Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-03-01
-" coawYfnht 1872, Tho BobbeM es5aH Ionps"s'

act. Everything that had seemed
tending toward catastrophe stopped, as
| 1t were, with the departure Of Grace
Noir. Possibly the climax was still
ahead; II so, the waters were at pres
ent heaped high on this side Of ulti-
mate disaster, and on the other side,
dry no.thoroughfare. I'LL.
Old Mrs. Jefferson would long ago
have struck blow against Grace Noir
had she not recognized the fact that
when one like Grace wears the helmet
Of beauty and breastplate Of youth, the
darts of the very angles Of justice, who
are neither beautiful nor young, are
turned aside. Helplessly Mrs. Jeffer-
son had watched and waited and now
behold! there was no more Dragon.
Fran had said she would do it-noth.
ing. could have exceeded the confidence
Of the old lady in the new secretary.
Mrs. Gregory's sense of r.clief was
not so profound as her mot ler's, be-
cause she could not think of Grace's
absence except as a reprieve. Surely
she would return-but the present, was
to be placidly enjoyed. To observers,
Mrs Gregory appeared ever placid, not
because of Indifference. but, as It WAS
supposed, from blindness. Under the
calm exterior of the wronged wife,
there seemed no smoldering fire await.
ing favorable wind In truth. she
was always fearing that people would
discover her husbands sentimental
bearing toward his secretary and al
ways hoping that If they did, they
would conclude the wife understood
best and felt no alarm. , Va,
In the meantime. Grace was gone.
Mrs. Gregory's smile once more re-.
! minded Fran Of he others half-forgot-
ten youth. When board has laid too
long on the ground, one finds. on it's
removal, that the grass is withered;
all the same, the grass feels the sun
shine. r.
Fran thanked herself that Grace was
no longer silhouetted against the
horizon, and Gregory, remarking this
attitude of self-congratulation, was
thrown more than ever out of SYM
pathy with his daughter Fran was
indefatigable in her duties as secre-
tary, but her father felt that 1t was not
the same. She could turn out an i'm
mense amount of work because she
was strong and playing for high stakes
but she did not have Grace's methc-
dical ways--ones never knew how
Fran would do anything. only that she
would do it. Grace was all method,
but more than that she was. as Greg
DRY phrased it to himself-she was all
Grace.
Gregory missed her every minute Of
the day. and the harder Fran tried to
fill her place. the more he resented It..
He OWNED that Fran hated the routine
the monotonous forms Of charity, the
duplicated copies Of kind acts, the
rows of figures representing so many
iunfortunates. Instead of acknowledge
ing to himself that his daughter did
the work from yearning for his love,
from a resolution to save him from the
Grace-infatuation by absent treatment,
he preversely rebelled at her secretly
rejoicing over conquered foe. Fran
was separated from his sympathies by
the chasm in his own soul.
The time came when Gregory felt
that he must see Grace again and be
alone with her. At first, he had
thought they must not meet apart from
and Fran alone, who separated them.
the world; but by the end of the week,
he was wondering what excuse he
could offer to induce her to meet him
NOT at Miss Sapphira's. where she
now boarded, not at the grocery where
Bob was always lowering about-but
somewhere remote. somewhere safe,
where they might talk about--but he
had no idea Of the conversation that
might ensue; there was nothing def
mite in anything save his fixed thought
of being with her. AS to any harm,
there could be none. He had so long
regarded Grace as the best woman in
the world, that even after the day OF
kisses, his mind continued in its
inertia Of faith. even the gravitation
of material facts were unable to check
It's sublime course.
1t was at the close Of July dav that