Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-07-29

| 10 say, II matters more than anything
| personal. No personal thing could
matter more than love, Of course"
What is this thing that's so valu-
able?" demanded Molly.
all"
"An idea?" echoed Molly.
| Yes IL may be work, or what
| people call honor-and honor leads
one into strange places somtimes.
| But it's just an idea-or an ideal II
| you prefer IT, Somthing In the nina,
and everything has to give way 10 II.
| Ideas are more important than any
! thing personal. Molly. That's what
| you haven't found out"
Molly sat loking up ut him in sill
ence. This was surely not the chris
she had known. her gay lover Chris,
! VIVA had always laughed and 1okeu
! with her and seemed too blase and
! Indifferent to the rest of the world
! He looked very grave. almost stern.
and yet something in his eyes told her
he was being fond OF her exactly the
same as ever. Could he possibly talk
| like that If he were a German spy.
she wondered. He had not been aDle
| to bring single proof Of his inno-
cence, he had not attempted to. Well,
unless he were the most consummate
! hyprocrite-was he?-after all, he
had lied TO her about Mrs. Lee all day,
| but then he had lied badly, she had
known there was somthing behind II.
/ Chris took the map gently from her
lax fingers.
shall we say no more about II until
! tomorrow. Molly?" he asked. Mean
| while I'll take charge of this. You
don't know what fire you have been
| playing with. my dear"
| All Molly's suspicious came surging
| back at her, but not personal suspi-
| cions tins time. She had actually for
gotten the issues between Mrs. Lee
ard Brent in the dread lest 1t were
/ true that Chris was, after all, that
most contemplate of beings-a man
spying against his own country. She
snatched the map back from him.
Chris, ] can't let 1t go at that: you
can't talk me over oh. ! don't know
| what to think. I'm so miserable. Do
! tell me the truth and let me help
you. II YOU don't father"
We'll, what do you mean, what's he
going to do?"
"Oh. you know what he is He's
going straight to the police to have
you arrested"
II say" said Brent thoughtfully,
that would be awkward. That might
have very unpleasant consequences IN
deed" He kept his hand over hers,
which still held the map, and thought
rapidly. To tell Molly the truth was
out Of the question. She was too
young, too inexperienced in hiding
her feelings for that to be safe. In
fact, IT would be utterly unjustiflable.
Better rupture all his personal rela-
tionships than run such risk.
But IL was not the breaking of any
tie which was worrying Brent now.
II was the fact that because of this
bold and unforeseen move on the part
OF the enemy alr>his plans might come
to nothing, the submarine get away,
the house be burned. To take Mr..
| Pollock into his confidence was more
| impossible than to tell Molly. lie
might Just as well shout his secret
| from the houstops He could hardly
help smiling as he imagined how Mr..
| Pollock would think he was behaving
as usual to the Sandersons, while all
the time the glare of his eye. the
purple of his countenance. and his
surprise. Indignation, and alarm woulq
be as plain for the Sandersons to read
as one of their own ciphers.
There was only one chance. and that
was to play on Molly's love for MIN.
If he could make her think that he.
and he alone. was in the game size
might shield him, anyway until to-
morrow, when all could he made plain.
1t was unfortunate that he had been
trying to teach her the sacredness of
an idea over an individual tie, and he
could only hope that her instinct
would triumph over counsel so alien
to her habit of mind and so newly ad-
| ministered.
"Eave you said anything to Mrs.
Lee, Molly?" he asked.
mot yet"
"Then you mustn't. I'll tell you
| why / gave that paper TO Mrs. Lee.
I thought l or my room might be
searched"
Molly gave little cry and snatched
her hands from under his. "You
gave II To her knowing what II was q"
Knowing what it was. She, OF
course, is quite ignorant about It. |
just asked her to take charge of 1t
for me-"
Molly sat looking at him with all
the pretty color vanished from her
| face AT last the truth of his teach
ing had penetrated to her brain. She
had told her father and PennicuiS
only that afternoon that however
| much In the wrong Chris might prove
to be, she would only love him all the
more. Now she knew 1t was not true,
that there are some things which love
cannot survive, because they destroy
the very essence of the person who
was loved. She realized now that sne
had worshiped Chris because he had
always seemed to her above every
other man she had met Now he was
immeasurably lower than her absurd,
pompous, but honest father, lower
than Percy, with his nice, ordinary,
well meaning nature. In flash she
saw that she would have preferred
even an intrigue with Mrs. Lee to this,
Brent saw, and in that moment of
comprehension, altho II made his task
more difficult he realized that un-
known to itself and to him until now,
Molly's spirit was, after all akin 10
| his. She. too. could prefer personal
unhappiness to the loss of an idea.
Molly cried convulsively. leaning
over the arm of the chair farthest
away from him. He could not at
tempt to comfort her. He remained
silent Suddenly thru the horror in
Molly's mind a sudden flash of inspir-
alton came.
Why, how silly she had been to i'm
agine that this terrible thing chris
said of himself could be true. There
could be only one reason for his say
ing It: the onld conventional mans rea-
son. He was doing 1t to shield a
woman, to shield Mrs. Lee. She