The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-08-06

! rose hIg befs brlked larger ana M
moro ard .nafe " his fiii on horizon
He felt like inaye and traitor,
rs Il he had been base. dislosal. falso
TO his IDEAL Tecreant 10 Ill femem.
btance. Was be indeed trhe man ?
Did he have that rugged strength. that
abiding faith, that eternal conscious.
ness. that lasting affection, beside
which the rocky paths he often trod
were things transient, perishable, eP.
anescent? Was he weakiing that he
fell at the first sight. Of another
woman? Z
\ He stopped his ceaseless pace for.
ward and backward, and stopped near
that frail and futile door. She was
there and there was none to prevent.
His hand sought the latch.
( What was he about to do? God for.
bid that a thought he could not freely
share with humanity should enter his
brain then. He held all women sacred,
and SO he had ever done, and this
woman IL her loneliness. In her help.
fessness, In her weakness, uebly ap-
pealed to him. But he would look
upon her. he would fain see il she
were there, II It were all not dream,
the creation Of his disordered imagin.
alton.
Men had gone mad In hermitages In
the mountains, they had been driven
insane in lonely oases In vast des.
erts; and they had peopled their soil.
tude with men and women. Was this
some working of a disordered brain, too
too much turned upon itself and with
too tremendous pressure upon It,
producing an illusion? Was there In
truth any woman there? He would
raise the latch and open the door and
look Once more the hand went stealth.
lily to the latch.
The woman slept quietly on. No thin
barrlcade easily unlocked or easily
broken protected her. Something 10
tangible, yet stronger than the thick.
est the most rigid bars OF steel guard
ed her; something unseen, indlscrib.
able, but so unmistakable when 1t
throbs in the breast Of those who de-
pend on 1t feel that their dependence
is not in vain watched over her.
CheFishiRg no evil thought, the man
had power to crafty his desire which
might yet bear sinister construction
should It be observed. 1t was her prI.
yacy be was invading. She had trust.
ed 70 him, she had said SO, to his hon.
or, and that stood her in good stead.
His honor! Not in five years had he
heard the word or thought the thing,
but he had not forgotten it. She had
not appealed to an unreal thing; upon
that her trust was based. His hand
left the latch. 1t fell gently, he drew
back and turned away trembling, a
eonqueror who mastered himself. He
was awake to the truth again.
What had he been about to do? Pro-
fame. unlimited. the sanctity OF her
chamber, violate the hospitality OF his
own house? Even with a proper mo.
tive, imperil HIS seIt-respect, SKATER
her trust endanger that honor which
SO suddenly became a part of him on
demand? She would not probably.
know; she could never know unless
she awoke. What OF that? That an
Client honor of his life. and race rose
like q mountain whose scarped face
cannot be scaled.
He fell back with a swift turn, a
feeling almost womanly; and more
men, perhaps, IL they lived in fem.
'iHne isolation; as ~1self.centered as
women are SO often by necessity,
would be as feminine as their sisters
influenced him.. oyercame him. His
hand went to his hunting shirt Merry.