The Lamar register., 1917-09-19

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promptly communicate any further In
telligence on this subject that came
his way.
On the following day Dawes duties
called him TO Brownsville, where court
was IN session. He had planned to
leave by the morning train; but as he
continued to mediate over Strange's
words, lie decided that, before going,
he ought to advise Alaire of the fell
lows suspicious in order that she
might discharge Jose Sanchez and In
other ways protect herself against his
possible spite. Since the matter was
one that could not well be talked over
by telephone. Dave determined to go
In person to Las Palmas that evening.
Truth to say, he was hungry to see
Alaire. By this time he had almost
ceased to combat the feeling she
aroused in him, and it was in obedience
TO an impulse far stronger than friend
ly anxiety that he hired a machine and,
shortly after dark, took the river road.
The Fates are malicious jades. They
delight IL playing ill-natured pranks
upon US. Not content with spinning
and measuring and cutting the threads
Of our lives to suit themselves, they
must also tangle the skein, causing us
to cut capers to satisfy their whims.
At no time since meeting Alalre had
Dave Law been more certain of his
moral strength than on this evening;
at no time had his grip upoa himself
seemed firmer. Nor had Alalre the
least reason to doubt her self-controI.
Dave, to be sure, had appealed to her
fancy and her interest; IN fact, he so
dominated her thoughts that the i'm
agiuury creature whom she called her
dream-husband had grad lally taken on
his physical likeness But the idea
that she was in any way enamored
OF him had never entered his mind. In
such wise do the Fates amuse them
selves.
Alaire had gone to her favorite after
dinner refuge, a nook on one of the
side galleries where there was a wide,
swinging wicker couch; and there. in
restful obscurity fragrant with flow
cIs, she had prepared to spend the
evening with her dreams.
She did not hear Dawes automobile
arrive. Her first intlmation Of his
presence came with the sound of his
heel upon the porch. When he ap-
pearcd, 1t wus almost like the mate
rializatIou OF her uppermost thought
quite as II a figure from her fancy had
stepped forth fun-clod.
q ~
did you know 1 wanted to see your
she inquired.
Dave took nor hand ana looked down
ot her. framing a commonplace reply.
Iut for some reason the words lay un-
spoken upon his tongue. Alaire's in
formal greeting her parted lips, the
welcoming Light in her eyes. had sent
lhgu living. It seemed to him that the
dim hgf-lIght which illumined this
nook emauated from her face and her
person, TINT the fragrance which came
To his nostriIs was the perfume of her
breath, and at the prompting Of these
thoughts an his smothered longings
gs if at a signal. As mutinOus
prisoners In Jail delivery oyerpower
their guards, so did Dawes long-re-
pressed emotions gain the upper hand
of him now, and so swift was their
uprising that he could not summon
more than feeble, pauicly resistance.
The awkwurdnoss of the pause which
followed Alaira's inquiry strengthened
the rebellion Impulses within him, and
quite uucoHsci0usly his friendly grasp
upon her fingers tIEhtened. For heI
part, as She saw this sudden change
sweep over him, her own face altered
and she felt something within her
breast leap Into life. No woman could
have failed TO read the meaning of his
sudden agitation, and, strange to say
Il worked u similar state of feelins