The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1917-03-13

opes from various big hotels ah-a 45o
country. They meant nctEinE to III
when I stop at Iotel o5r97s
annex a lot Of its paper ala l5ra.
lopes."
Eyes? And what have you Ear.
sinonious habits to do with our nae.
ent trouble?" queried Freneau IA.
tientIy.
MuIry WAS disguised. "N-hy, 6a7t
you see, you poor Don Juan? yon
take these letterheads AID write 5ve
letters on them to your sick iii -
I take them with me and mai EN-
from the different towns make. -nan
Miss Stafford will think you ara re
Meanwhile you can so away 10 lie
Catskills and meet your tr0uEEa me
Lois. # you can't rig up some storv
to get your letters back from her and
keep her quiet until after you mar
riage, why you're not the little b. iglt
eyes I always took you for. See n0w?"
Freneau Gid see. He was not en-
thusiastic, but this seemed the only
possible way to tide over the present
reef in his way to the harbor CT mat.
rimony.
Freneau was disho0orable. Freneau
was Enthusiastically an adventurer and
what the world calls a cad, but he was
born Of gentle people; he had good
blood in his veins, as his worldly
graces showed. He truly adored Gloria
and wanted only her. There was
sharp torment in the agonies he en-
dured fearing the loss Of her through
his previous sins. His punishment was
not far Off and he was to meet it
with neither peaceful thoughts nor
clear conscience. He had enmeshed
himself in SO complex a web Of in
trigue and wfongdoing that the prob
lem OF escape was ever more complex.
''Who knows? If Gloria had been
a woman w1fch he first saw her, the
woman she now was, instead Of the
child then, she might have saved his
soul and his life. But he had to take
the present as the past gave it to him,
and hope for a future of more straight
forward life.
Late that night in his apartment
Freneau started the batch of love let
tiers and kilograms for Gloria. He be-
came interested in them, and so car
ried away by the fervor he infused
into them that early dawn and his
valet found him asleep at last with
his head resting on sheets of paper
that bore such messages as:
"My darling Gloria: AS I tele-
graphed you, I arrived safely, but
missed you terribly. This week of alb
sence will seem an eternity"
This was on a letterhead of the
Hotel Ten Eyck in albany. Others
were from other hotels. The last one
he had written was on the paper Of
the Fort Pitt hotel, Pittsburgh. In it
he said:
"The eternity of this long week is
over. I return tomorrow to your
arms" 1
He sealed the letters, wondering
what would be the answer to them.
He took them to the Office, and the
next day when Mulry took his train
to Albany he carried with him these
letters. He was we'll pleased with the
network of lies that he and Freneau
had woven to deceive Gloria. But it
is much easier to carry out plots in
fiction than in fact.
David, Lois, and her father, Judge
Freeman, were going to the opera that
night and they stopped to see Gloria
on their way. Gloria was sitting UP.
on her chaise Tongue, still pale and
somewhat weak. She submitted
hor inv I'd f14 ir31
that Lois brushed over Ter cheek.
Then she turned to David and pouted:,
"Oh, dear, some people have all the
luck. You are going to hear Geral.
| dine Farrar in Madame Butterfly
while must lie here doing nothing.
They won't even let me read, the stins
gy old things!" she made a moue at
her nurse. And I do despise to be
read to. Just wait until I get out of
their clutches, I'll make up for this !
I'll be Madame Butterfly all over the
place." ;
David smiled at her innocence In
the allusion to Butterfly, but neither,
he nor Gloria knew that Lieutenant
Pinkerton was white woolly lamb
! compared to Gloria's own lover, FIRE.
neau.
Lois had moved away from Gloria
toward the bedside table, where q
framed photograph Of Freneau looked
tauntfngly at her. A jealous desire for
possession came over her. She longed
to take the image Of the man from
Gloria as well as the man himself.
The whim became Immediately a
necessity to her. She glanced across
at the group about Gloria. No one
was looking her way. A smile curled
at the corners of her lips and a tri-
umphant CLEAN shot for a moment
into her handsome, sullen eyes as she
slipped the picture into her opera bag.
Lois was utterly maddened and des-