The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1917-04-26
CHAPTER xvI.-continued.
ID

anu thinking. Don't 1fot ABOUT ule.
When | feel able, will come down
to YOU
LAS you will" he assented, unspeak-
ably relieved; and returned to the
Kitchen.
Sunset interrupted his thoughts
sunset and his wife. Sounds Of
someone moving quietly round the
kitchen, soft clash Of dishes, the
rafting of the crate, drew him back
60 the door.
She showed him a face Of calm re-
straint and implacable resolve.
"Hugh"-he, roice had found q new,
sweet level of gentleness and strength
-'T just want "a to tell you how sorry
am. I've lex you go without your
lunch"
SWELL" he admitted with a short
laugh, Tin famished ~
She paused, regarding him with her
whimsical, indulgent smile. "You
strange creature!" she said softly.
Are you angry with me-impatient-
for this too facile descent from heroics
~ the commonplace? BE patient with
me, dear"
But, alarmed by his expression, her
words stumbled and ran out. She
stepped back a pace. little flushed
knd tremulous.
Hugh! No, Hugh, NOT"
Don't be afraid of me-" he said,
farming away. Il don't mean to bother.
unly-at times"
II know, dear; but it must not be-"
Shall you make fire again to.
nightT' she asked, when they had con-
Guided the meal.
"In three Places" he said. We'll
not stay another day for want of let
ting people know we're here. I'll go
now. When you are ready"
Il shant be long" she said.
When it was quite dark, Whitaker
brought a lantern to the door and
t,Alled her, and they went forth to-
srther.
AS he had promised, he had built
UP three towering pyres, widely apart.
When all three were in full roaring
flame, their illumination was hot and
glowing over all the upland. 1t
seemed impossible that the world
should not now become cognizant of
their distress.
At some distance to the north of
the greatest fire-that nearest the
farm-house-they sat as on the previ-
GUS night, looking out over the black
and unrespOnsive waters, communing
together in undertOnes. S
In that hour they learned much of
one another; much that had seemed
strange and questionable assumed, in +
The understanding Of each, the COM 4
Dletion of the normal and right. Whit
lker spoke at length and in much de- t
all of his Willful Missing years with q
1ut seeking to excuse the wrong-mind- a
I'd reasoning which had won him his i
)wn consent to live under the mask /
If death. He told of the motives that n
aad prompted his return, of all that
lad happened since in which she had a
lad no part-with a single reserva- h
ion. One thing he kept back; the |,
ime for that was not yet. d
A listener In his turn, he heard the f
history of the little girl of the Com
lercial House breaking her heart /"
gainst the hardness of life in what b
t first seemed utterly futile endeavor a
o live by her own efforts, asking 81
othing more of the man who had a
iven her his Aame. in
He learned of the coming of Max, W
is interest in her, the indefatigable W
aims he had expended coaching her 81
} bring out the latent ability his own
enius OWNED; of the initial perform al
nee of "JOan Thursday" before q "
Ieager and Indifferent audience, her
Istant triumph and subsequent con. fo
nest of the country in half q dozen VI
idely dissimilar roles; finally of her hs
ecision to leave the stage when she sa
arried, for reasons comprehensive,
,manding neither exposition nor de- to
nee.
at doesn't matter any longer" she
mmented, concluding: Il loved and cIi
hated it. 1t was deadly and il was I
DVious. But IT no longer matters.
is finished; Sara Law is no more" up
''You mean never TO go back TO the
lge7" He
Never" yOl
And yet" he unused craftiIy. he
'NeverI- She fell blindly into his har
p. Il promised myself long ago
Il II ever ] became a wife "