The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1915-04-30

riff-raff business. and I'm only riff
raffer at best"
Rather, aren't you Paul Ellison,
brother, twin brother, Of the man
said was going home to marry?"
How far away her voice seemed!
The throb In his forehead and the dull
ache over his heart, where some OF
the sledge-hammer blows had gone
home. he no longer felt.
| Don't deny it. 1t would be useless.
| Knowing your brother as l do, who
could doubt it?"
He remained dumb.
81 couldn't understand. just simply
couldn't. They never told me; in all
the years | have known them, in all
the years l have partly made their
home my own, there was nothing. Not
| a trinket. Once ! saw camera pic
ture. / know now why Arthur snatched
| it from my hand. 1t was you. You
were bending over an engineers tri-
pod. Even now | should have doubted
had ! not recalled what you said one
day on board, that you had built
| bridges. Arthur couldn't build any
thing stronger than an artists easel
You are Paul Ellison"
Il am sorry you found out"
"Why?"
Because | wanted to be no more
than an incident in your life. just
| Parrot & Co."
Parrot & Col"
1t was like a caress but he was too
| dull to sense 1t, and she was uncon-
scious of the infection. The burning
sunshine gave to his hair and beard
the glistening of rudy gold. Her
imagination. full of unsupported poetry
at this moment, clothed him in the
metals of a viking. There were other
whirlpools besides those in her eyes,
but Elsa did not sense the drifting as
he had done. 1t was insidious
AN incident" she repeated.
Gould l be more?" with sudden
ferceness. Gould | be any more In
any womans life? l take myself for
what am, but the world will always
take me for what l have done. Yes.
l am Paul Ellison. forgotten, l hope,
by all those who knew me. Why did
you seek me that night? Why did
you come into my life to make bitter
ness become despair? The blacklist
kind of despair. Elsa Chetwood,
Elsa! Well, the consul is
right. l am strong man. | can go
out of your life, at least physically.
l can say that love you, and | can
add to that good-by!"
He wheeled abruptly and went
quickly down the gallery, bareheaded,
without any destination in his mind,
with only one thought, to leave her
before he lost the last shreds of his
self-control.
1t was then that Elsa knew her
heart. She had spoken truly. She
was a pagan-for, had he turned and
held out his hands, she would have
gone to him. gone with him, anywhere
in the world, lawfully or unlawfully.
Elsa sang. When Martha came to
help her dress for dinner she still
sang. 1t was wordless song, mel
ody that every human heart contains
and which finds expression but once.
Elsa loved
Doubt, that arch-enemy Of love and
faith and hope, doubt had spread it's
dark pinions and flown away into yes
terdays. She felt the zest and exhila-
ration of a bird just given it's free
dom. Once she slipped from Martha's
cunning hands and ran out upon the
gallery.
ELSA, your waist!"
Elsa laughed and held out her bare
arms to the faded sky where, but
little while since, the sun had burned
a pathway down the world. All in an
hour. one small trifling space of time.
this wonderful, magical thing had
happened He loved her. There had
been hunger for her in his voice, in
his blue eyes. Presently she was go
ing to make him feel very sorry that
he had not taken her in his arms.
then and there.
ELSA, what in mercy's name pos
sesses you?"
81 am mad, Martha, mad as a March
hare, whatever that isl" She loved.
People will think so, If they hap
pen to come along and see that waist.
Please come instantly and let me fin
ish hooking it. You act like you did
when you were ten. You never would
stand STILL"
Eyes, and remember how you used
to yank my pigtails. | haven't really
forgiven you yet"
81 believe it's going home that's the
matter with you. Well, | for one shall
be glad to leave this horrid country.
Cinnamon everywhere, in your room,
at your table, under your feet. And in
the streets, Cinnamon and Malays and
Hindus, and | don't know what other
Cutlandish races and tribes. Why,
what's all this?" cried Martha, bend
ing to the floor.
Elsa ran back to the room. She
gave a little gasp when she saw what
il was that Martha was holding out
for her inspection. 1t was Warning