terrible to tear myself from
Cecil. even for few days, that
wished l had not said that would
go. But we thought it a wise move
that l should leave town, as a sign
or uetacnment, In case people might
be beginning TO talk. So | went The
asylum was in a most beautiful part
of the country, and the management
sent a carriage to the station for
ne. Cecil had written that a cousin
If his, Miss Smith, was coming
o see his wife.
They showed me in to a pretty.
warm, cosy, drawing-room, and after
while a nurse brought in a slim
'reature who looked almost child.
t was impossible to believe that
he was thirty years old She was :
cry small and dainty, with waving
lair and deep soft Hazel eyes. They
we're full of fathomless sadness. |
lave never in my life seen a crea- (
ure so pathetic She did nOt smila