Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-04
CYNTHIA0F- THE-MINUTE !
LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE
Autho Of Brass g.
II. by
LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE
CHAPTER XIu.-Continued.


close to him in darkness. feeling the dark
ness an intangible barrier between them
that owed its existence only to her own
volition; then and now the meaning of
life, the end and aim of her existence,
seemed most plain and clear to her COM
prehension. That which had troubled
her with it's vague forebodings. those
! f1ushes of emotion she had been a trifie
frightened of. no longer wore their ac-
customed guise of mystery. She knew
now, and her soul rejoiced In its enlight-
eminent. She had been created only to
love this man. and. ingenious and naive
in her hearts happiness. she had no
thought or instinct aside from one hon.
est and straightforward: she must not be
shy of her love nor jealous of its enjoy
ment, nor bear herself toward him in
any wise but that of candor and SINGER
ity. He. to love whom was the source of
all gladness, must share with her this
dear delight.
1t was for this she had detained him:
it was to make him aware of this that
she paused to collect herself. to find fit
words to frame her honest thoughts.
She was conscious of the heavy beat
ing of her heart. of the thrill of pulses
in neck and wrists and temples. OF a
burning suffusion of blood in her face.
mercifully yelled in darkness, of sing
ing in her ears like the singing in her
heart, like the choiring of the cherubim.
She uttered at length, soft, low, baf-
fled laugh.
"It comes to this, in the end, Bruce.
said She II have been trying to
think straight and true. to make YOU I'M
derstand why l must tell you, but the
thoughts are all a-whirl in my poor head.
And so in the end it comes to this, that
l must simply say / love you.
Appalled,. he strOve to speak. the breath
! rafting in his bone-dry throat.
Confidently she stretched forth a hand
toward him: it rested upon his sleeve.
Bruce - she sighed.
nunciation of which neither was con-
scious. NO he said. harshly: no. You
mustn't say it. YOU don't mean IT,
ooh, but I do. Bruce she told him.
serenely. 1T is true: l love you. l had
to tell you: something's don't know what
and-I couldn't help it.
Crittenden said nothing. There was
nothing to say that he could gain his
own consent to utter. Dumb and ashast.
he waited, racked with suffering and
compassion.
Bruce" Cynthfa's voice sounded again
through the shadows. you're not angry
with me-" There came sudden spirit
of alarm into her accents. You don't
mean? You don't answer me!
You can't mean OH.
She faltered and' broke down with a
stified Sob =
After a mad interval Crittenden found
himself holding her in his embrace. his
face wet with tears. his ears ringing
with her accents. his lips warm and
fragrant with the perfume Of her kisses,
his brain a-riot with rapture
And this must not be.
He pulled himself together. gripping
his resolution strongly even as he grasp
ed the girls shoulders, setting her at
arms length from him.
Cynthia he said 8 : Cynthia this
can't go on. l haven't any right
You have every right I give you.
dear
Listen to me- he begged her. almost
roughly. You took the right to speak
your mind: hear mine. | must tell YOU
You must forgive me, when you
come to recall tnis-forgive me in the
same thought that forgets me. that puts
me aside from your life as If you had
never known me. | had no right to kiss
you, to hold you in my arms to say to
YOU what can't remember-what must
have said"
Bruce she pleaded, pitifully
mo- Hear me out. I've got to say it,
/ love You. dear / love you with
every breath and thought and instinct.
I've been loving you from the first-I. too
know it now. and know how desperately
I've been loving you. All along | knew
that this was in me. struggling for eX-
preston. but : l couldn't let it come
out ! dared not. for fear of-just this,
finally. / don't doubt it was my
fault; men are SO made; though l did
what / could to hide my feeling. 1 see
now that all along I've been counting
you. Cynthia. making love to You. in
sensibly TO myself and, perhaps. to you,
but none the less actually Wooing YOU,
dear. because l loved you. But -
His will was weaker than his necessity
He had need to pause and summon more
strength before he could lay bare the
Then" the girl said, wondering, hurt
and hesitant-''then, since you love me,
why-?"
Because he said. in voice that she
hardly recognized. 1T has pleased God
so to order my affairs that I have al
ready wife l may not love you, nor
long for you, nor even worship your
sweetness and dearness from distance
because / am married.
His hands left her shoulders: free, she
tottered. turned and reeled toward the
forward port, blindly seeking air. Crit
tenden saw the shadow of her head
against the opening. then with a sense of
suffocation bred OF his futile rage against
spair of himself he turned as instinc
lively to the sole outlet for his feelings
the lock that held them in this heart
rending intimacy, the lock that was re-
sponsible for all this needless pain and
suffering: needless. at least, this night.
He fell to his knees before the door,
struck a match, found the screwdrver
and attacked the lock with a concentrat-
ed ferocity. as though he held il a malig
ndnt foe
While he worked he could hear Cynthia
behind him fighting to restrain sobs that
were shaking her in great, stormy gusts.
torturing and eXhausting her with de-
moniac strength For all that, few were
audible-short. dry. painful jets of sound,
that stretched him no less than her upon
a rack of anguish. -
With a final, frantic wrench, he tore
the lock away. thrust the shank OF the
screwdriver through the keyhole and
pried the door open.
Then. rising. Cynthia" he called, soft
IN, shivering.
He heard her shift and move toward
him. and lie stood out of her path.
faint giimmer of light sitting down
the alleyway from the illumination in
the dining saloon showed him her face.
set and drawn and white with a ghostly
palior. Her eyes were fixed and steady,
seeing only what lay ahead. She moved
with the intent, unconscious air of a
somnambulist
She paused, just perceptibly, her pale
lips moving. .'Yes?'
Cynthia" he said. lin sorry, Gym
thia."
She nodded automatically, meeting his
eyes with the same stunned stare. Yes
she assented, YEARLY; you must be. /