Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-02-15
hut they were for von =,

But they were for your
They are not any the less mine be-
cause L am letting other people have
chance to enjoy them"
Under all his gayety he was curieus-
~ diff1dent with her. All the pretty
speeches he would have made to Car
lotta under the circumstances died be-
fore her frank glance.
Sidney eyed him, half amused half
hurt.
What have l done, Max? Is If bad
for discipline for US TO be good
friends?'
Cariotta was watching them from
the chapel. Something in her ewes
reused the devil of mischief that al
ways slumbered in him.
MY cars been stalled in a snow
drift downtown since early this MORN
ing, and have Eds Peggy in q sleigh.
Put on your things and come for a
ride"
He hoped Carlotta could hear what
he said: to be certain of it, he ma
liciously raised his voice trife.
Just little rum" he urged. Put
on your warmest things"
Sidney protested. She was TO he
free that afternoon until six O'Clock .
but she had promised to go home,
*. is alone"
TX. can sit with Christine. Ten to
one, he's with her now"
The temptation was very strong. She
had been working hard all Gay. The
heavy odor Of the hospital, mingled
with the scent Of pine and evergreen
in the chapel, made her dizzy. The
fresh outdoors called her. And. be-
sides, if K. were with Christine
''Its forbidden, isn't it?"
II believe it is" He smiled at her.
"And yet, you continue to tempt me
and expect me to yield"
Zone of the most delightful things
about temptation is yielding now and
them
After all, the situation seemed alb
surd Here was her old friend and
neighhor asking TO take her out for
daylight ride. The swift rebellion of
youth against authority surgad I'D in
Sidney.
VERY we'll; I'll CO."
Carlotta had gone by that time
gone with hate in her heart and black
despair. She knew very we'll what the
issue would be- Sidney would drive
with h;'n' Dad h" r'01ld tell her how
Low eIy she looked with the air on her
face and the snow about her. The
Jerky motion of the little sleigh would
throw them close together. How we'll
she knew 1t all He would touch Sid
ney's hand daringly and smile in her
eyes. That was his method: to play at
love-making like an audaciOus boy, I'M
til quite suddenly the cloak dropped
and the danger was there.
If she could get Sidney out of the
hospital, it would simplify things. She
surmised shrewdly that on the Street
their interests were wide apart. 1t was
here thas they met on common ground.
CarlOtta gave the five-o'cIock medi-
cineS. Then she sat down at the table
near the door, with the tray in front Of
her. There are certain thoughts that
are at first functions of the brain;
after long time the spinal cord takes
them up and converts them into acts
almost automatically. Perhaps because
for the last month she had done the
thing so often in her mind, its actual
performance was almost without con-
sciOus thought
CarlOtta took a bottle from her
medicine cupboard, and, writing d new
label for it, pasted it over the old one.
Then she exchanged it for one Of the
same size on the medicine tray.
Throughout the dining room busy
and competent young women came and
ate, hastily or leisurely as their oppor-
tunfty was, and went on their way
again. In their hands they held the
keys, not always of life and death per-
hapS, but of ease from pain, of tender
ness, Of smooth pillows, and cups of
water to thirsty lips. In their eyes,
as in Sidney's, burned the light Of serv-
ice. The supper room was filed with
their soft voices, the rustic of their
skirts, the CLEAN Of their stiff white
caps.
When Carlotta came in, she greeted
none Of them. They did not like her,
and she knew it,
Before her, instead Of the tidy sup,
per table, she was seeing the medicine
tray as she had left it.
81 guess I've fixed her." she said to
herself.
Her very soul was sick with fear of
what she had done.
CHAPTER XIV.