Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1912-04-11

bold would take her to his heart in
stantly.
These thoughts were not without q
certain comfort to her. All the COM
pensation of self sacrifice Is in Its
realization. That she could and did
not somehow ennobled her love for
him. Even women are alleged with |
base metal In the powerful and
universal appeal of this man to her,
she rejoiced at whatever was Of the
soul, rather than Of the body. To
possess power, to refrain from using
1t in obedience to some higher law, is
perhaps to pay oneself the most fiat
teriC Of compliments. There was
satisfaction to her soul in this which
was yet denied him.
Her action was quite different from
his. She was putting away happiness
which she might have had In compli-
ance with higher law than that
which bids humanity enjoy. 1t was
flattering to her mind. In his case,
1t was otherwise; he had no con-
seriousness that he was a victim Of
misplaced trust, of misinterpreted &C.
ton. He thought the woman for
whom he was putting away happiness
was almost as worthy, II infinitely less
desirable, as the woman whom he now
loved.
Every sting Of outrage, every feel
Ing Of shame, every fear Of disloyalty,
scourged him. She could glory in it;
he was ashamed, Inundated, broken.
She heard him savagely walking up
and down the other room, restlessly
impelled by the same Erinyes which
OF old scourged orestes; the violator
Of the laws of moral being drove him
on. These malign Eumendes held
him in their hands. He was bound and
helpless, rage as he might in one
moment, pray as he did in another. no
light came into the whirling darkness
of his torn, tempest tossed, driven
soul. The irresistible impulse and the
immovable body the philosophers puz-
Zled over were exemplified In him.
Whilst he almost hated the new wom-
an, whilst he almost loved the old,
yet that he did neither the one thing
nor the other absolutely was signifi-
cant.
Indeed he knew that he was glad
Enid Maitland had come into his life.
No life Is complete until 1t Is touched
by that divine fire which for lack of
another name we call love, Because
we can experience that sensation we
are said to be made in Gods image.
The image is blurred as the animal
predominates, 1t is clearer as the spir.
itual has the ascendency.
The man raved in his mind. White
faced, stern, he walked up and down
he tossed his arms about him, he stop
ped, his eyes closed, he threw his
hands up toward God, his heart cried
out under the decorations Of the blows
inflicted upon 1t. No flagellant of old
ever trembled beneath the body lash
as he under the spiritual punishment
He prayed that he might die at the
same moment that he longed to live
He grappled blindly for solutions o.
the problem that would leave him win
untarnished honor and undiminishet
SCI respect and fidelity. and yet give
him this woman, and In vain. H,
strove to find way to reconcile tn,
past with the present, realizing as h,
did 30 the futillty Of such a PROPOSE
ton, One or the other must be su
preme. he must inexorably hold to hi
ideas and his ideals, or he must inev
itably take the woman,
How frightful was the battle tina
ragged within his bosom! Sometime
|, In his despair he thought that h
, would have been glad If he and sh
had gone down together In the darl
waters before all this came upon him
!. The floods Of which the heavens ha
emptied themselves had borne her /
him. oh if they had only swept hin
: out OF life with Its trouble, its trials
. Its anxieties. Its obligations. Its impoI
sibilities. II they had gone together
And then he knew that he was gla
even for the torture. because he ha
seen her, because he had loved he
and because she had loved him.
He marveled at himself curiousl,
and In detached way. There was
!, woman who loved him, who had col
= fessed 1t boldly and innocently, Their
= was none to say him nay. The woma
who stood between had been dead fiv
years, The world knew nothing, care
!. nothing; they could go out together
he could take her, she would come. o
!, the impulse he turned and ran to III
y door and beat upon It. Her voice bad
!, him enter, and he came In.
y Her heart yearned to him. She wa
= shocked, appalled, at the torture st
= saw upon his face. Had he been lai
= upon the rack. and every Joint pulle
= from Its sockets, he could not ha,
been more white and agonized.
% Il give up" he cried. What al
= honor and self respect to met wal
. you. have put the past behind. Yo
;. love me. and l, am yours with evel
;, fber Of my being. Great God! l.
y US cast aside these foolish quixot
" scruples that have kept US apart.
y a mans thoughts declare his guilt,
am already dlsloyal to the other VOL
!" an; deeply, entirely so. have b
70 trayed her. shamed her, abandon,
D her. Let me have some reward 4
10 what have gone through. You lo'
o. me; come to me-
= NO" answered the woman. and /
" task ever laid upon her had been har
- er than that. II do love you. W
u not deny 1t. Every part OF me 1
70 spends to your appeal. i should be
~ happy that cannot even think of II,
] could put my hand in your own. II