The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1911-11-29

She Had Confidence In God.
not more faithful, acceptant and de-
voted. Yet this was a very human
man in spite of all these things,
man of splendid vigor and health with
all a mans impulses, hopes, dreams
and aspirations. And he loved her.
He, too, sat upon the white sands
Of the gemlike island and looked out
into the far blue of the Pacific wash
ing the distant shores and lands peos
pied with strange creatures of history
and romance and he. too, wondered.
He had had no experience with men
and the world and he longed to get
away and to take her away.
She had long since discovered that
he was a gentleman, an innate gentle
man; that he had been well born, and
she had seen to it herself that he had
been well bred. Yet no mortal man
ever went through greater fires of
unknown and mysterious temptations
than he. He forced himself not to
speak words that Turned. He checked
The free course Of thoughts that bub-
bled and seethed within his brain, and
the relationship between them re-
NAMED that of mistress and man,
teacher and taught, friend and friend.
1t was he who so maintained it, though
of this she was unaware.
AID he
to come when he might with right and
decency and dignity speak the words
which some day he must speak or die.
He was not versed in the ways of
women. He had no store OF knowl-
edge, no lesson of experience to fall
back upon. He knew but one woman.
He could not predicate from any petty
maxim, or from any ancient aphorism,
or from any worn out philosophy,
what she would or would not do under
certain conditions. Indeed. he only
thought that he loved her and he must
tell her or G.e IN the concealment.
And so matters ran on and on. II
needed but a spark to ignite the pow
der, it would have seemed, and yet
a vast eataclysm of nature only.
brought about the explosion. He had
never touched her except to take her
hand, Eer person had been as in
to him as il she had been a
star above his head. And she had
been careful under no circumstances
to allow more than that. Their hands
had clasped often. Indeed. with every
Good night" and Good morning" the
circuit of touch was made and broken,
but that was all. They usually parted
at night on the sands where she had
first been thrown ashore. He would
stand and watch her as she glidsd
away from him in the darkness toward
the cave that was her nome. She
had impressed upon him how she
trusted him, the absolute assurance.
the entire confidence that she had
that he would respect the agreement
between them and he would have died
rather than have transgressed the law,
stepped over that imaginary barrier,
as potent as the circle of Richelieu.
which kept them apart.
And yet she would never know
what horrible constraint he put upon
/. himself. How he stood with clenched
hands and quivering body and stared
after her, long after she had gone. She
would never know how that intensity
of longing grew and grew until some
times he felt that he could not over
master it. She would never know how
he plunged away staggering through
the woods and threw himself down
upon the sands on his side Of the
island, disdaining even the rude shell
ter of the cave which was his home,
and fought it out. Sometimes she
saw evidences of internal conflict In
his soul the next morning. The calm
serenity, the indifference. the animal
like satisfaction with which he had
faced life when she first knew him
had long since disappeared There
were deepening lines upon his face
which told of thought, Of struggle, and
of character thus developed by these
two potent factors in shaping human
destiny. -" 20
And he could never know what was
in her mind. either. He never dreamed
that she could love him. She was 50
far above him, so supreme in his eyes
that the possibility never occurred 50
him. II he had known for a moment
how she thought of him, the great
passion in both hearts would have
overleaped every obstacle and in a
moment be would have had her In bis
arms. Well, indeed. 1t is that the
power to read human hearts Is re-
served for the Mind which towers
above human passions because it is
divine.
And SO these two while drawing
together as inevitably aud as irresist-
IDLY as the tide comes in were still
kept apart. Their feelings we're in so
luton as it were. A precipitant must
be thrown into the atmosphere in
which they moved and lived and had
their being to disclose them to each
other.
On one certain almy night they
parted as usual. Was the hand clasp
peered. at her under the moonlight
more self revealing than usual2, Did
something in his own breast can to
the surface that which beat around
Der heart? At any rate, it was with
great effort that she tore herself
away at last and for the first time in
bis life. although she knew it not, he
followed after her with few neise-
less steps only TO stop, his face white
Ia the moonlight. drops Of sweat bead
ing his brow in the violence Of bis
effort. Having transgressed even to
that degree the law, he turned in
stantly, without waiting to watch her
disappear around the iutting crag that
marked the little amphitheater where
she slept. and went TO his own side Of
| the island resolutely without mo-
ment's hesitation OF delay.
+ CHAPTER K.