Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-07-30
SEVENTH INSTALLMEnT
CHAPTER XIX.

Tommy had not gone mad From the
great roll of shirting material he tore
enough broad strips to reach TO the
sidewalk, knotted them together, made
a double bowknot which is almost as
easy TO sit in as q clrair) made Ce-
lestia sit in it, swung her out Of the
window, and lowered her to safety.
His own escape was not as easy, for
every moment the fire gained upon
him, and he was Internationally
scorched. while making the upper end
of his line fast A moment after
he reached the sidewalk the line
burned through and fell.
Tommy was so dazed that when
reporter asked him what his name
was, he told him, and all his friends
had the pleasure of reading about the
rescue in the afternoon papers.
Barclay and Stilliter were very much
disturbed, and Mary Blackstone was
so furious with jealousy that she sue
eeeded in making Fitch. who was with
her when she read the paper, furious
ly jealous, too. But he kept this
to himself.
Mary was not only angry with
Tommy and Celestia, but she was
angry with herself.
1T was in my power, she thought,
ito pull that minX's claws. Tommy
brought her here, and / refused to
take her in. | was fool. It's nat
ural enough that in a surrounding OF
common laboring girls she should
shine out like a superior being. She
is good looking; there's no doubt
about that. And she's probably got
magnetic voice, and knows how to roll
her eyes and make men feel sorry for
her. And so she's made fool of
Tommy. But put her among the kind
of people he's used &c and see how
she'll bear that comparison! When
he sees her trying to eat oysters with
a spoon for instance, and mistaking ia
TIERS butler for the president of the
United States-if Id only taken her in
for a few days. and asked people to
meet her!-I wonder il it's too late
now?"
The more she thought along these
lines the less she thought that it was
too late to do anything. Celestia's
address, owing to the notoriety of the
Octagon fire was now common knowl-
edge, and without any exact plan Mary
determined to visit her-as a prelim-
mary to disillusioning Tommy
She cOnlided the idea to no one
The Octagon fire did not really
shake Celestial faith in herself. her
origin or her destiny, but It set her
TO asking questions. What line must
she draw between herself as a human
being and herself as a celestial? Al
ready certain pains OF this earth and
certain pleasures had been thrust
upon her. She had not been able to
prevent the fire, or to escape its ter
rors. No more could she keep her
heart from beating little quicker
whenever she thought of Tommy. How
long was she to be a human being?
Until her work was done-a few years
at best. She would have to eat, and
to drink and to sleep. What other in
dulgences could she grant herself?
Already Tommy had helped her with
her work, if only by the fact of saving
her life so that she could work. If
he could be always near her. wouldn't
he be always helping? And she
couldn't answer any Of these ques-
tions satisfactorily. There were two
voices in her mind. One kept saying
Let yourself go-love limits all
right, while the other KEEP: saying "Of
course you are human for the moment,
but you have no right to be as other
humans are. You mustn't let one man
displaee from your heart that love OF
the whole world which it contains"
Celestial Tommy said to her one
day (his hands still in bandages from
superficial burns) IF only to be logical
and consistent, you ought TO marry
me. / know that you are absolutely
sincere in the belief that you are go
ing to make the whole world happy.
I'm a small part of the world. I'm
less you make me happy, and you don't
show any symptoms of doing that, you
can't possibly succeed, can your"
Celestia considered, half smiling.
Then she said, wholly smiling: what
did you mean the other day when you
said merely to look at me. merely to
breathe the same air breathed, mere
" to hear the sound Of my voice was
happiness for you"