The Washington times., 1913-06-19
CHAPTER XIX.-(Continued.)

- PEEDWELL shrugged MS Snouio-
ers and lit a cigarette. He was
none too we'll pleased.
You can't expect" he re-
marked to become famous and
remain at Tbera the is same sqeas nms snd nn
growing weakness on the part of the
public today for personalities. 1 sup
pose IL is the spread OF American
methods in journalism which Is re
sponsible for it. Some day your chroni-
ciers will help themselves to your past
whether you will or not.
Douglas rose up with an uneasy
laugh.
III will be an evil day for them" he
said: perhaps for me. But at ieast
] will not anticipate Ii.
He wandered restlessly from room to
room of the club. returning the greet
ings Of his acquaintances with GER
tain vagueness. lingering nowhere ior
more than a moment or two. F1nally
he took his hat from the rack and
walked out into the street. Fronting
him was the Thames. He leaned against
the iron railing and looked out across
the dusty, sunbaked gardens to where
the river flowed down between the
bridges.
Something of the despair which had
so nearly broken his heart a short
while since seemed again to lay tor
menting clutches upon him After all,
was not man forever the slave Of his
past? No present success, no future
triumphs could ever wholly free him
from the memory Of that one merciless
hour AS rule his thoughts recoiled
shudderingly from even the slightest
lingering about II. Tonight there swept
in upon him with irresistible force
crowd Of vivid memories
He saw the quaint old village, its
gray stone houses dotted about the hill
side. the farmhouse, which had been
his home-bare, gaunt, everything out
side and in typical of the man who
ruled there and over the little neighbor-
hood. a tyrant and a despot. The misery
OF those days laid hold of him.
He turned away from the railings ana
walked Strandward, past the door of
his lodgings and round many side
streets. grimy and unpretentious. He
walked like a man possessed. but his
memories had taken firm hold of him.
shadowy but inexorable fiends. 1t was
Ccely now who was walking by his
side. and his heart was beating with
something of the old stir.
What a change her coming had made
in that strange corner of the world.
Cicely, with her dainty figure and
bright. sunny smile. wonderfully light
hearted, gleam of brilliant color
thrown across their gray life. She loved
those long walks across the purple
moorland. II was wonderful CON-
pa 'onship into which they had drifted.
He was her refuge In life which she
Crankly declared to be insupporta Die.
She was a revelation to .him-the first
h.. had had-of delicate femininity. frIll
ever Of suggestions of that wonderful
world beyond, of which at that time
he had only dared TO dream. 1t was
she who had kindled his amb' 'tions, who
l ad preached to him silently but with
,nvincing eloquence Of the glories OF
eedom, the heritage Of his manhood.
And all the while Joan, from apart.
vas watching them. No word crossed
er lips vet often on their return from
A days rambling he caught look in
her eyes which amazed him. Gideon
Strong went his way unseeing. stern
and unbending as ever even to his
younger daughter. put in those DAYS
there was thunder always in the air.
Douglas remembered the sensation and
shuddered.
Once he had come across Joan and
her sister together suddenly, and mad
found II hard work to keep from
shrek OF terror. There was a l,ght In
JCan's eyes-it seemed TO him tnat ne
had seen it there often lately; was
there another Joan whom ne dld not
know?
He walked on, grim. pale. chilled. The
time when he would lie awake in mis-
little oak-beamed chamber and THOUGHTS
of Cicely would soothe him to sleep with
pleasant fanc'es was gone. He thought
OF her now without emotion-no longer
the memory of those walks thrilled l's
pulses He knew very well that never
again would his heart beat the quicker
for her coming. never again. even
though the memory of that terrible
night could be swept away, would her
coming bring joy TO him.
Firmly though his feet were planted
upon the ladder, IL seemed to him then
in that gloomy mood that every step
must take him further away from any
chance of tAA$ wonderful happiness. q
fntarp'hl< - - sweet m shti'ncf ~