Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-28

/ detained in the criminal ward at
Bellevue Hospital, was the solvent OF
the Hanska case, Resale removed
her secretly TO this friendly country
place near Arden. Days followed in
which the reporters tracked Law
renee Wade at all hours in order to
| discover him in the act of meeting
Constance. In that period he scarce
| ly dared write, lest the address on
an envelope might betray her where
abouts. Now, in the general march
of events, the interest in the Hanska
case had become dulled. And today
in this very hour he was coming
with what message on his lips?
In the distance sounded the whistle
of a locomotive; column of white
smoke rose above the bare trees. She
glanced at the watch on her wrist.
This was his train. In five min
utes he would emerge to view from
behind that clump of trees. In five
minutes she would know.
Or would she? The hopes. the
fears, the sick fancies of a weeks
waiting whirled in her mind She
leaned against one of the pillars for
support while she went over every
thing again.
She knew her heart now-irrevoca-
)bly. 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. unbe-
lievably tender. He had behaved as
though she were the afflicted and he
the comforter. He had joked when
she knew that his laughter only
cloaked hell of impatience and sup
pressed apprehension. When her
courage seemed about to break, he
had put new spirit in 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 him-or was it
something else? How far he would
go for honor's sake, she knew best of
all. 1t was like him to refuse the
consolation of her love at a time
"AiNh n NCiidCi liOili nm DAi6b hACuii
only shame for her. But did he love
her still? Suppose that she had be-
come to him only the incarnate SYM
boil 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 in the eyes of the world? Loath-
ing her as the cause of his sorrows,
would he not consider 1t his duty
to offer hiss 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 friend
ly and a 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 a mans figure. And at the
sight, a very calm of indifference
settled 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 a
ripple of emotion; so the coward,
who has shivered through eternities
of agony at the thought of the ak,
finds himself incapable of thought or
feeling or action in the presence of
the headsman. She simply leaned
against the pillar, her soul as blank
as her eyes.
He was tall man and stalwart,
with a fine resolute jaw and straight
blue eyes which were dancing now
with a 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 1t
made, his skin was very pale. Lines,
| new-creased in his young skin, ran
backward from his eyes.
His step quickened as he perceived
her, but he said no word, Now he
had come so close that he might al
most touch her; and she. still lean
| ing against the pillar, moved neither
hand nor tongue nor eye. He stood
close beside her on the piazza and
Forever" he said.
Constance swayed forward into his
outstretched, waiting arms.