The Carlisle independent., 1915-04-15
CHAPTER VII.
Ranjab the Hindu.

LHe privacy or tHelT room OH tue lHlld floor remote, not, however, without first convincing themselyes that the shadowy Ranjab was nowhere within range of their croaking undertones. From the prescribed regions down stairs came the faint sounds of a piano and the intermittent chatter of many voices. Someone was playing La Paloma"
 These new days were not like the old ones. Once they had enjoyed, even commanded, the full freedom of the house. It had been their priyi- lege, their prerogatiye, to enter into every social undertaking that was planned; in fact, they had come to regard themselves as hosts, or, at the very least, guests of honor on such occasions. They had a joyous way of lifting the responsibility of eonversa- ! tion from everyone else; and, be it said to their credit, there was no sub ject on which they couldn't talk with decision and fuency, whether they knew anything about it or not
 EAAid l4Oh cluGfS IL " eAo O4llCA0AAs l nv were not permitted to appear when guests were in the house. The sump- tuous dinners-of which they heard something from the servants-were no longer graced by their presence. They were amazed and not little irritated to observe, by listening at the head of the stairs, that the unfortunate guests, whoever they were, always seemed to be enjoying themselves. They couldn't, for the life of them, un- derstand how such a condition was possible.
 Brood had been working rather steadily at his journal during the past two or three weeks. He had reached a point in the history where his own memory was somewhat vague, and had been obliged to call upon his old comrades to supply the facts. For several nights they had sat with him, going over the scenes connected with their earliest acquaintance - those black days in Calcutta. Lydia had i brought over her fathers notes and certain transcripts of letters he had written to her mother before their marriage. The four of them were put ting those notes and narratives into chronological order Brood, after three months of married life and fri volity, suddenly had decided to devote himself almost entirely to the compile tion of the journal.
 He denied himself the theater, the opera and kindred features of the passing show, and as he preferred to entertain rather than to be enter tained, seldom found it necessary to go into the homes of other people Yvonne made no protest. She merely pressed Frederic into service as an escort when she desired to go about, and thought nothing of it. Whether this arrangement pleased James Brood time will show He, too, appeared to think nothing Of it.
 The lines had returned to the cor ners of his mouth, however, and the old, hard look to his eyes. And there were times when he spoke harshIy to his son, times when he purposely humbled him in the presence of others without apparent reason.
 On this particular night, Yvonne had asked a few people in for dinner They were people whom Brood liked especially well, but who did not appeal to her at all. AS a matter of fact, they bored her. She appeared to be happy i,, r1Io Sin told him that they were coming, he favored her with a dry, rather i'm personal smile. and asked, with whim- sical good humor, why she chose to punish herself for the sins of his youth She laid her cheek against his and purcell For a moment he held his breath. Then the fire in his blood leaped into flame. He clasped the slim, adorable body in his strong arms and crushed her against his breast. She kissed him and he was again the fierce, eager, unsated lover. It was one of their wonderful imperishable moments, moments that brought ob- livion. Then, as he frequently did of late he held her off at arms length and searched her yelvety eyes with a gaze that seemed to drag the very secrets out of her soul She went deathly white and shivered He took his hands from her shoulders and smiled. She came back into his arms like a dumb thing seeking protection, and contin- ued to tremble as if frightened.
 When company was being enter tained downstairs MT. Dawes and MT. Riggs, with a fidelity to convention that was almost pitiful invariably donned their evening clothes. They considered themselves remotely con. nected with the festivities, and, that being the case, the least they could do was to dress up." Moreover. they dressed with great care and delibera- tion There was always the chance that they might be asked to come down, or. what was even more impor- tant, Mrs. Brood might happen to en- counter them in the upper hall and in that event it was imperative that she should be made to realize how stupid she had been.