The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1915-08-26

son roof had given him shelter. the !
master of Mereside.
The little visit to Jasper Grierson's
library was not prolonged beyond the
.nvalids strength; but notwithstand-
ing its brevity there we're inert cur
rents of antagonism evolved which
Nlargery, present and endeavoring to
serve as a lightning arrester, could
neither ground nor turn aside.
Griswold took away from the rather
constrained ice-breaking In the bank
er's library a renewed resolve to cut
his obligation to Jasper Grierson as
short as possible. How he should be-
gin again the mordant struggle for
existence was still an unsolved prob
lem. OF the one-thousand-dollar
spending fund there remained some
thing less than half; for few weeks
or months he could live and pay his
way; but after that. Curiously |
enough the alternative Of another at
tack upon the plutocratic dragon did
not suggest itself. That, he told him
self, was an experiment tried ana
found wanting. But in any event, ne
must not outstay his welcome at
Mereside; and with this thought in
mind he crept downstairs daily after
the library episode, and would give
Margery no peace because she would
not let him go abroad in the town.
"How sharper than a serpent's
tooth it is to have thankless'-wha
shall say-patient, or guest, or
friend?" she laughed, garbling the
quotation to fit the occasion.
Shakespeare said child" he sus-
gested mildly.
"And so shall l." she gibed-but the
gibe itself was almost caress. Some
times you remind me of an inpatieEt
boy who has ~been promised peach
and can't wait until it ripens But II
YOU must have q reason why l wont
drive you this afternoon, you may.
We are going 30 have a tiny little
social function at Mereside this eve
ming, and l want you to be fresh and
rested for il"
Certainly, shall come, if you wish
it." he assented, remembering afresh
his immense obligation; and when the
time was ripe he made himself pre-,
sentable ana felt his way down the
dtmly lighted library stair, being
minded to slip into the social pool
bv the route which promised the
smallest splash and the fewest ripples
It was a stirring of the Philistine
in him that led him to prettgure wear1
ness and banality in the prospect
Without in the least expecting it, Girls
void was a Brahmin of the severesi
t sect on his social side; easily dis
, posed to hold aloof and to criticize
and. as a man eastern-bred, serenely
. assured that nothing truly acceptable
2 in the social sense could come out o.
I the Nazareth of the West.
2 For this cause-he was properly hu
: inflated when he entered the spacious
4 double drawing-rooms and found then
so comfortably crowded by a throni
! of conventionally clothed and conven
e tionally behaved guests that he wal
4 Immediately able to lose himself-anC
t any lingering trace of self-conscious
d ness-in a company which, if appear
ances we're to be trusted, was west
o ern only by reason Of Wahaska's loca
n ton on the map.
It And the charming young hostes
Hitherto he had known he
l. only as his henefactress and tn
thoughtful caretaker for his comfor
e But now, at this first sight of he
t. in the broader social field, she shon
upon and dazzled him. Admitting tha
e. the later charm might be subtly sci
lie suous-he refused to analyze it to
closely-it was undeniable that
IL warmed him to a newer ana
lie stronger life; that he could bask in i
of generous glow like some hibernatir
y thing of the wild answering to tt
first thrilling Of the springtide. Tru
IN Miss Grierson bore little resemblant
u to any ideal of his past imagining
is She might even be the Aspasia
el- Charlotte Farnham's Saint Cecili
But, even so, was not the daughter
to Axiochus we'll beloved Of men and
lie. heroes?
nd 1t was some little time afserwar
10 and Jasper Grierson, stalking like
lis grim and rather unwilling master
ad ceremonies among his guests, HI
er grufHy introduced three or four of t
Al men, when Griswold gladly made roc
ne in the window seat for his tral
tie formed and glorified mistress OF t
en- illnesses. AS had happened more tn
Ter once before, her nearness intoxlcat
~ him: and while he made sure III
no that the charm was at least par
lty physical, it's appeal was none the Is
irresistible.
Ws Are you dreadfully tired?" +
lad asked, adding quickly: "You must
Lne let us make a martyr of you.
oD' your privilege to disappear whene'
pc you feel like it."
7in' Indeed, I'm not at all tired,
IT, protested. "It is all very comfort
tue and homelike; so vastly" he h
tated, seeking thoughtfully for
Ing word which should convey his me
an ing without laying him open to
4nu n, charge of patronizing supercilio
tne ness, and she supplied it promptly.
- 80 different from what you W
hod expecting; 1 know. You have b'
'ina thinking of US as barbarians-ou
40 10 barbarians, perhaps-and you find t
1-' we are only harmless provincials.
,ou, really, you know, we are 1mproVl
,o,S l wish you could have known
,nu' haska as it used to be-"
sn't "It is all very grateful and DELI
,out full to me-" he confessed, at LENT
81 have been out of the social
ming for a long time, but may as
admit that l am shamelessly ep
rean by nature, and an ascetic