River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-08-14
CHAPTER xxxIIl.-contInued.

CHAPTER xxxiIl.-continued.
"Chance?" he repeated. Orlando,
baIieve in Cod"
Then seek your comfort there.
find it in Harvesting the winds; in
forcing the powers of nature to do
my bidding"
The other did not speak, and the ST
lonce grew heavy. 1t was broken.
when it was broken, by a cry from
Oswald:
mo more" said he, mo more"
Then. in yearning accent. "Send
Doris to me-"
Orlando started. This name coming
SO close upon that word comfort pro-
1uced a strange effect upon him. But
another look at Oswald and he was
ready to do his bidding. The bitter
ordeal was over; let him have his
solace If it was in her power to give
1t to him
Orlando, upon leaving his brothers
room, did not stop to deliver that
brothers message directly to Doris !;
he left this for Truda to do, and re-
tired Immediately to his hangar in
the woods. Locking himself in, he
slightly raised the roof and then sat
down before the car which was rap
idly taking on shape and assuming
that individuality and appearance of
sentient life which hitherto he had
only seen in dreams. But his eye,
which had never failed to kindle at
this sight before, shone DULY in the
semi-gloOm. The air-car could wait;
he would first have his hour in this
solitude Of his own making. The gaze
he dreaded the words from which he
shrank could not penetrate here. He
might even shout her name aloud, and
only these windowless walls would
respond. He was alone with his past
his present and his future.
Alone!
He needed to be- The strongest
must pause when the precipice yawns
before him. The gulf can be spanned;
he feels himself forceful enough fol
that; but his eyes must take their
measurement of it first; he mus
know its depths and possible dangers
Only fool would ignore these sleeps
of Jagged rock; and he was no fool
only a man to whom the unexpected
had happened, man who had seeI
his way clear to the horizon and the1
had come up against this! Love
when he thought such folly dead! Re
morse. when Glory called for the quie
mind and heart!
He recognized its mordant fang, an
knew that its ravages, though onl
Just begun, would last his lifetime
Nothing could stop them now, moth
ing, nothing. And he laughed. as tn
thought went home; laughed at tn
irony of fate and its inexorableness
laughed at his own defeat and hi
uearness to a barred Paradise. o;
wald loved Edith, loved her yet, wit
a fame time would take long
ouench. Doris loved Oswald and
Doris; and not one of them woul
ever attain the delights each was s
fitted to enjoy Why shouldn't b
laugh? What is left to man but noel
cry when all props fall? Disappoin
ment alone was the universal lot; an
it should go merrily with him If
must take his turn at it. But heI
the strong spirit of the man reasser
ed itself; it should be but turn.
mans joys are not bounded by HI
loves or even by the satisfaction of
perfectly untrammeled mind. Pc
Torrance makes a world of its ow
for the capable and the strong. an
this was still left to him. He, o
lando Brotherson. despair while b
great work lay unfinished! That woul
be to lay stress on the inevltab
pains and fears of commonplace h
mainly. He was not of that ilk L
tellect was his god: ambition his m
tive power. What would this casu
blight upon his supreme contentmel
be to him, when with the wings
his air-car spread, he should spur
the earth and soar into the heave
of fame simultaneously with his fligl
into the open.
He could wait for that hour. f
had measured the gulf before him al
fo"nd - passable. Henceforth !
looking back
Rising. he stood for moment ga
ing, with an alert eye now, upon SUI
sections of his car as had not yet bee
fitted into their places: then he be