The diamond drill., 1914-03-07

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 stun you are made OF
now IL you ever mean TO show 1t. /
cannot help you II you quail7
The girl looked up piteously. and
then struggled TO her feet. She stood
before her protectress. weaving like
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 ! am faint. have had no
food. no rest--but never mind that
now. Tell me what am to do. win
try to obey"
First OF all, get out OF those muddy.
frozen things you have on
Mrs. Wrandall herself moved stiffiy
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
unattractiye creature one could well
imagine.
These women, SO strangely thrown
together by Fate, maintained an un-
broken silence during the long. fumb-
ling process of partial disrobing. They
scarcely looked at one another. and
yet they were acutefy 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
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-
dalPs 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. Wrandall,
voicing the relief that was uppermost
in her mind. She opened a closet
door and took out thick eiderdown
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; II they ask about
me, say that | am cold and Ill. That
is sufficient. Here is the bath. Please
be as quick about 1t as possible"
Moving as II in a dream, the girl
did as she was told. Twenty minutes
A waiter appeared with a 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 a 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 her
hostess looking on with gloomy inter
est. II was no shock to Mrs. Wran-
dali to find that the girl, who was no
more than twenty-five or three, pos
sessed unusual beauty. Her great eyes
were blue-the lovely Irish blue-her
skin was fair and smooth. her fea-
lures regular and of the delicate mold
that defines the well-bred gentlewom-
an at glance. Her hair, now In or
der was dark and thick and lay softly
about her small ears and neck. She
was not surprised. repeat. for she
had never known ChallIs Wrandall to
show interest in any but the most
attractive of her sex. She found her
self smiling bitterly as she looked.
But who may know the thoughts OF
the other occupant OF that little sit
ting-room? Who can put herself In
the place of that despairing. hunted
creature who knew that blood was on
the hands with which she ate, and
whose eyes were filled with visions of
the death-chair?
So great was her fatigue that long
before she finished the meal her tired
lids began to droop, her head to nod
in spasmodic surrenders to an over
powering desire for sleep. Suddenly
she dropped the fork from her fingers
and sank back in the comfortable
chair. her head resting against the
soft. upholstered back. Her lids fell.
her hands dropped to the arms OF the