The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1915-05-21
CHAPTER X.
OF a Music-Master.

OF Music-Master.
A month passed. Yvonne held tn
|, destiny of three persons in her hant
They were like figures on ches
board and she moved them with tn
sureness, the unerring instinct of an
skilled disciple of the philosopher
game. They were puppets; sh
ranged them about her stage in swift
changing pictures and applauded he
own effectiveness. There were no re
hearsals. The play was going on al
the time, whether tragedy, comedy O.
chess.
OF the three, Lydia alone faced thu
situation with courage. She was young
she was good, she was inexperienced
but she saw what was going on be
meath the surface with clarity Of
vision that would have surprised ar
older and more practiced person; and
seeing, was favored with the strength
to endure pain that otherwise would
have been unsupportable. She knew
that Frederic was infatuated. She did
not try to hide the truth from herself
The boy she loved was slipping away
from her and only chance could set his
feet back in the old path from which
he blindly strayed. Her woman's
heart told her that it was not love he
felt for Yvonne. The strange mentor
that guides her sex out of the igno-
rance of youth into an understanding
of hitherto unpresented questions re-
vealed to her the nature of his feeling
for this woman. He would come back
to her in time she knew, chastened;
the same instinct that revealed his
frailties to her also defended his sense
of honor The unthinkable could never
happen!
She judged Yvonne too In a spirit of
fairness that was amazing when one
considers the lack of perspective that
must have been hers to contend with.
Lydia could not think of her as evil,
immoral, base. This beautiful, warm
hearted, clear-eyed woman suggested
nothing of the kind to her. 1t pleased
her to play with the good-looking
young fellow, and she made no pre-
tense of secrecy about 1t. Lydia was
charitable to the extent of blaming her
only for an utter lack of conscience in
allowing the perfectly obvious to hap
pen so far as he was concerned. For
her own qualification she was calmly
inviting tragedy which was likely to
crush him without even so much as
her peace of mind for an in
1T, after all was said and done.
There was poison in the cup she hand
ed out to him, and knowing this be-
You'd dispute she allowed him to drink
while she looked on and smiled. Lydia |
hated her for the pain she was storing |
Up for Frederic, far more than she |
hated her for the anguish she, herself,
was made to endure.
Her mother saw the suffering in the
girls eyes, but saw also the proud
spirit that would have resented SYM
,athy from one even so close as she.
Down in the heart of that quiet re-
erved mother smoldered hatred for
lvonne Brood that would have
topped at nothing had it beer in her
,ower to inflict punishment for the
wrong that was being done. She too
aw tragedy ahead. but her vision was
roader than Lydia's. 1t included the
CURE OF James Brood.
Lydia worked steadily, almost dog
eddy at the task she had undertaken
D complete for the elder Brood. Every
fternoon found her seated at the table |
/ the study, opposite the stern-faced !
ian who labored with her over the |
eemingly endless story Of his life.
omething told her that there were {
scret chapters which she was not to ]
rite She wrote those that were to /
adure; the others we're to die with j
i'm.
He watched her as she wrote, and
Is eyes we're often hard. He saw the b
rowing haggardness In her gentle.
rlish face; the wistful, PUZZLED ex-
'ession in her dark eyes. A note of e
nderness crept into his voice and re-
aimed there through all the hours
ey spent together. The old-time r,
usqueness disappeared from his
eech; the sharp authoritative tone
as gone. He watched her with pity B
his heart. for he knew it was or 80
lned that one day he too was to hurt
Is loyal pure-hearted creature even ly
the others were wounding her now. Sc
He frequently went out of his way -
perform quaint little acts of cour- Y
" and kindness that would have IL
rprised him only short time be- n
e. He sent theater and opera tickets Pl
Lydia and her mother. He placed he
lQuets of flowers at the girls end Of
J table. obviously for her alone. He be
It her home-1ust around the corner kr