The Tomahawk., 1917-12-20
CHAPTER XV-Continued.

your ullAu. IOI LWO aSIS Jou AAeA'S
been asked to focus your attention
upon the increasing brutality Of the
marquis Remember that, won't you2"
Not likely to forget it" John re-
piled. glow well they all act"
There was a quarter of an hours
Interval before the curtain rose again.
Rumors concerning the last act had
been floating about for weeks, and the
house was almost tense with excite
ment as the curtain went up. The
scene was the country chateau of the
A'Marquls de Guy" who brought
noisy crowd of companions from Paris
without any warning. His wife showed
signs of dismay at his coming. He
had brought with him women whom
she declined to receive.
The great scene between her hus-
band and herself took place in the
square han Of the chateau, on the first
floor. Louise reaffirms her intention
of leaving the house. Her husband
laughs at her. Her position is hope
less.
"What can you dog" he mocks.
! She shrugs her shoulders and passes
into her room. The marquis sinks upon
b settee, and presently is Joined by
one Of the ladies who have Travelled
with him from Paris. He talks to her
pf the pictures upon the wall. She is
impatient to meet the Marqufse de
Guy.
The marquis knocks at his wife's
door. Her voice is heard clearly, after
a moments pause.
I'm few minutes - she replies.
The marquis resumes his Irritation.
His companion becomes Impatient
the marquis has pledged his word that
she should be re.eived by his wife. An
ancient enmity against the Marqu1se
de Guy prompts her to insist.
The marquis shrugs his shoulders
and knocks more loudly than ever at
his wife's door. She comes out dressed
FOR travel and ia met by Faraday, who
suddenly appears.
"You asked Eae what I could do"
she says, pointing to her lover: 'You
see now!''
There was a moments GREATNESS ST.
lence through the house. The scene In
Itself was little beyond anything that
the audience had expected. Sophy,
who had been leaning over the edge Of
the box, turned around In no little
anxiety. She heard the door slam.
John had disappeared!
He left the theater with only his hat
In his hand, turning up his coat by in
stinct as he passed through the driving
rain. All his senses seemed tingling
with some nameless horror. The bril-
Nance Of the language, the subtlety of
the situation, seemed like some evil
trail drawn across that one horrible
climax It was Louise who had come
from that room and pointed to Fara-
day!
He reached his rOOmS-he scarcely
knew how-and walked upstairs. There
he threw off some of his dripping gar
ments, opened the window wide, and
stood there.
EIe looked out over the Thames, and
there was a red flare before his eyes.
Stephen was right, he told himself.
There was nothing but evil to be found
here, nothing but bitter disappoint-
ment, nothing but the pain which deep
ems into anguish. Better to remain
like Stephen, unloving and unloved, to
draw nearer to the mountains, to find
Joy In the crops and the rain and the
sunshine, to listen stonily to the cry
of human beings as if to some voice
from an unknown world.
He leaned little further from the
window, and gazed into the court at
dizzy depth below. He had cut himself
hdrift from the peace which might have
been his. He would never know again
the joys Of his earlier life. It was for
this that he had fought so many bat
ties, chung so tightly to one fdeal-for
Louise, who could show herself to any
one who cared to pay his shilling or
his half-guinea, glorying in her dis
honor; verse than glorying in it-find-
ing some subtle humor in the little ges-
ture with which she had pointed, un-
ashamed, to her lover.
John bent little lower from the
window. A sudden dizziness seemed
TO have come over him. Then he was
forced to turn around. His door had
been quickly opened and shut. It was
Sophy whs was crossing toward him,
the rain streaming from her ruined
opera cloak.
"John r. she cried. "Oh, joint"
She led him back to his chair and
knelt by his side. She held his hands
tightly.
'sYou mustn't feel like this" she
sobbed; "you mustn't, John, really
You don't understand. It's all play.
Louise wouldn't really do anything like
that!"
He 'shivered. Nevertheless, he
clutched her hands and drew her closer
to him.
do, please, listen to me-" she
begged '1t's all over. Louise is her
self again-Louise MaureL The Mar
,quise de Guy never lived except upon
those boards. It is simply wonderful