The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1914-05-28

Please try to remember that it is l !
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
the arm of her companion The door
had no sooner closed behind them
when the girl collapsed. She sank to
the floor in a 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 if you ever mean to show it. l
cannot help you if you quail
The girl looked up piteously, and
then struggled to her feet. She stood
before her protectress, weaving like
"a frail reed in the wind, pallid to the
lips.
Il beg your pardon" she murmured.
Il will not give way like that again.
| dare say l am faint. l 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 stiff1y
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 were acuteiy conscious of the
interest each felt in the other. The
grateful warmth of the room, the alb
rupt transition from gloom and cheer
lessness to comfortable obscurity, had
a 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 were sitting in Mrs. Wran-
| dall's bedchamber, just off the little
| sitting-room. Three or four trunks
| stood against the walls.
Il dismissed my maid on landing
| She robbed me" said Mrs. Wranda1l,
| voicing the relief that was uppermost
in her mind. She opened closet
door and took out thick eider-down
robe, which she tossed across a chair.
"Now call up the Office and say that
you are speaking for me. Say to them
that I must have something to eat,
no matter what the hour may be.
will get out some clean underwear for
you, and Oh, yes; if they ask about
me, say that I am cold and i'll. That
is sufficient. Here is the bath. Please
be as quick about it as possible
Moving as if in a dream, the girl
did as she was told. Twenty minutes
later there was a knock at the door
waiter appeared with tray and
service table. He found Mrs. Wran
dali lying back in a chair, attended
by a slender young woman in pink
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, bel
hostess looking on with gloomy inter
est. 1t was no shock to Mrs. Wran
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 mOl(
that defines the wellbred gentlewOm
an at a glance. Her hair, now in or
der, was dark and thick and lay softl.
about her small ears and neck. Sh'
was not surprised, l 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 il
the place of that despairing, hunte
creature who knew that blood was Of
the hands with which she ate, an
whose eyes were 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
towering desire for sleep. Student
she dropped the fork from her finger
and sank back in the comfortabl
chair, her head resting against tn
soft, upholstered back. Her lids fel
her hands dropped to the arms of tn
chair. A fine line appeared betwee
her dark eyebrows-indicative Of pail
For many minutes Sara Wranda
watched the haggardness deepen l
the face of the unconscious sleeper
Then, even as she wondered at tn
r act, she went over and took up one {
5 the slim hands in her own. The han
Y of an aristocrat! It lay limp in her
and helpless. Long, tapering finger
!. and delicately pink with the return {
f warmth.
r Rousing herself from the mute col
e temptation of her charge, she shoe
e the girls shoulder. Instantly she wa