The Washington herald., 1911-02-22
A SPLENDID HAZARD
By HAROLD MacGRATH
Copyright The sNernC
By HAROLD MacGRATH
Copyright, 1870 The Bo0bs-Merrin Company

about it, he asserted: and you are go,
! ing to smile when you answer me-"
Thank you. l forgot. My dear friend
/ am never going to tell you all about il
| Why did you not come first?" her voice
vibrating.
You still love him
That is not kind" striving hard tc
keep the smile on her trembling lips
''Oh, 1 beg of you. do not make this
friendship impossible. Do not rob me OF
! the one man | trust
Cathewe motioned aside the fish and
reached for his sauterne. Il have loved
you faithfully and Loyalty for seven
years. l have tried to win you by al
those roads a man may honorably trav-
erse in quest of the one woman. For
seven years; and for something like three
l have stayed away at your command.
VIII you believe It? Sometimes my hands
, looking"
1t was a crooked smile why did l
ever tell you?''
Why did you ever tell me only
rart? 1t is the other part l wish TO know.
Till l learn what that is l shall never
leave you. You will find that there is a
difference between love and infatua-
ton"
''As l have never known infatuation, I
cannot tell the difference. Now, no more.
unless you care to see me break down
before them. For if you tell me that
you have loved me seven years, I have
loved him eight" cruelty, for Cathewe
was pressing her cruelty.
Devil take him! What do you find
in the man."
What do you find in mee" her. eyes
filed with anger.
Forgive me, Hildegarde; I am blind
and mad tonight. l did not expect to
find him here, either"
Breitmann had tried Intellectually to
read their lips. She had given her word,
and once given he knew of old that she
never broke it; but he was keenly alive
that in some way he was the topic of the
inaudible conversation AS he sat here
tonight he knew why he had never loved
Hildegarde; why, in fact, he had never
loved any woman. The one great pas
sion which comes in the span of life was
centered in the girl beside him, dividing
her moments between him and Fitzger-
aid strange, but he had not known it
till he saw the two women together.
For once mis- nice calculations had ceased
to run smoothly; there appeared now a
knot in the thread for which he saw no
untyiRg.
you do not sing now?" asked Laura
NO" Hildegarde answered, my voice
is gone"
"Oh. 1 am so sorry
1T does not matter; I can hum little
to myself: there is yet some pleasure IN
that But in opera, no, never again. Has
not Mrs. CoIdfield told you? No7 I'm
agine! One night in Dresden, in the mid
die of the aria, my voice broke miserably
and / could not go on"
"And her heart nearly broke with II"
interposed Mrs. Coldfield, with the best
intentions, nearer the truth than she
knew. II am sorry, Laura, that never
told you before"
Hildegarde laughed. Sooner or later
this must happen 1 worked too hard,
perhaps. At any rate, the opera will
know me no more"
There was the hard blue of flint in
Cathewe's eyes as they met and held
Breitmann's. There was duel and the
latter was routed But hate burned
fiercely In the breast against the man
who could compel him to lower his eyes
Some day he would pay back that glance
Now, M. Ferraud had missed nothing
He twisted the talk into other channels
with his usual adroitness. but all the
while there was bubbling in his mind
the news that these two men had met
before The history of Hildegarde Won
Alitter was known to him. But how much