The Irish standard., 1916-12-23
CHAPTER XII.

SOoSe~SAs
for her vacation a small town within
easy motoring distance of the city,
and two or three times during her two
weeks off duty Wilson had gone out to
see her. He liked being with her. She
stimulated him. For once that he could
see Sidney, he saw Carlotta twice.
She had kept the affair we'll in hand.
She was playing for high stakes. She
knew quite well the kind of man with
whom she was dealing-that he would
pay as little as possible. But she
knew, too, that, let him want thing
enough, he would pay any price for 1t,
even marriage.
She was very skillful. The very ar
dor IL her face was in her favor. Be-
hind her eyes lurked cold calculation.
She would put the thing through, and
SHOW those pulling nurses, with their
pious eyes and evening prayers, a
thing or two.
During that entire vacation he never
saw her in anything more elaborate
than the simplest of white dresses
modestly open at the throat, sleeves
rolled up to show her satiny arms.
There were no other boarders at the
little farmhouse. She sat for hours
In the summer evenings in the square
yard filled with apple trees that bor-
dered the highway, carefully posed
over book, but with her keen eyes
always on the road. She read Brown
Ing, Emerson, Swinburne. Once he
found her with book that she has
ily concealed. He insisted on seeing
1t, and secured it. 1t was a book on
brain surgery. Confronted with it, she
blushed and dropped her eyes. His de-
lighted vanity found in it the most in
sidious of compliments, as she had in
tended.
II feel such an idiot when I am with
you," she said. II wanted to know a
little more about the things you do"
That put their relationship on a new
and advanced basis. Thereafter he
occasionally talked surgery instead of
sentiment. He found her responsive,
Intelligent. His work, sealed book
to his women before, lay open to her.
Now and then their professional dis
cussions ended in something different.
The two lines Of their interest con-
verged.
"Gad!" he said one day. IT look
forward to these evenings. I can talk
shop with you without either shocking
or nauseating you. You are the most
Intelligent woman know-and one of
the prettiest."
The one element Carlotta had left
out Of her calculations was herself.
She had known the man, had taken the
situation at its proper value. But into
her calculating ambition had come a
new and destroying element. She who,
like X. in his little room on the Street,
had put aside love and the things
thereof, found that it would not put
her aside. BY the end of her short va
cation Carlotta Harrison was wildly in
love With the younger Wilson.
They continued to meet. not as
often rs before, but once week. per-
haps. The meetings were full Of dam
ger now; and if for the girl they lost
by this quality, they gained attraction
for the man. She was shrewd enough
to realize her own situation. The thing
had gone wrong. She cared, and lie
.!id not. It was his game now, not
hers.
All women are intuitive; women IL
love are dangerously so. AS we'll as
she knew that his passion for her was
not the real thing, so also she realized
that there was growing up in his !lc.irt
something akin to the real thing fo!
Sidney Page. Suspicion became Ger
tainty after talk they had cver the
supper table at country rm.lhousc
the day after Christine's wedding.
GLOW was the wedding-tircson,e?"
Thrilling! There's always Some
thing thrilling to he in Il raan tying
himself up for life to Ole woman.
lt's-it's so reckless"
Her eyes narrowed. 'That's not OK
lctly the Law and the Prophets, is it?"
cts the truth. TO think of select
ing out Of all the world one woman
and elactiHg to spend the rest of ones
days With her! although
His eyes looked PAST Carlotta into
distance.
"SiGney Page was enc of the brides
rsai:ls," he said irrelevantly. "She was
lovclier thar the bride"
"I'retty. but stupid" said Carlotta.
81 like her. I've really tried to teach
her things, but-you know" She
shrugged her shoulders.
Doctor Max was learning wisdom.
If there was twinkle in his eye, he
yelled it discreetly. But, once again
In the machine, he bent over and cut
his cheek against hers.
you little cat! You're jealous" he
said exultantly.
Nevertheless, although he might
smile. the image Of Sidney lay vesy
close to his heart those autumn days.
And Carlotta knew it.
. .
Sidney came of night duty the mid.
die Of November. The night duty had
been a time Of comparative peace to
Carlotta. There were no evenings
when Doctor Max could bring Sidney
back to the hosrital in tis ron