Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-12-06

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who love me, did these two disobey? |
| pray you. tell me i'm vision"
/ She shook her head and sighed. Sad
ness seemed to have crept over her,
| like cold mist from the night. 1t
was as If she could dmly see her
plans foredoomed, and yet hoped on in
| spite of ii. The fatalism that she
scOrned as Muhammad's lie held her
| In its grip, and her natural courage
fought with it. Womanlike, she turned
to King in that minute and coniided TO
him her very inmost thoughts. And he,
| without an inkling as to how she must
fail yet knew that she must, and pitied
her.
Have you seen that breast under
the armor?" she asked suddenly.
Come nearer! Come and look. Did
she kill him? Was that Il dagger-stab
in his breast? | found perfume in
these caves-great jars of 1t, and use
1t always. ] think that scent is the
preventative. Athelstan-lsten
think he would have failed her!
think she stabbed him rather than see
! him fail. and then swallowed poison
| Afterward their servants laid them
| there. She smiles in death because She
knew the wheel will turn and that
! death dies too. He looks grim be-
/ cause he knew less than she. Ii is al
ways woman who understands and
man who fails, think she stabbed
/ him. She should have loved him bet
4 ter, and then there would have been
no need. will love you better than
she loved him!"
She turned and devoured him with
+ her eyes. SO that II needed all his mali
hood to hold him back from being her
slave that minute. For in that min
ute >she left no charm uncxercised--
sex mesmcrisn beauty - iiattery
Cher eyes could flatter as n dumb dog s
f,atter huntsman) grace unutterahle
--mystery-she used every art on him
I she knew. Yet he stood the test.
Even If you fail me. wel-beloped,
will love YOU The gods who gave
you me will know how to make you
! love. and lessons are to learn. II YOU
I fail me | will forgive, knowing that in
the end the gods will never let you fail
/ me! You are mine, and earth is ours,
! for the old gods intend it sO!'
| She seemed to expect him to take her
/ In his arms again; but he stood re-
spectfully and made no answer nor
| any move. Grim and strong his jowl
was like the Sleeper's, and the dark
hair three days old on it softened moth.
1 Ing Of It's lines HIS Roman nose and
steady, dark, full eyes suggested no
/ compromise. Yet he was good to look
| ut. She had not lied when she said
I she loved him, and he understood her
and was sorry. But he did not look
sorry, nor did he offer anyArgument to
I quench her love. He was servant of
the raj; his life and his love had been
indians since the day he first buckled
/ on his spurs, and Yasmini would not
have understood that.
Nor did she understand that. even
surprising he had loved her with all his
! heart, not on any conditions would he
have admitted it until absolutely free,
any more than that if she crucdcd him
he would love her the same. supposing
/ that he loved her at all. Nor did she
trust the "old gods" too well, or let
them work unaded.
Gone with me, AtllelStan!" she said.
She took his arm--found little jeWeled
! slippers in Il closet hewn in the wall
put them on and led him to the cur
tains he had entered by. She led down
the steps, and at the foot told him to
put on his slippers, MS if he we're Il
child. Then, hurryinG aa If those opal
/ eyes of hers We're Indifferent to dark
or daylight, she picked her way among
powders that he could feel but not
see, along floor that was only smooth
in places. for Il distance that was long
enough by two or three times to lose
him altogether. When he looked back
/ there was no sign of red lights behind
him. And when he looked forward,
there was a dim outer light in front
and Whit of the cool fresh air that
presages the dawn!
She led him through gap on TO n
ledge of rock that hung thousands of
| feet above the home of thunder. n
ledge less than six feet wide, less thnn
twenty long, tilted back toward the
cliff. There they sat. watching the
stars And there they saw the dawn
come.
Morning looks down into Khinlan
hours after the sun has risen, because
the precpices shut II out. But the
peaks on every side are very beacons
OF the range at the earliest peep Of
dawn. In silence they watched days
herald touch the peaks with rosy Jew
eled fingers--shc waiting as If she ex-
pected the marvel of it all to make
King speak,
II was cold She came and snug
ged close to him, and 1t was so they
watched the sparkle of dnwn's Jewels
die and the peaks grow gray again, she
with an arm on his shoulder and
strands of her golden hair blown past
his fnce.
| OF what are you thnking?' she