The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-06-05

except In their relation to a completed
state Of happiness for his father. In
distinctly he recognized them as essen
tials.
Ay, he was lonely. The house was
as bleak as the steppes Of Siberia He
longed for companionship, friendship.
kindness suddenly in the midst
Of it all he ieaped to his feet
I'm going out, gentlemen" he ex-
claimed, breaking in upon an unappre-
ciated tale that Mr.. Riggs was relat-
ing at some length and with consider
able fierceness in view of the fact that
Mr.. Dawes had pulled him up rather
sharply once or twice in matter Of
inaccuracies Excuse me, please"
He left them gaping with astonish-
ment and dashed out into the hall for
his coat and hat Even then he had
no definite notion as to what his next
move would be, save that he was going
out-somewhere, anywhere, he did not
care
Somehow, as he rushed down the
front steps with the cool night air
blowing in his face, there suTged UP
within him a strong, overpowering
sense of flial duty. 1t was his duty to
make the first advances. 1t was for
him to pave the way to peace and hap
piness. Something vague but disturb
ing tOrmented him with the fear that
his father faced a grave peril and that
his own place was beside him and not
against him, as he had been in all
these lily directed years. He could
not put it away from him, this thought
that his father was in danger-in dan
ger of something that was not phys
ical, something from which, with all
his valor, he had no adequate form Of
defense.
At the corner he paused, checked by
an irresistible impulse to look back
ward at the house he had just left. To
his surprise there was a light in the
drawing-room windows facing the
street The shades in one of them
had been thrown wide open and
stream of light fared out across the
sidewalk,
Framed in this ob1ong square of
light stood the figure of a man. Slowly,
| as if drawn by force he could not
resist, the young man retraced his
steps until he stood directly in front
of the window. A questioning smile
was on his lips. He was looking up
into Ranjab's shadowy. unsmiling face,
dimly visible in the glow from the
| distant street lamp. For a long time
they stared at each other, no sign OF
recognition passing between them. The
Hindu's face was as rigid, as emotion
less as if carved out Of stone; his
eyes were unwaVering. Frederic could
see them, even in the shadows. He
had the queer feeling that, though the
man gave no sign, he had something
he wanted to say to him, that he was
actually calling to him to come back
into the house.
Undecided, the man outside took
| several hating steps toward the door
way, his gaze still fixed on the face in
| the window. Then he broke the spell.
1t was a notion on his part, he argued.
\ If he had been wanted his fathers
servant would have beckoned to him.
He would not have stood there like
a craven image, staring out into the
| night. Having convinced himself Of
this, Frederic wheeled and swung of
up the street once more, walking rap
idly, as one who is pursued. Turning,
he waved his hand at the man in the
window. He received no response.
Farther OF he looked back once more.
The Hindu still was there. Long after
he was out of sight of the house he
cast frequent glances over his Shout
der as if still expecting to see the
lighted window and its occupant.
AS he made his way to Broadway,
somewhat hazily bent on following that
| thoroughfare to the district where the
night glittered and the stars were
| shamed, he began turning over in his
mind a queer notion that had just sug-
gested itself to him, fltering through
the maze of uncertainty in which he
had been floundering. 1t occurred to
him that he had been mawkishly SEN
timental in respect to his father. His
attitude had not changed-he was seri-
ously impressed by the feelings that
had mastered him-but he found him
self ridicu1ing the idea that his father
stood in peril of any description. And
suddenly, out of no particular trend of
thought, CROPPED the sly, persistent sus-
picion that he had not been altogether
responsible for the sensations Of an
hour ago. Some outside influence had
nodded his emotions for him, some
cunning brain had been doing his
thinking for him.
Then came the sharp recollection
of that motionless, commanding figure
In the lighted window, and his OWE
puzzling behavior on the sidewalk out
side. He recalled his impression that
someone had called out to him just
before he turned to look up at the
window. 1t was all quite preposterous
he kept on saying over and over again
to himself, and yet he could not shake
OF the uncanny feeling.
Earlier in the evening, without warn.
ing, without the slightest encourage
ment on his part, there had suddenly
Ieaped into existence a warm, tender
and wholly inexplicable feeling toward
his father. at first he had been
amazed by this unwonted, almost un
natural feeling, which later on deveI
oped into something quite tangible In
the way Of an emotion, but he was be
ginning to realize that the real mys