Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-11-02
whether Of pain or horror or of indig-
- Ill

whether Of pain or horror or of indig.
nation ne could not tell.
I'm sorry-I-" he began.
| Don't you think you might have
thought Of this before"
81 you don't understand"
$50 it would SEEM" she put In
cruelty.
please hear me! It was several
years ago I married a girl I'd never
seen before, to help her out of q des-
perate scrape she'd got into. We
never lived together, never even saw
one another after that hour. She
had every reason TO think me dead
as I should have been, by rights. But
now she knows that I'm altve-is about
to sue for a divorce"
After a long pause, during which
neither stirred, she told him, in a faint
voice: THANK you"
She moved toward the house.
'fIf you will forgive me"
"Oh, I forgive you, Mr.. Whitaker.
My heart is really not quite so fragile
as all this implies. I think I'll go
to bed. I'm very, very tired, in spite
of my sleep on the sands. That didn't
rest me, really"
They returned to the kitchen.
In silence, while Whitaker fidgeted
about the room, awkward and un-
happy, the girl removed q glass lamp
from the shelf above the sink, as
sured herself that 1t was filled, and
lighted it. Then over her shoulder:
81 hope you dor't mean to stay up
all night"
'T-well, I'm really not sleepy"
GAS soon as you feel the least need
of sleep, you'll go to bed?
81 promise"
every we'll, then"
The insistent note faded from her
tones. She moved toward the table,
put the lamp down, and hesitateG in
one of her strange, unpresaged moods
of diffidence, looking down at the
finger-tips with which she traced a
meaningless pattern on the oil-cloth.
"You are kind" she said abruptly,
her head bowed, her face hidden from
him.
Kind" he echoed, dumfounded.
"You are kind and sweet and gen.
erous to me-" she insisted in a level
voice. "YOu have shown me your
heart-the heart of a gentleman-with-
out reserve; but of me you have
asked nothing"
81 don't understand"
81 mean, you haven't once referred
to what happened last night. You've
been content to let me preserve my
confidence, to remain secretive and
mysterious In your sight. That
is how I seem to you-isn't it?"
"Secretive and mysterious? But !
have no right to your confidence; your
affairs are yours, inviolable, unless
you choose to discuss them"
"You would think that way-of
course I" Suddenly she showed him
her face Illuminated with its frank,
shadowy smile, her sweet eyes, kind
and as fearless as the eyes of child.
"Other men would not, | know. And
you have every right to Know"
T-P'
you; and l shah tell you. {.
But not now; there's too much to tell,
to explain and make understandable
and I'm too terribly tired. Tomorrow,
perhaps-or when we escape from this
weird place, when I've had time to
think things out"
Sat your pleasure" he assentsd
gently. "Only-don't let anything
worry you"
Impulsively she caught both his
hands in a clasp at once soft and
strong, wholly straightforward and
friendly.
do you know" she said in laugh
ing voice, her head thrown back, soft
shadows darkening her mystica. eyes,
the lampIight caressfng her hair until
it was as if her head were framed in
a halo Of pure gold, bright against the
somber background Of that mean, bare
room-"DO you know, dear man, that
you are quite b1ind?"
"I think" he said with his twisted
smile, sit would be we'll for me if I
were physically blind at this instant!'
She shook her head In light reproof.
"Blind, quite blind! she repeated.
"And yet-Im glad it's so with you.
I wouldn't have you otherwise for
worlds" .~-.
She withdrew her hand, took up the
lamp, moved a little away from him.
and paused. holding his eyes.
For Love, too, is blind" she said
softly, with a quaint little nod Of at
firmation. "Good night"
He started forward, eyes af1ame /;
took a single pace after her; paused
as if against an unseen barrier. His
hands dropped by his sides; his chin
to his chest; the light died out Of his
face and left it gray and deeply lined.
CHAPTER XIV.
Discovery.