Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-11-17

log, ana she mad given her all TO some
one else.
In the doorway he turned and looked /
back at her with haggard eyes. II was
as If he were impressing on his mem
CRY every light and shadow Of her
face; every line of her straight young
figure. Then he went ont into thae I
darkest hour OF the night that pre-
cedes the dawn.
For the first time since his injury /
Wards mind was quite clear. He had /
not been able to sleep, and the nurse /
had been reading to him. Strange read /
ing, too, for the assistant rector Of |
Saint Jude's. The books old Hilary |
had kept on his bedside stfIl lay there.
Even the nurse, accustomed to
many books for many men, was gently |
outraged.
Ward lay in HIS bed, his eyes half
closed, listening lutently. At last the
nurse put down the book.
why, it's frightful, it's outrageous.
it's biasphemous! Do you really think
should read you any more of themT'
Ward smiled feebly.
aft you are afraid Of the effect on
you"
/ mot at all" said the nurse almost
sharply and picked up the book again.
Ward lay back on his pillows and
listened to the age-old arguments.
: So it WIS on such literature as this
that Elinor had been reared! How
fair a plant to have grown thus in the
dark! And as the nurse droned on,
Ward came to realize how natural and
how Inevitable had been her develop
! ment. Reared In such soil, what might
he himself not have become; and
more than that, would he have been
one-half so sweet, 50 tender, so-good3
/ Toward dawn the nurse slept in her
chair. Her cap had fallen q little
p crooked. and the identifying hand Of
sleep had touched away the small fun
rows between her eyes. Plain She was.
/. but kindly and full Of gentleness. Ward,
lying awake. watched her. she was ne
, longer very young. He thought Of the
children who should have chung to her
, broad, fiat bosom and felt the touch Of
her tender hand.
J Then. because, curiouSly enough,
) everything Of gentleness and tender
? ness reminded him Of Einor, his
, thoughts swung round to her, He
closed his eyes, and dreamed the
, dream that had been with him, sub
consciously, all the night To take her
In his arms. and by teaching her love,
: teach her infinite love: by showing
! mercy and forgiveness and great ten
derness, to lead her by these. His at
+. tribute, to the Christ-this was his
n dream.
4 And because it brought hope and
healing aud great peace, after time
he slept. Elinor, standing alone In thJ
T. house outside his door, took courage
$ from his even breathing and venturet
e in. So iiglr was his sleep that she
n dared not touch him She kneIt very
d quietly By the he'd, and kissed the cor
l. ner of his pillow.
V, Ward spent his SabbaticaI year Il
l. Oxford. He had thought 10 find peact
e by exchanging one form Of activity fo
4, another, but with the less arduous du
ties of his work there he had NOR
h time TO think. He found the old pail
T. even greater; his restIessness grew o.
n him. In the three years since Elinor'
o flight he had done many things. II
ie had left Nottingham for New Yorb
g. and could feel his usefulness nov
" only bounded by his strength.
" But the old zest Of life was gone, II
G. was restless, heavier of spirit. Their
D. had been times when he had though
tie that he was forgetting, only TO di;
cover, through q stray resemblance
d. while his heart pounded and his bloc
r. raced, that his Forgetting was only Ii
be numbness Of suffering.
Once, on the Strand in London,
n. came face to face with Boroday. War
ee would never forget that meeting, i
quick hope which died into the oil
OF ache at Boroday's words.
m 81 have not seen her" he said.
oy am always looking. Perhaps she
a wise, 10 break with US all. Still, W
If loved her. / have never married, an
she was like my own child"
or He had taken a clerkship in Loi
don, he said While, of course, he d
not say so, Ward read between h
words that he was done with the o
IL life for good. He held out his har
mt hand the Russian took it.
he "If hear anything" Boroday sal
er. "I'Il let you know. Once or twice 81
he wrote me: from Liverpool once, aft
he she landed, and again from here. The
the police closed up the Dago's plae
II. which was the only way she knew
is reach me. I've never heard since"
"Then you think she may be in En-
IL. fand7" Ward asked eagerly.
not THE Russian shrugged his shouldei
perhaps, If she is living. She "
lad NOT strong. Sometimes / wonder"
So. after all, Ward took an ext
HE pang away with him from the chan
cid meeting. What If. after all, his waite
ing ing aud waiting meant nothing?
she were gone, beyond earthly fin
Ike ingq Death fer him might he begi
,lv ming only. door to eternity. but
the philosophy and hope Of his fai
aid not I'LL his empty human arm
,ee That night he walked the Lond
viii streets until dawn,
~ .