The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1914-06-25

DO you think it like me?" she In
quired innocently.
"Amazingly like yoE." 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 a
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 GlycaN am sure" she said.
after 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 1t 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
| a 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, tho
| magazine had disappeared. He never
saw it afterward, and, what is more to
the point, he never asked her to pro-
duce it.
He thought hard over the situation.
The obvious solution came to him:
She had been at one time reduced to
the necessity Of posing, circumstance
evidently known to but few and least
of all to Sara Wrandall, from whom
the girl plainly meant to keep the
truth This oonviction distressed him.
but not in the way that might have
been expected. He had no scruples
about sharing the secret or in keeping
it 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, it meant little OF
nothing to him. In his own experience,
two girls of gentle birth had served a.
models for pictures of his own max
ing, and he fully appreciated the exf
gencies that had driven them to it
One had posed in the altogether. u
She was girl Of absolutely ire
proachable character, who afterWard
married a 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 wai
, 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',
quite explain what 1t was.
In his solitary hours at the cottag,
on the upper road, he was wont tt
take his friend Leslie Wrandall ints
consideration. AS a friend, was it mo-
his duty to go to him with his sordit
little tale? Was it right to let Wran
dali go on with his wooing when ther'
: existed that which might make all thu
difference in the world to him? HI
= i: Invariably brought these deliberations
10 close by relaxing into grim smile
. OF amusement, as much as to say
Serve him right, anyway Trust hin