The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-04-22

reflected, of course, in the daily mar
kets of the western city; but Halsey
had never had many investments, had
watched the markets little; and now,
isolated at Graystone Hall almost as
much as though upon a desert island,
and too much disturbed and distracted
in his own mind to find any definite in
terest in business matters, was hardly
conscious of the storm that ragged. He
simply waited on, unhappily. 1t seemed
to him there was no place for him in
all the world Why did Virginia re-
main aloof?
Rawn, absent, in New York, mag
ined his wife engaged continuously in
the struggle of persuading Charles
Halsey to see the light Of reason, al
though he did not know Halsey was
living under the same roof with her.
AS a matter of fact, Halsey and she
met but rarely. Virginia breakfasted
for the most part in her own rooms,
and found, or pretended to find, some
thing to occupy her for the most part
of the day. Not once did she ask his
attendance, not once did she speak
with him, when by chance she saw
him, upon any but casual or conven-
tional matters. She seemed always to
evade him; and because she did this,
he. rebelling, sought her out all the
more. even while continually resolv-
ing to take his departure, and never
again to see this place, or her, again.
He wondered at her retfcence, her
avoidance of him. He wondered why
she was so pale He loitered about,
unhappily, in this or that common
meeting ground of the great mansion
house, waiting to hear the rustic of
a gown upon the stair, the sound Of a
light foot on a floor, the touch Of a
white hand, the sound Of voice-all
things belonging. not to his wife, but
to his young stepmother by law.
Yes. Without his wish, in spite Of
her wish, these had become things de-
sired, the only things desirable any
more in his distracted life. He lived
under the same roof with two women.
saw either rarely, and rarely thought
of but one-the wrong one. To atone,
Halsey lavisaed all his time and care
on his little hunchback daughter, and
had her with him as much as the nurse
and doctor would allow. The child,
undersized, pale, deformed, silent and
wistful, and pathetic always, now was
listless and weak, obviously very seri,
ously Ill. 1t wrung her fathers heart
to see her. But Charles Halsey want
ed it wrung. He wanted to do bitter
est penance for what he now knew
was his secret sin. So the ways OF
inordinate power, the consequences,
for this one or that one, which follow
on inordinate greed, worked them
selves out toward their sure and log
ical ending, the mill Of fate grinding
those primarily, secondarily, even Incl
dentally guilty.
At this time,,had Virginia Rawn
asked Of him to recant, to relent, to
change, there is likelihood he would
have done 80. John Rawn, cuckold,
was right in his despicable reasoning.
There are many prices which purchase
principles. The weakness which had
prompted Halsey to remain at Gray
stone hall on such tenure-which
held him there now, waiting for a
voice, listening for footfall-was the
ancient weakness Of youth before
youth, of strength before beauty, of
the empty heart before one offering
love, Of the mind finding perfect echo
in another mind.
With all his starved heart, all his re-
pressed soul, all his mutinous body,
Charles Halsey loved Virginia Rawn.