The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-08-15
CHAPTER XII.
Episode.

fortune had Immediately returned
from the bazaars. And kind of tor
por blanketed her mind, usually so
fertile and active. For a time the
process of the evolution of thought
was denied her; she tried to think, but
there was an appalling lack Of continu-
lily, of broken threads. 1t was like one
Of those cjrcumferential railways; she
travelled, but did not get anywhere.
Ryanne had told her too much for his
own sake, but too little for hers. She
Eat back in the carriage, inert and
listless, and indeterminedly likened
her condition to driftwood in the ebb
and flow of beach-waves. The color
and commotion of the streets were
no longer absorbed; it was as if she
were riding through emptiness,
through the unreality of dream. She
was oppressed and stifled, too; harb-
niger Of storms.
Mechanically she dismissed the car
rage at the hotel, mechanically she
went to her room, and in this semi
conscious mood sat down in a chair,
and there Georges wish found her,
futilely. Oh, there was one thing
clear, clear as the sky outside. All
was not right; something was wrong;
and this wrong upon one side con-
cerned her mother, her uncle and
Ryanne, and upon the other side, Mr..
Jones. Think and think as she might,
her endeavors gave her no single illu-
mination. Four blind walls surround
ed her. The United Romance and Ad-
venture company-there could not pos
sibly be such thing in existence; it
was a jest of Ryanne's to cover up
something far more serious.
She pressed her eyes with hand.
They ached DULY, the dull pain of be-
wilderment, which these days recur-
red with frequency. A sense Of time
was lacking; for luncheon hour came
and passed without her being definite
" aware of it. This in itself was
puzzle. A jaunt, such as she had Ia
ken that morning. always keened the
edge of her appetite; and yet, there
was no craving whatever.
Where was her mother? If she
would only come now, the cumulative
doubts of all these months should be
put into speech. They had treated her
rs one would treat a child; it was
neither just nor reasonable. If not as
q child, but as one they dared not
rust, then they were afraid of her.
But why? She pressed her hands to-
getLer, impotently. Ryanne, clever az
he was, had made slip or two which
he had sought to cover up with jest.
a rogue unless his tongue had got the
better of his discretion? If he was a
rogue, why should her mother and her
uncle make use of him, If not for
roguery's sake? They were fools, fools |!
If they had but seen and understood
her as she was, she would have gone
to the bitter end with them, loyalty,
with sealed lips. But no; they had
chosen not to see; and in this had
morally betrayed her. All, 1t ranked,
and the injustice Of it grew from pain
to fury. At that moment, had she
known anything, she certainly would
have denounced them. OF what use
was loyalty, since none of them
sought it in her?
The Major was wiser than he knew
when he spoke Of the hundredth dan
ger. the danger unforeseen, the danger
against which they could make nc
preparation. And he would have been
first to sense the irony of it could he
have seen where this danger lay.
Why should they wish the pleasant
young man out Of the way? Why
aho,sld Ryanne wish to inveigle him