Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-02-20


ance with a higher law than that
which bids humanity enjoy. 1t was
hattering 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, il 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, humiliated, 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 Eumenides 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-
Eled 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 ne knew that he was glad
Enid Maitland haA sn4a t.
No life is complete until it 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 mis-
hands up toward God, his heart cried
out under the decorations Of the blows
inflicted upon it. 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 mome.t that he longed to live.
He grappled blindly for solutions OF
the problem that would leave him with
untarnished honor and undiminished
self respect and fidelity, and yet give
him this woman, and in vain. He
strove to find a way to reconcile the
past with the present, realizing as he
did SO the futility Of such a PROPOSE
ton. One or the other must be su
preme. he must inexorably hold to his
ideas and his ideals, or he must inev
itably take the woman.
How frightful was the battle thai
ragged within his bosoml Sometimes
in his despair he thought that ht
would have been glad If he and she
had gone down together in the darl
!. waters before all this came upon him
The floods Of which the heavens hat
emptied themselves had borne her t.
him. oh if they had only swept hin
out of life with it's trouble, its trials
its anxieties, its obligations, its impos
: sibilities. If they had gone together
? And then he knew that he was glat
even for the torture, because he ha,
seen her. because he had loved hel
, and because she had loved him.
He marveled at himself curiouslJ
, and in a detached way. There was
woman who loved him, who had cor
: fessed it 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
1 he could take her. she would come. o
the impulse he turned and ran to tn
. door and beat upon it. Her voice bad
3 him enter, and he came in.
( Her heart yearned to him. She wa
Q shocked, appalled, at the torture sh
= saw upon his face. Had he been lai
b upon the rack, and every joint pulle
from its sockets, he could not hav
z been more white and agoniZed.
: Il give up" he cried. What al
4 honor and self respect to me? wal
g you. / have put the past behind. 70
Q love me, and l, am yours with ever
q fiber OF my being. Great God! Ia
v us cast aside these foolish Quixoti
I scruples that have kept US apart.
[ a mans thoughts declare his guilt,
{ am already disloyal to the other wor
/ an; deeply, entirely so. / have b
r trayed her. shamed her, sbandone
r her. Let me have some reward II
{ what ! have gone through. You 10y
a me; come to me-"
r NO" answered the woman, and 7
= task ever laid upon her had been har
d er than that Il do love you. l vi
d not deny 1t. Every part of me r
Y spends to your appeal. / should be
d happy that / cannot even think Of il,
= l could put my hand In your own, If
r s,-~Io I4y my head upon your shoV
der. II I could feel your heart be-
a against mine. II could give myself .
l. to you, would be so glad, so gla
8 But It cannot be, not now"
d Why not?" pleaded the man.
II He was by her side. his arm wei
b around her. She did not resist oh
d sically. it would have been useIes
r, She only laid her slender hand upc
o bis broad breast and threw her he's
% back and looked AT him.
& See" she said, how helpless / ar
3 how weak in your hands. Every vol,
Z In my heart bids me give way. II yc
a insist / can deny you nothing. / a