Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1916-10-20
CHAPTER xx-ContInued.


Her own were clasped before her
at have come to plead with you,
Madame Arnaud-not to Judge"
"And If 1 promise you-if l tell you
that 1 will do all that lies in my
power"
"Then my errand is accomplished"
Sylvias hands dropped. 1t struck
her that this woman had a mean SOUL
coarsened with rough contact with the
world. She could not rise to the high
attitudes OF forgiveness and reconcile
alton. She could only grasp the ma
terial things OF life. Sylvia caught a
glance of her own reflection In the
glass opposite and she saw how ethe
real her own beauty had become. After
all, beauty is the outward and visible
sign. Suddenly her name was called
roughly yet piteously-and her eyes
SINK.
That's my husband" she said
gravely. Even in his delirium he is
always calling for me. The dying are
sacred, are they not? We must for
give them as we forgive the dead"
YES" Gabrielle assented
81 must go to him. But l will do
what l have promised. IL will atone
Tor him. Perhaps II may soothe him
comfort him to think that the wrong
he has done has been righted-don't
you think?"
Perhaps"
But Gabrielle Smith did not seem
to see the extended hand. There was
hard line about the fine mouth, and
without greeting-almost as though
goaded by an impatient contemplate
went out of the open French windows
into the brazen glare of the afternoon.
Sylvia Arnaud watched the slight up
right figure vanish into the archway
beyond the courtyard. She was vague
ly disconcerted-like an actress left
suddenly without her cue-and be-
meath the tranquil consciousness of vir.
tue there stirred the old hatred, the
old mistrust.
In the sickroom all was still again.
The blinds were drawn, and in the
green-tinted shadows Desires face
showed like a white light. She went
softly over to his bedside and sat
down, looking at him. His eyes were
closed and he appeared to sleep. A
cold wonder crept over her. He had
changed so completely in those few
months of their married life that the
change ceased to be terrible. This
was not the man whose feeting, I'M
known fascination had caught her rest
less fancy-not even the man she had
grown weary of. He was nothing-a
mere husk of something that had once
been. Still, as she sat there and looked
back on those months, many things
became triumphantly clear to her. She
understood why she had grown weary,
and why WEAKNESS had changed to
nausea. He was bad man. He had
sinned; he had let another suffer for
him, and had pursued his victim with
a relentless hatred. Her woman's in
stinct had recognized the evil and had
passed judgment. Beside him Rich
ard Farquhar's figure cleaned in the
hmelight of her Imagination cheva-
ner of the old school, quixotic and
romantic. But she did not love him.
Perhaps there was even somewhere in
her a vague contemplate least,
slightly patronizing pity strengthened
by the knowledge that now his saliva
ton was in her hands. Her thoughts
passed on from him to the implacable,
ruthless man who had come back to
her out of the jaws OF death, aud to
whom she was going with the sur
render OF her whole self. And as she
thought of him invisible hands tore
down the veil, and she saw the pic
ture that he had painted of her-saw
1T and shrank from ii even though she
knew that 1t was the insignia of his
power.
Desires eyes opened. They rested
full on her face, and in their recogni-
ton, their pathetic, helpless worship
she regained herself and the heights OF
her virtue. She bent over him.
Are you better, Desire?"
Sylvia" His hand CROPPED feebly
for hers. She touched it kindly. She
would not reproach him. She was for
giving him. He was going to die
And then she would be free. She did
not think of her freedom. 1t was like
a hidden pulse-beating persistently.
feverishly.
81 heard you CALL" she said. us
there anything want? The nurse will
be back in a moment"
he caressed her hand with an in
finite tenderness.
"They are going to shoot him at
daybreak," he said very gently And
then all will be well, will it not? You
will forget him. You will learn to
understand-everyt We shall be-
gin new life together in a new world,
my wife. There will be no shadow
between us whers we are going"
She shrank from him, half in horror,
half in vague fsar. He was dying
and he seemed 40 sure. He did not
ask for forgiveness; there was no re-
morse in his sunken eyes-rather a
grave, serene pity. His hand still
held hers. There was a power in its
weakness which terrified her; she fell