Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-05-29

DO you think 1T like me?" she in
CURED innocently.
Amazingly like you." he declared
with conviction.
She turned the page. He was watch
Ing her closely. AS she looked upon
the sketches Of the half-nude figure q
warm blush covered her face and
neck. She did not speak for a full
minute, and he was positive that her
fingers frightened their grasp on the
magazine.
THE same model" he said quietly.
She nodded her head.
"Hetty Glynn, l am sure" she saids
after a pause, without lifting her eyes.
Her voice was low, the words not very
distinct.
He drew long breath, and she look
ed up quickly. What he saw in her
honest blue eyes convicted her.
Sara Wrandall came into the room
at that moment. Hetty hastily closed
the magazine and held it behind her.
Booth had intended to show the re-
production to Mrs. Wrandall, but the
girls behavior caused him to change
his mind. He felt that he possessed
secret that could not be shared with
Sara Wrandall, then or afterward.
Moreover, he decided that he would
not refer to the Hawkright pictures
again unless the girl herself brought
up the subject. All this flashed through
his mind as he stepped forward to
greet the newcomer
When he turned again to Hetty, the
magazine had disappeared. He never
saw 1t afterward, and, what is more to
the point, he never asked her to pro-
duce 1t.
He thought hard over the situation.
The obvious solution came to him:
She had been at one time reduced to
the necessity of posing, a circumstance
evidently known to but few and least
Of all to Sara Wrandall, from whom
the girl plainly meant to keep the
truth This conviction distressed him,
but not in the way that might have
been expected. He had no scruples
about sharing the secret or in keeping
1t inviolate; his real distress lay IN
the fear that Mrs. Wrandall might
hear Of all this from other and per
haps ungentle sources. AS for her pos
ing for Hawkright, 1t meant little or
nothing to him. In his own experience.
two girls Of gentle birth had served as
models for pictures of his own max
ing, and he fully appreciated the ext
gencies that had driven them to 1t.
One had posed in the altogether"
She was a girl Of absolutely ire
proachable character, who afterward
married chap he knew very we'll,
and who was fully aware of that short
phase in her life. That feature Of the
situation meant nothing to him. He
was in no doubt concerning Hetty. She
was what she appeared to be: A gen.
tlewoman.
He admitted to himself that he was
under the spell of her. 1t was not
love, he was able to contend; but
it was a mysterious appeal to some
thing within him that had never re-
vealed itself before. He couldn't
quite explain what it was.
In his solitary hours ct the cottage
on the upper road, he was wont to
take his friend Leslie Wrandall into
consideration. AS a friend, was 1t not
his duty to go to him with his sordid
little tale? Was it right to let Wran.
dali go on with his wooing when there
existed that which might make all the
difference in the world to him? He
invariably brought these deliberations
to close by relaxing into grim smile
of amusement, as much as to say:
Serve him right, anyway. Trust him