The Benson signal., 1917-02-24

gress is taken up with the debates.
Things are at breaking point. The
president seems likely to get what his
message asked for in the way of tim
Der for shipbuiid- look at
mel"
She looked up, startled at the
change in his voice, and saw what she
had feared-and vaguely longed for
was about to come. David had risen
to his feet. The room seemed sud-
denly filed with tremendous tensity.
Her heart beat uncontrollably she
calmly threaded a needle anew.
"Do you know what failure is?' he
flung at her. The torrent Of his heart
rushed out with the words. II have
struggled" he said harshly, 'but 1
give up now. I work from daylight
to dark, read at night at the law, l
weary myself with arguing with Ike
Blackford. These things ought to
make up my world for me. But they
| don't. There isn't any world for me
unless you" He checked himself,
then began anew. ~ think about my
self. I, I go back over my life-all its
poverty-every miserable line of its
starved existence. And then-I think
about you. / want to know
what right you have to make part Of
my world. It's not your world. I
don't belong there. Why do you come
into mine? You ought not to be in
my thoughts. But you are. can't
drive you out Of my mind. You have
been there ever since I first saw you,
ever since
His voice broke.
From the first wild challenge Of his
gaze she had averted her face and
had listened with bowed head. AS
he paused she threw a frightened
glance at him and saw that the
knuckles of his clenched hands were
whitened with the strain. She tried
to speak but could think of nothing
that she could say. Her hands picked
aimlessly at the threads in her lap.
After a moment he regained control
of his lips and went on, passionately
as before, but with an undercurrent
|
81 have been trying to believe that
I could conquer all this in myself
that it was too preposterous to en-
dure. But instead of that it has
grown stronger .<.. so Strong tnat
it is now everything. You are in ev-
erything do. I cannot keep silent.
II
"Exactly what do you want, Da-
vid?" 1t was a very cool little voice
that broke in on him.
He was wounded to the heart. For
a moment the hurt look in his eyes
struck her with pity. But she steeled
herself and went on:
"I'm afraid don't know just what
you're talking about. Do you mean
that am wronging you in any way?"
A wave of hot anger swept through
him that she could choose to adopt so
pitiful a misconstructiOn. But the
girl was fighting with the weapons Of
her sex, fighting to regain control Of
the situation. He stood very proudly,
waiting to give her an opportunity to
retract.
eff have offended you :"
81 have made a mistake" he said
haughtily. II see that I have been
ridiculous"
She shot frightened glance at him.
Had she gone too far? She forced
herself to go on, still clinging to her
makeshift armor, still hiding behind
her poor little defenses:
"Can you think that do not realize
how hard life is up here on the from
tier? It calls for all that is best and
bravest in us to go on fighting against
heat and cold and hunger, actual
want. But it takes strong men
men who endure and do not COM
plain"
do you think I am whining? You
know I am not" He waved her words
aside impatiently. cit is something
else" He stopped, impotent to ad-
vance in the face Of the travesty of
his passion she had thrown in his
path.
The room was very still. Outdoors
the crickets chirped increasingly. For
a long while they stood facing each
other in silence that rested more and
more heavily upon David's heart.
Toinette raised her eyes timidly.
| Davids look had not changed; it
seemed to enfold her with a mighty
passion of wounded love, proud, suf-
fering, pleading to be understood.
She spoke again, falteringly:
"We shall always be friends, shall
we not?'
There was no answer. She waited,
not daring to raise her eyes from the
| ground. She heard him move slowly
across the room, heard the latch lifted
and the door opened; heard his deep,
grave voice saying goodby, as in a
dream; heard the door close.
There swept over her the realiza-
ton of all that he had suffered and
risked for her, all the fine manliness
that lifted him above the poverty of
his life. The silent room seemed to
accuse her with hundred inscrutable