The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1915-05-21

an 1nStd0tS rest Wnen IL came 10 I'M
, work in hand, and therein lay the gen
tie shrewdness of the man. She wal
better of busy. There were timel
, when he studied the face OF LYDIA
mother for signs that might show how
, her thoughts ran in relation to the
conditions that were confronting all o.
them. But more often he searched the
features of the boy who called hin
, father.
Always, always there was music in
the house. Behind the closed doors
OF the distant study, James Brood lis
tened in spite OF himself to the per
sistent drumming of the piano down
stairs. Always were the airs light and
seductive: the dreamy, plaintive com
positions of Strauss, Ziehrer and 9TH
ers of their kind and place. Frederic,
with uncanny fidelity to the prefer
ences OF the mother he had never seen
but whose influence directed him, at.
fected the same general class of music
that had appealed to her moods and
temperament. Times there we're, and
often, when he played the very airs
that she had loved, and then, despite
his profound antipathy, James Brood's
| thoughts leaped back quarter of a
century and fixed themselves on love
scenes and love-times that would not
be denied.
And again there were the wild, riot
GUS airs that she had played with Few
| oreIlj hop ~
cursed airs-accursed and accusing!
| He gave orders that these airs were
| not to be played, but failed to make
his command convincing for the rea-
son that he could not bring himself to
the point of explaining why they were
distasteful to him. When Frederic
thoughtlessly whistled or hummed
fragments of those prescribed airs, he
considered himself justified in COM
manding him to stop on the pretext
that they were disturbing, but he could
not use the same excuse for checking
the song on the lips of his gay and i'm
pulsive wife. Sometimes he wondered
why she persisted when she knew that
he WIS annoyed Her airy little apollo
gies for her forgetfulness were of no
consequence, for within the hour her
memory was almost sure to be at fault
again.
rs there anything wrong with my |
hair, Mr. Brood?" asked Lydia, with a |
nervous little laugh.
They were in the study and it was |
ten o'clock of wet night in April. Of |
late, he had required her to spend the
evenings with him in a strenuous ef-
fort to complete the final chapters Of
the journal He had declared his in
tention to go abroad with his wife as
soon as the manuscript was completed.
Lydia's willingness to devote the extra
hours to his enterprise would have
pleased him vastly If he had not been
afflicted by the same sense of unrest
and uneasiness that made incessant
labor boon to her as well as to him.
Her query followed a long period of
silence on his part. He had been sug-
costing alterations in her notes as she
read them to him, and there were fire.
quent lulls when she made the changes
as directed. Without looking at him,
she felt rather than knew that he was
her fixedly from his position
opposite. The scrutiny was disturb
ing to her.
Brood started guiltily. your hair?"
he exclaimed. "Oh, see. You women
always feel that something is wrong ]
With it. l was thinking of something !
Else, however. Forgive my stupidity.
We can't afford to waste time in think !
ng, you know, and l am pretty bad ]
offender. It's nearly half-past ten. I
We've been hard at it since eight
o'clock. Time to knock OF. | will /
walk around to your apartment with t
'ou, my dear. 1t looks like an all
light rain" c
He went up to the window and c
ulled the curtains aside. Her eyes !
ollowed him.
He was staring down into the court, T
is fingers grasping the curtains in
Igid grip. He did not reply. There t
vas a light in the windows opening a
ut upon Yvonne's balcony.
Il fancy Frederic has come in from il
lie concert" he said slowly. HE will
Ike you home, Lydia. You'd like that Il
etter, eh?" v
He turned toward her and she b
aused in the nervous collecting of her s.
apers. His eyes were as hard as steel,
10 lina were SET n
please don't ask Frederic to-" she | al
egan hurriedly. fe
"They must have left early" he k
glancing at his watch. Re-
rning to the table he struck the big, d.
gong a couple Of sharp
ows. For the first time in her recol- M
ction, it sounded jangling, discord- b;
It note, as of Impotence. Ranjab ap- w
AIRED in the doorway. Have Mrs. l
God and Mr.. Frederic returned, Ran nc
By"
Eyes, sahib. At ten o'clock" ly
III Mr.. Frederic is in his room send
n to me"
He is not in hts room, sahib' ov
The two, master and man, looked at he
ch other steadily for moment. is
passed between them. m,
Tell him that Miss Desmond 90 N