The Carlisle independent., 1915-04-15
CHAPTER Vl.-Continued.

Tt is not unlike all stories of it's kind. my dear" she said with an in- difference that amazed him. "They are all alike Why should l ask? No, l do not ask you for your story, James. Sometime you may tell me, but not to- day I shouldn't mind hearing it if it were an original tale, but God knows it isn't. It's as old as the Nile. But you may tell me more about your son. Is he like you, or like his mother?"
 Broods lips were compressed. q can't say that he is like either of us. brows slightly.
 An" she said. That makes quite a difference. Perhaps, after all, shall be interested in the story" Her man. ner was so casual, so serenely matter of-fact, that he could hardly restrain the sharp exclamation of annoyance that rose to his lips.
 He bit his lip and allowed the frank fnsinuation to go unanswered. He eonsoled himself with the thought that she must have spoken in jest, with out intention. He had the uncomfort- able feeling that she would make light of his story, too, when the time came for revelations. A curious doubt took root in his mind; would he ever be able to understand the nature of this woman whom he loved and who ap- peared to love him so unreservedly? As time went on, the doubt became a conviction. She was utterly beyond comprehension.
 The charm and beauty of the new mistress of James Brood's heart and home were to become the talk of the town. Already, in the first month of her reign, she had drawn to the old house the attention not only of the parasites who feed on novelty. but of families that had long since given up Brood as representative figure in the circle into which he had been born.
 The restoration was slow at first, as 1t naturally would be. The new Mrs. Brood came upon the scene as strange star appears suddenly in the skies to excite and mystify the unsus- pecting world. She seemed to have come from nowhere, and yet like the new planet, she suddenly filled an ap- pointed spot in the Armament
 It cannot be said that she conquered, for that would be to imply design on her part. Possibly she considered the game unworthy of the effort She re- garded herself as superior to all these people, a surviving estimate of them selves that most Europeans enjoy; therefore what was she to gain, saving a certain amount of amusement, by contact with her husbands friends?
 In truth, Yvonne Brood despised Americans. She made small pre- tense of liking them. The rather close ly knit circle of Parisian aristocracy which she affected is known to toll crate but not to invite the society of even the best of Americans. She was no larger than her environment. Her views upon and her attitude toward the Americans were not created by her but for her. The fact that James Brood had reached the inner shrine of French self-worship no doubt put him in class apart from all other Ameri- cans, so far as she was concerned At least it may account for an apparent inconsistency, in that she married him without much hesitation.
 Her warmest friend and admirer- one might almost say slave-was Fred. eric Brood She had transformed him. He was no longer the silent, moody youth of other days, but an eager, i'm. petuous playmate whose principal ob- ject in life was to amuse her. If any one had tried to convince him that he ever could have regarded Mrs. Des- mond's dethronement and departure with equanimity he would have pro tested with all the force at his com mand. But that would have been month ago! He saw Lydia and her mother leave without the slightest doubt in his mind that it was all for the best
 The Desmonds took a small apart ment just around the corner from Brood's home, in side street, and in the same block. As matter of fact, their windows looked down into the courtyard in the rear of Brood's home Frederic assisted them in putting their new home in order It was great fun for Lydia and him, this building of