The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-09-04

/ met, Tor the first time since the Grier
son roof had given him shelter, the
master of Mereside.
| The little visit TO Jasper Grierson's
library was not prolonged beyond the
invalid's strength; but notwithstand-
ing its brevity there were inert cur
rents Of antagonism evolved which
Margery, present and endeavoring to
serve as 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 upsolved prob
lem OF the one-thousand-dollar
spending fund there remained some
thing less than half; for a 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 and
found wanting. But in any event, he
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 a thankless'
shall 1 say-patient, or guest, or
friend?" she laughed. garbling the
| limitation fn Rf tho
Shakespeare said child" he sug-
| gested mildly.
"And SO shall l." she gibed-but the
| gibe itself was almost a caress. Some
| times you remind me of an impatient
boy who has been promised a peach
and can't wait until it ripens. But If
you must have a reason why I won't
| drive you this afternoon, you may
We are going to have a tiny little
social function at Mereside this eve
| ming, and 1 want you to be fresh and
rested for it,
Certainly. 1 shall come, if you wish
| it, he assented, remembering afresh
his immense obligation; and when the
time was ripe he made himself pre-
sentable and felt his way down the
dimly lighted library stair, being
minded to slip into the social pool
by the route which promised the
smallest splash and the fewest ripples
1t was a stirring of the Philistine
in him that led him to prefigure weari-
ness and banality in the prospect.
Without in the least expecting it, Girls
void was a Brahmin of the severest
sect on his social side; easily dis
posed to hold aloof and to criticize,
and, as a man eastern-bred, sereneIy
assured that nothing truly acceptable
in the social sense could come out of
the Nazareth of the West.
For this cause he was properly hui
inflated when he entered the spacious
double drawing-rooms and found them
so comfortably crowded by a throng
of conventionally clothed and conven-
tionally behaved guests that he was
Immediately able to lose himself-and
any lingering trace of self-conscious-
ness-in a company which, if appear
ances were to be trusted. was west
ern only by reason of Wahaska's loca-
ton on the map.
And the charming young hostess
Hitherto he had known her
only as his benefactress and the
thoughtful caretaker for his comfort.
But now, at this first sight of her
in the broader social field, she shone
upon and dazzled him. Admitting that
the later charm might be subtly SEN
suous-he refused to analyze it too
clOsely-it was undeniable that it
warmed him to newer and a
stronger life; that he could bask in its
generous glow like some alternating
thing of the wild answering to the
first thrilling Of the springtide. True,
Miss Grierson bore little resemblance
to any ideal of his past imaginings.
She might even be the Aspasia to
Charlotte Farnham's Saint Cecilia |
But, even so, was not the daughter of
AxiOchus well beloved of men and of
heroes?
1t was some little time afterward |
and Jasper Grierson, stalking like a |
grim and rather unwilling master of !
ceremonies among his guests, had |
grufny introduced three or four of the |
men, when Griswo1d gladly made room |
in the window seat for his trans |
formed and glorifed mistress of the |
illnesses. AS had happened more than |
once before, her nearness intoxicated /
him; and while he made sure now |
that the charm was at least partly |
physical, it's appeal was none the less |
irresistible.
Are you dreadfulIy ttred?' she |
asked, adding quickly: you mustn't |
let US make a martyr of you. It's |
your privilege to disappear whenever
you feel like it,
Indeed, I'm not at all tired" he
protested. ct is ali very comforting |
and homelike; so vastly" he hest
tated, seeking thoughtfully for the !
word which should convey his mean
ing without laying him open to the |
charge of patronizing supercilious- !
ness, and she supplied it promptly.
$50 different from what you were |
expecting; 1 know. You have been
thinking Of US as barbarians-outer
barbarians, perhaps-and you find that
we are only harmless provincials. But
really You know We are improving