Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1913-11-27
CHAPTER xxxlII.-contInued.

CHAPTER Xxxlil.-Contlnued.
"Chance?" he repeated. Orlando.
believe in God"
Then seek your comfort there. ]
find 1t in Harvesting the winds; in
forcing the powers Of nature to do
my bidding"
The other did not speak. and the 81.
lence grew heavy. 1t was broken.
when It was broken, by a cry from
Oswald:
mo more" said he. mo more"
Then. in u yearning accent. Send
Doris to me-"
Orlando started. This name coming
so close upon that word comfort pro-
duced 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 II 1t was in her power to give
it 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 preclpice yawns
kbefore him. The gulf can be spanned;
Csae feels himself forceful enough for
bat; but his eyes must take their
measurement OF 1t first; he must
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, a man who had seen
his way clear to the horizon and then
had come up against this! Love.
when he thought such folly dead! Re.
morse, when Glory called for the quiet
mind and heart!
He recognized its mordant fang, and
knew that its rnvages, though only
tust begun, would last his lifetime.
Nothing could stop them now, moth.
ing, nothing. And he laughed. as the
thought went home; laughed at the
irony of fate and its inexorableness;
laughed at his own defeat and his
nearness to a barred Paradise. 0s-
,wald loved Edith, loved her yet, with
a fame time would take long TO
ouench. Doris loved Oswald and he
Doris; and not one Of them would
ever attain the delights each was so
fitted TO enjoy. Why shouldn't he
lauKhl What Is left to man but mock
cry when all props fall? Disappoint-
,meut alone was the universal lot; and
~ should 90 merrily with him II he
must take his turn at It. But here
the strong spirit Of the man reassert-
Cd Itself; It should be but a turn. A
mans joys are not bounded by his
loves or even by the satisfaction Of q
perfectly untrammeled mind. Per-
formance makes a world OF its own
for the capable and the strong. and
this was stiIl left to him. He. Or
iando Brutherson, despair while his
rroat Work lay unfinished That would
- 70 laf ssress on the inevitable
rSirs and han Of commonplace hu-