The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1912-12-20

us long and l must know its cons
tents"
"But how" I began, as tore the
end Of the envelope.
God knows" he answered, before
1 had put my question into words. Il
had been DOING; about an hour ago.
/ stretched out my hand, unconscious
ly, and that lay beneath 1t, on the
Counterpart. It cracked as I touched
/ 1t; and knew then, even before l
recognized the feel Of It,"
Sixty secondsl Was there ever such
an interminable period? Sixty long
seconds before that door would open
with the interruption that would
spare me. l fumbled with the devil
ish paper; let It slip through my
fingers; tore bit here and bit
there; finished the tearing; and then,
descending, began tearing the other
end. And still the seconds Jagged;
still the door remained stationary.
MY God, Clyde!" Cameron cried,
in q frenzy Of impotence. Whats
the matter with you tonight? Are
you never going to get that thing
open?"
And then l, desperate, too, with
eyes fixed imploringly on the door.
was about to answer him with the
truth-that / did not want 10 open It;
that 1 would not, could not read the
contents; that he must wait and trust
me, absolutely-when, quite without
design on my part, the envelope fell
to the rug at my feet. And as
stopped to recover it, heard the door
knob turn.
When / regained the upright, Miss
Collins was entering, and the letter
was in the pocket Of my dinner jack
ct.
"And 30 you see, Cameron" said
speaking distinctly and with double
purpose, the nurse being in ear-shot
everything is quite right. The mat
ter you spoke of shall be attended to-
at once, and I'll report to you, to
night-before ten o'clock, surely"
The reproach in his eyes stung me
and the pain Of it followed me from
the room and stabbed me at inter
walls during dinner. And yet It was
not the part Of sanity to have acted
otherwise than l did. The tempta
ton had occurred to me to invent
phrases and sentences expressive Of
satisfaction over the effort of the
previous communications. But
doubted that, in my agitation,
should be successful in the deception
And so, my only course had been de
lay-stupid, bungling, palpable delay
. it was, l suppose, but after all it haC
served; and, though 1t left Cameron
in doubt, 1t gave me time and oppor
| tunity to arrange some plan for ex
tracing the fangs Of this epistolar!
adder before it could strike it's prey.
> Purposely delayed reading the let
? ter, myself, until after had dined.
: chose uncertainty as to its content
: as less likely noticeably to affect m,
} demeanor than an exact knowledge o
: the minatory message which l fel
sure 1t carried.
( 1 think l fancied l should be abl
? to conceal my real state Of mind. Gel
5 tainly willed to do 80. But l wa
: very soon conscious that Evelyn ha
, OWNED my discrimination. Her eye
e became suddenly grave and question
] ing, her laughter quoted, and her cor
!. versation, which had been glad an,
=. gay, relapsed abruptly into the ser
? GUS. When the coffee and .liqueur
I had been brought on, Mrs. Lancaste
t asked to be excused, and left u
( alone together.
4 There followed then a moment @
e silence between us, while l selecte
+ a cigarette and lighted it. She ha
edged her chair little closer to m
r she was sitting on my right, as vi
ual-and leaned forward, her sler
d der but divinely rounded forearms e.
tended across the shining damask c
Il the tablecloth.
e AS l dropped my match upon tn
n tiny silver tray which the inimitabl
d Checkabeedy had placed convenien
t ly at my elbow l turned to her an
saw her question in her implorin
Z gaze and attitude even before sh
s voiced 1t.
? Tell mel" was what she said. An
8 although l knew that she would d,
u mand it l was unprepared. To gal
s time rather than information l bad
Q her beSmore explicit
Il Everything" she pursued, incll
sively, with a peremptory emphasl
3, which indicated her determination nc
y to be denied.
My hesitation resulted in some an
i" plification on her part. She was in
n patient as well as resolved, and r,
G. sented what she interpreted as my r.
It luctance to crafty her.
d Everything" she repeated "E'
z. oruthinn that Won have haan hldin