Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-23
Cynthia-ot -the-Minute
Copyright 1871 By Louis Joseph Vance

about the snip that mas been put IN
decent working order is the wireless
outfit, and that Thurlow. the wireless
| operator tells me is the most conf
plete and expensive installation image
Unable; the sort Of thing you'd look
for on the Lusitania instead of on a
rusty old hulk of something less than
1000 tons.
II IT wasn't for that immense
lily rich cargo. I'd suspect they
intended TO throw her away for the
/ insurance money. But remembering
that IL doesn't seem plausible. -.
tions on board-the Reds and the
Blacks. you might say: Rhodes party
| and Perez's. Neither trusts the other
an inch. Rhodes nominally the leader,
but Perez treats him as a nonenuty-
and somehow generally manages to set
/ his way when IL comes to a shaw
down Lobb and Claret, Bergen, Muir
raw, Spelvin-they're all Blacks. Rhode
has on his side Youngling. Griscom'
Greenaway. Bergen; and. presume
myself Thurlow seems to be inde-
pendent. A queer kettle CT
fish. :"
Crittenden wound up a long speech
with an impatient shake Of his be-
/ wildered head and a half inaudiole
and wholly threadbar, reference 10
that putative decadence obtaining IN
the state of Denmark.
.sIt sounds a good deal like my we'll
paper" observed Cynthia from pro-
found depths Of abstraction.
Sounds like what?" cried Critten-
den. astounded.
At mean" Cynthia translated, much
diverted by her blunder. "it reminds
me of the wall paper in the room had
lin that dreadful lodging house"
"Oh-h said Crittenden. still
cropping.
ut was so old and stained and faded
and worn" the girl explained, that at
first It seemed impossible. 1t was posi-
lively inhumanly incoherent. The more
you saw OF il the more it seemed like
something suggested by a rather in
sipid nightmare. But then. If you kept
on looking and pulling, after while
suddenly you'd catch glimpse of the
first awful, hideous design, and then
you could easily enough make 1T out in
all its ugIiness. ~. / mean that TINS
AFFAIR may be like that: If you watch II
patiently enough and puzzle your brains
until you're weary. some sort of de-
sign will show up through the super
hcial meaninglessness."
She smiled disparagement That's
pretty Iabored comparison. I'm afraid,
and hardly worth while" o.
IT'S vivid enough" Crittenden as
I
/ apt At all events. we won't be
long in finding out now. The farther
we leave New York behind us, the near
er we draw 20 the revelation, whatever
IL may be. That's certain"
He spoke mechanically, his eyes
thoughtfully narrowed in the obession
Of this problem. Plumbing absently in
side pocket OF his coat he found and
stuck between his lips wrinkled cigar
cite
/ Cynthia remarked the disappearance
of his silver case, wondered, and sur
missed the reason for it. For a moment
perilous sympathy shone in her gaze.
But perhaps fortunately for him, he
was blindly distracted.
Then you're just a little 20 sor-
~ =. ?" the girl asked after a mo-
ment her tone bantering.
Not l." said Crittenden. rousing.
TITS more comfortable this way
standing by to take my share of re-
sponsibility in case anything does hap
pen.
You oughtn't to feel that way
fairly" objected Cynthia, more SESSIONS.
Its no more your fault than mine.
Through you I found this position;
through me you were drawn aboard
the ship It's the Red Man. really,
who's to blame. We're only his mani
kins-bIts Of fotsam in the race of the
4 tide. 81. ..
Partners OF strange fortunes" said
I Crittenden, under the contagious spell
of phrase mongering.
Us that a bargain?" she caught him
up quickly.
Another" he laughed.
But Cynthia met his odd, whimsical
] rvffh ri
sincere. Don't joke" she said quietly
Il mean it. And we owe it to ourselves
lin a way-to form an alliance Of
fensive and defensive: you and 1
against them all. Is il a bargain?" she
repeated, Offering her hand with a pref
y gesture at once generous and APP
pealing.
Crittenden took her hand with more
reluctance than he let her see. He
could not refuse it, but he was wary
! of letting himself become too init
mately Interested in her. of letting
himself drift with the tide of inclina-
ton and desire. He feared her just
little. She was Just that much too be-
witching. 1t wouldn't be hard to be-
come more than fond of a creature so
artless and yet so pleasing. so dam
gerously armored in unusual charm and
yet so helpless.
And Lefty in her idle malice had put
this constraint upon him, with her cas-
ual and contemptous insinuation that
he wished to put aside his wife that
he might be free TO marry again. Such
insignificant, baseless suggestions
thOughtlessly sown in the minds of men
often take root and grow and flourish,
casting shadows over their lives as long
as the span thereof. AS now, when
Crittenden, unable TO forget that
groundlesss charge. fearful lit may be)
that IL had some footing in fact, felt
himself curbed to grinding circumspec-
tion in all his relations with this girl.
to whom he was nothing, even as she
was nothing to him.
Yet now he was pledging himself to
friendship, binding himself to her in
clandestine understanding, with all its
dangers. d.
He grew afraid-afraid of himself.
doubling his strength, and afraid Of
Cynthia for the very strength of her
fragility.
And I'm succeeding hours and days of
that curious voyage he grew increas-
ingly more apprehensive as meeting sue
| ceeded meeting and confidence led to
closer confidence. forging link by link
I the bonds Of an intimacy hardly to be
broken save at a cost he would willing
~ have spared them both; though it was
for Cynthia that he was ever the more