Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-22

says: There Abram. I've sat up long
enough"
when my father retires before his
time or goes to bed without a final
man. Abram.''
That he will, Mr. Roger; that he
VIII. But he's very feeble tonight. very
feeble. 1 noticed that he gave the boy
fewer kisses than usual. Perhaps he
was put out because the child was
brought IN half-hour earlier than
the stated time. You know, Mr.. Roger.
he don't like changes. 1 hardly dared
to tell him that the servants were
all going in bunch tonight
I'm sorry" muttered Roger. But he
will forget it by tomorrow. I couldn't
bare to keep single one from the con
cert They'll be back in good season
worth half a dozen of them. Miss
Strange We shall miss nothing"
Thank you, Mr.. Roger. thank you,
faltered the old man. Il try to do my
at Violet, who looked very sweet and
youthful In the haif-ught. he pottered
away.
The silence which followed his depart
ure was as painful to her as to Roger
Fpjohn. When she broke 1t it was with
this decisive remark:
THAT man must not speak Of me to
your father Run after him and tell him
so. 1t Is necessary that your father s
mind should not be taken r,p with present
happenings. Run"
Roger made haste to obey her. When
he came back she was on the point Of
joining her brother. but stopped to utter a
final injunction:
Il shall have the library or wherever
we may be sitting. just as the clock
strikes half-past eight. Arthur will do
the same, as by that time he will feel
like smoking on the terrace. Do not fol-
low either him or myself. but take your
stand here on the piazza, where you can
get full view Of the rlght-hand wing
without attracting any attention to your
self When you hear the big clock In the
hall strike nine. look up quickly at your
fathers window. What you see may de-
terrnine- But I find It chilly Let us
go In"
Roger 1Tpjohn, sitting by himself in the
library. was watching the hands OF the
mantel clock slowly approaching the hour
of nine.
Never had silence seemed more opprcs-
sive nor his sense OF loneliness greater
Yet human presence was no farther away
than the terrace. where Arthur Strange
could be seen smoking out his cigar In
solitude. The silence and tho loneliness
were In Rogers soul: and. In the face of
the expected revelation, which would
make or unmake his future. the desoa-
ton they wrought was measureless
TO cut short HIS suspense. ne rose ut
length and hurried out to the spot desis-
mated by Miss Strange the best point
from which to keep watch upon his fla
Tiers window. II was at the end of the
piazza where the honeySuckle hung and
the odor OF the blossoms so pleasing to
his father well nigh overpowered him. not
only by its sweetness but by the many
memories 1t called up. Visions of that
father as he looked at all stages of their
relationship passed In n bewildered maze
before him. He saw him as he APP
peared in his childish eyes in those early
days of confidence when the loss of the
mother cast them in mutual dependence
upon each other. Then a sterner picture
OF the relentless parent who sees but one
straight course to success in this world
and the next. Then the teacher and the
matured advisers and then-oh, bitter
change! the man whose hopes he had
crossed-whose life he had undone, and all
for her who now came stealing ipon the
scene with her slim, white, jeweled hand
forever lifted between them. And she,
Had he ever seen her more clearly? Once
more the dainty figure stepped from
maryland, beauteous with every grace
that can allure and finally destroy a man.
And as he saw, he trembied and wished
that these moments of awful waiting
might pass and the test be over which
would lay bare his fathers heart and
justify his fears or dispel them forever.
But the crisis, If crisis it was, was
one of his own making and not to be
FASTENED or 6Hadsd. With epA aSaiq}s