Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-05-07


know"
"Oh. I am sorry"
Come. let us 60 in. When we
reach my rooms. you may order food
and drink. You must do it, not /
Please try to remember that it Is
who am suffering. not YOU"
A sleepy night Waterman took them
up In the elevator. He was not even
interested. Mrs. Wrandall did not
speak, but leaned rather heavily on
tho arm Of her companion. The door
had no sooner closed behind them
when the girl collapsed. She sank to
the floor in heap.
Get up" commanded her hostess
sharply This was not the time for
soft, persuasive words. Get up at
once. You are young and strong. You
must show the stuff you are made OF
now II you ever mean to show it.
cannot help you II you quail"
The girl looked up piteously, and
I then struggled to her feet. She stood
before her protectress. weaving like
| . frail reed in the wind, pallid to the
lips.
1 Il beg your pardon sbe murmured.
FL will not give way like that again.
I dare say am faint. / have had no
food, no rest-but never mind that
now. Tell me what am to do. l will
try to obey"
First Of all, get out of those muddy.
! frozen things you have on"
! Mrs. Wrandall herself moved stiffy
and with unsteady limbs as she began
! to remove her own outer garments.
| The girl mechanically followed her ex-
ample. She was a pitiable object in
the strong light Of the electrolier.
Muddy from head to foot, water
/ stained and bedraggled, her face
streaked with dirt, she was the most
unattractive creature one could we'll
imagine.
These women, so strangely thrown
together by Fate, maintained an I'M
broken silence during the long, fumb-
ling process Of partial disrobing. They
scarcely looked at one another. and
| yet they we're acuteiy conscious Of the
interest each felt in the other. The
grateful warmth of the room, the ab-
rupt transition from gloom and cheer
lessness to comfortable obscurity, had
| q more pronounced effect on the
stranger than on her hostess.
1T is good to feel warm once more
she said, an odd timidness In her man
ner. you are very good to me-"
They we're sitting in Mrs. Wran-
dall's bedchamber, just OF the little
sitting-room. Three or four trunks
stood against the walls.
Il dismissed my maid on landing
She robbed me-" said Mrs. Wrandall
voicing the relief that was uppermost
in her mind. She opened q closet
door and took out thick eider-down
robe which she tossed across chair
Now call up the Office and say that
you are speaking for me. Say to them
that must have something to eat
| no matter what the hour may be.
will get out some clean underwear fol
you, and Oh, yes; II they ask about
me. say that am cold and i'll. Thai
is SUFFICIENT. Here is the bath. Please
be az quick about it as possible"
Moving as II in . dream. the cir
did as she was told. Twenty minutes
later there was knock at the door
A waiter appeared with tray ant
service table. He found Mrs. Wran
dali lying back in chair, attended
BY slender young woman in = pinl
eider-down dressing-gown, who gave
hesitating directions to him. Then he
was dismissed with handsome tip
produced by the same young woman
You are not to return for these
things" she said as he went out.
In silence she ate and drank, hel
hostess looking on with gloomy inter
est. 1t was no shock to Mrs. Wran
dali to find that the girl. who was nj
more than twenty-five or three. pos
sessed unusual beauty. Her great eye:
were blue-the lovely Irish blue-hel
skin was fair and smooth. her fea
lures regular and Of the delicate molt
that defines the Nellbred gentlewom
an at glance. Her hair. now In or
der, was dark and thick and lay softly
about her small ears and neck. Sh'
was not surprised. I repeat, for sh'
had never known Challis Wrandall t.
show interest In any but the mos
attractive Of her sex. She found her
self smiling bitterly as she looked.
But who may know the thoughts o
the other occupant Of that little sit
ting-room? Who can put herself II
the place Of that despairing, hunte'
creature who knew that blood was OF
the hands with which she ate, AM
whose eyes we're filled with visions o
the death-chair?
So great was her fatigue that lon'
before she finished the meal her tire
lids began to droop, her head to no.
in spasmodic surrenders to an over
powering desire for sleep. Suddenl,
she dropped the fork from her finger
and sank back in the comfortably
chair, her head resting against tn
soft. upholstered back. Her lids fell
her hands dropped to the arms of tn
!: VI | |I|Nl