The Carlisle independent., 1915-06-24

nurses were not slow to admit that her magnificent courage. her almost scornful self-assuranee. supplied them
 with an incentive that otherwise might 1 never have got beyond the form of mere hope. There was something pos itively startling in her serene convic- tion that Frederic was not to die No less a skeptic than the renowned Doctor Holder confded to Lydia and her mother that he now believed in the supernatural and never again
 would say there is no God" With the dampness of death on the young mans brow. a remarkable change had occurred even as he watched for the last fleeting breath. It was as if some secret. unconquerable force had sud denly intervened to take the whole
 matter out of natures hands It was
 not in the books that he should get well; it was against every rule of na-
 ture that he should have survived that first days struggle. He was marked for death and there was no alternative
 Then came the bewildering. mystify- ing change Life did not take it's ex. pected flight: instead it clung. flicker
 ing but indestructible, to it's clay and
 would not obey the laws of nature For days and days life hung by what we are pleased to call a thread the
 great shears of death could not sever the tiny thing that held Frederic's soul to earth. There was no hour in any of those days in which the be- wildered scientist and his assistants did not proclaim that it would be his last and yet he gave the lie to them
 Holder had gone to James Brood at the end of the third day, and with the sweat of the haunted on his brow had whispered hoarsely that the case was l out of his hands! He was no longer i the doctor but an agent governed by l spirit that would not permit death to 1 claim it's ownl And somehow Brood i understood far better than the man of 1 science
 l The true story of the shooting had 1 long been known to Lydia and her
 mother. Brood confessed everything
 to them He assumed all of the blame
 for what had transpired on that tragic l l them, and when they shook their
 heads and turned their backs upon 1 him he was not surprised. for he knew | they were not convicting him of as-
 sault with a deadly frearm. Later
 on the story of Therese was told by
 him to Frederic and the girl. He did 1 his wife no injustice in the recital.
 Frederic laid his hand upon the soft l brown head at his knee and voiced the
 thought that was in his mind.
 You are wondering, as l am, too.
 what is to become of Yvonne after to- l day" he said There must be an end, and if it doesn't come now, when
 will it come? Tomorrow we sail It | is certain that she is not to accom- pany us. She has said so herself, and 1 father has said so. He will not take
 her with him. So today must see the
 end of things
 Frederic, l want you to do some
 thing for me- said Lydia, earnestly. There was time when could not 1 have asked this of you. but now l 1 implore you to speak to your father
 in her behalf love her, Freddy, dear. cannot help it. She asks nothing of
 any of us. she expects nothing, and yet she loves all of us-yes, all of us. | She will never, by word or look, make
 a single plea for herself. have watched | her closely all these weeks. There
 was never an instant when she re-
 vealed the slightest sign of an appeal. | She takes it for granted that she has
 no place in our lives. In our memory. l yes, but that is all. I think she is | reconciled to what she considers her l fate and it has not entered her mind
 to protest against it. Perhaps it is natural that she should feel that way about it. But it is-oh, Freddy, it is
 terrible! If he would-would only un-
 bend little toward her. If he"
 Listen, Lyddy, dear. don't be-
 lieve it's altogether up to him. There
 is barrier that we cant see, but they do-both of them. My mother stands l between them. You see, I've come to 1 know my father lately, dear He's not
 a stranger to me any longer. l know l what sort of a heart he's got. He
 never got over loving my mother, and
 he'll never get over knowing that
 Yvopne knows that she loved him to
 the day she died We know what it
 was in Yvonne that attracted him from
 the first, and she knows. He's not
 likely to forgive himself so easily. He didn't play fair with either of them.
 that's what I'm trying to get at. l don't believe he can forgive himself
 any more than he can forgive Yvonne
 for the thing she set about to do. You
 see, Lyddy she married him without love She debased herself, even
 though she can't admit it even now.
 I love her. too. She's the most won.
 derful woman in the world. Shes got the finest instincts a woman ever possessed. But she did give herself
 to the man she hated with all her soul. and-well, there you are He can't for.
 get that, you know-and she can't.
 Leaving me out of the question alto l oathor-aDd xrOu ctilI TO.