Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-02-28
CHAPTER XxxIlI.-contlnued

OTNF tx NNNIII.-Continued.
Chance" he repeated Orlando, |
believe in God"
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.
lence grew heavy. It was broken.
when It was broken, by a cry from
Oswald:
NO 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 II 1t 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
sentlent 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
be 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 for
that: but his eyes must take their
measurement of it 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, 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 ravages. though only
Just begun. would last his lifetime
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 Os-
valid loved Edith, loved her yet, with
flame tie would take long to
quench. 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
laugh? What is left to man but mock
cry when all props fall? Disappoint-
ment alone was the universal lot; and
1t should go merrily with him IL he
must take his turn at it. But here
the strong spirit of the man reassert- J
ed itself; it should be but a turn A
mans joys are not bounded by his /
loves or even by the satisfaction of a
perfectly untrammeled mind. Per
Torrance makes a world of its own !
for the capable and the strong, and !
this was still left to him He. Or |
iandc Brotherson, despair while his !
great work lay unfinished! That would /
be to lay stress on the inevitable :
pains and fears of commonplace hui ,
mainly. He was not of that ilk In. /
tellect was his god; ambition his mo. /
tive power. What would this casual .
blight upon his supreme contentment /
be TO him. when with the wings of 7
his air-car spread. he should spurn
the earth and soar into the heaven 7
Of fame simultaneously with his flight /
into the open.
He could wait for that hour. He
had measured the gulf before him and
found II passable. Hencefo:th 1T
looking back.
Rising, he stood for a moment gaz
Ing, with an alert eye now. upon such
sections of his car as had not yet beer
Btted into their places: then he bent