Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-10-02

In Use For O
air. From the colonial piasza where
Constance stood, waiting, the grounds
rolled away cold and naked to the
great double gate. A cluster Of bare
|elms hid the farther reaches OF the
walk from her view. He who was
coming would approach unobserved
until he was almost upon her. In
the whirl and perturbation Of her
spirit, she found herself thankful for
that. Whatever happened. 1t would
come suddenly.
Resale LIE Grange and every one
else most vitality concerned in the
Wade-Hanska case had considered It
best that she, the too-romantic heroine
OF these events. should be In hiding
when Lawrence Wade came out of the
Tombs. Z free man. One must con-
slider the newspapers-always the
newspapers, with their photographers.
their special writer's, their insistence
on the human interest" features OF
this celebrated case. So even before
Captain MCGEE flashed to the head
quarters reporters that Margarita
Perez detained in the criminal ward
lat Bellevue Hospital, was the solvent
|of the Hanska case, Rosalie removed
her secretly to this friendly country
place near Arden. Days followed In
which the reporters tracked Lawrence
Wade at all hours in order to dis
cover him In the act Of meeting Con-
stance, In that period. he scarcely
dared write, lest the address on an
envelope might betray her where
,abouts. Now, In tho general march OF
events. the interest In the HAnska
case had become dulled. And today,
lin this very hour. he was coming.
with what message on his lips?
In the distance sounded the whistle
OF locomotive; q column Of white
smoke rose above the bare trees. She
glanced 1t tho watch on her wrist
This was his train. In five minutes
he would emeros to view from behind
that clumu. 81 trees. IN I'VE minutea.
she would know.
or would she! The hopes, the fears
the sick fancies Of weeks waiting
whirled IN her mind. She leaned
against one of tho pillars for support
while she went over everything
again.
She knew. her heart ow-irrevoc-
ably. But he? From the moment
when the tragedy came, he had said
NO word. no single little word, which
meant love. In their visiting through
the bars of the Tombs, he had done
everything to keep up her spirits. He
had been Incredibly gay, unbelievably
tender. He had behaved % though she
were the afflicted and he the COM
forter. He had joked when she knew
that his laughter only cloaked hell
OF impotence and suppressed appre-
hension. When her courage seemed
about to break, he had put new spirit
I'm her through the excess OF bravery
in his own great heart. But never
once had he renewed the declaration
which he made long ago, before the
trouble came. before he knew her
story.
Was It honor with him0 was 1t
something else? How far he would
60 for honor's sake, she knew best
81 ALL II was like him to refuse the
consolation Of her love ct = time when
a tender from him might mean only
shame for her. But did he love her
still? Suppose that she thad become
to him only the incarnate symbol Of
his trouble! Suppose that the
thought Of her, now, only renewed
those meditations on shameful death
which must have haunted his nights In
prison? Such things, she knew, had
happened-must happen.
Then there was one more aspect OF
his honor to reckon with. Would he
not feel that he had compromised her
lin the eyes OF the world? Loathing
her as the cause Of his sorrows. would
he not consider It his duty to offer
his own life in expiation? How
would she know how would she ever
know?
she must wait and dissemble. She
must hold herself very even and calm.
She must be cordial and friendly and q
little distant, as she used to be In the
gray days before the black ones. She
must smother her heart until some
sign
"A step cracked on the dried leaves
about the turn OF the path From
about one OF the bare brown trunks
appeared mans figure. And at the
sight, a very calm OF indifference set
tied over the spirit Of Constance. So
the devotee, who has anticipated the
sacrament through nights and days
OF raptures finds herself. as the priest
approaches, without ripple Of emo
ton; SO the coward. who has shivered
through eternities Of agony at the
thought OF the ak. finds himself incapa-
Bile Of thought or feeling or action in
the presence OF the headsman. She
simply leaned against the pillar, her
sorl as blank as her eyes.
He was a tall man and stafwart,
with fine resolute jaw and straight
blue eyes which were dancing now
with feverish light. At the sight Of
the figure by the pillar, a flush had
come into his face; but apart from the
two spots OF color which It made, his
skin was very pale. Lines, new
creased in, his young skin, ran back
ward from his eyes.
His step quickened as he perceived
her, but he said no word. Now he had