Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1915-06-11
p X.
OF a Music. Ma

OF a Music.Master.
A month passed. Yyonne held the
destiny of three persons in her hand.
They we're like figures on a chess
board and she moved them with the
sureness, the unerring instinct OF any
skilled disciple Of the philosophers
game. They were puppets; h
ranged them about her stage In swift
changing pictures and a%pplauded her
W effectiveness. There we're no re-
hearsals. The play was going on all
the time, whether tragedy. comedy or
chess.
or the three, Lydia alone faced the
situation with courage. She was young,
she was good, she was inexperienced.
but she saw what was going on be-
meath the surface with a clarity OF
vision that would have surprised an
older and more practiced person; and,
seeing, was favored with the strength
to endure pain that otherwise would
have been u~nsupportable. She knew
that Frederic was infatuated. She did
rot 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 1t 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
j.. immoral, base. This beautiful, warm
hearted, clear-eyed woman suggested
nothing Of the kind to her. 1t pleased
her to play with the good-lookin&
young fellow, and she made no pre-
tense of secrecy about 1t. Lydia wal
charitable to the extent of blaming hel
only for an utter lack Of conscience II
allowing the perfectly obvious to hap
pen so far as he was concerned. Fo'
her " qualification she was calml.
inviting a tragedy which was likely Il
crush him without even SO much O.
disturbing her peace of mind for an In
slant, after all was said and done
There was poison In the cup she hand
ed out to him, and knowing this be
yond dispute she allowed him to drinI
while she looked on and smiled. Lydi
hated her for the pain she was STORM
up for Frederic. far more than sh
hated her for the anguish she, hersel
was made to endure.
Her mother saw the suffering in tn
girls eyes, but saw also the prou
spirit that would have resented syn
pathy from one ever SO close as sh'
Down in the heart of that quiet r.
served mother smoldered a hatred Il
Yvonne Brood that would hay
stopped ut nothing had 1t been in hi
power to infiict punishment for til
wrong that was being done. She tt
saw tragedy ahead, but her vision VIZ
broader than Lydia's. 1t included Il
figure of James Brood.
Lydia worked steadily, almost do
N gedly at the task she had undertake
to complete for the elder Brood. Evel
,e afternoon found her seated at the tab
of In the study. opposite the stern-fac,
nv man who labored with her over Il
seemingly endless story of his iii
d. Something told her that there we
ed secret chapters which she was not
IN write. She wrote those that were
endure; the others were to die wi
i'd him.
nix He watched her as she wrote, a
ur his eyes were often hard. He saw I
growing haggardness In her gent
an girlish face; the wistful, PUZZLED
preston in her dark eyes. A note
ny tenderness crept into his voice and
manned there through all the hou
they spent together. The old-tiI
an %brusQueness disappeared from
or. speech; the sharp authoritative to
was gone. He watched her with p
or In his heart, for he knew It was
nix. dained that one day he too was to h,
i'm, this loyal pure-hearted creature ey
len as the others were wounding her nc
his He frequently went out of his W
for to perform quaint little acts Of co
his tasy and kindness that would hs
5ed surprised him only a short time
fore. He sent theater and opera tick
BY to Lydia and her mother. He plas
'or- bouquets Of flowers at the girls end
lde the table. obviously for her alone.
s~at her home-just around the corr