The daily Alaskan., 1918-09-12

smooth road, and It's sole occupant was sitting with her hands in her lap, looking dreamily out at the landscape and the rows of houses that they passed. Many one passing by on the sidewalk might have enyied the lovely young woman who sat there, so slen- der and aristocratic, in the little brown car, but she herself was not even con sclous of the looks, whether envious or admlring, that were cast in her dlrec- tion.
 If, as the poets say, "the eyes are mirrors of the soul" then 1t was very apparent that Elaine Hargrave was not happy, for the sad, far-away eX- pression on her face told its own story.
 As the machine turned the corner of the street, however she began to take more interest in her surroundings, and she watched carefully the houses she passed.
 Suddenly she leaned forward and spoke to the chauffeur.
 "Stop, Jacques" she commanded, sharply, "at the house 'To Let.'"
 The brakes ground sharply, and Elaine stepped out at once. She looked again and drew in her breath quickly. A wave of crimson flooded her face. The chauffeur wondered at the sudden order, for they were al- ready late for dinner, and he did not think that his mistress could possibly want to look at this empty house.
 The glory of a perfect spring day was over all the out-Of-doors. It seemed a day to tempt anyone to remain In the open, and drink In to the full the beauties of bountiful nature, but evi- dently this did not attract the girl, for she mounted the steps of the house at once.
 She looked around at Jacques after she had rung the bell. ''Wait till l come out" she said. !.
 A slOvenly-looking woman suddenly appeared In response to her ring. She was as dusty looking, somehow, as the house was, and quite as dejected look ing; but Elaine scarcely saw her as she spoke:
 q want to see the house." said the girl. ''I suppose I can go i'm"
 "Well, it's gettin' pretty late, mum, and I don't think as you'd be seein' much," replied the old woman.
 "You can give me your candle" said Elaine, quickly, as she slipped coin into the not over clean hand, and with a little gasp, the woman yielded. . The front door was opened and Elaine went through the passage and glIded upstairs like ghost, the woman promptly returning to the lower re- gions, whence she had come. Light Ing the dirty candle from a gas Jet burning in the paSsageway, Elaine went from one room to another with quick, nervous haste. Her face was quite colorleSs, but her eyes burned with a feverish light that made her seem very different from the brilliant lady of fashion that most people knew as Elaine Hargrave. Here she was but a girl; and face to face with memory, a memory that was still alive after three years of bitter struggle-the struggle of trying to forget. .' z.
 For today was the third anniversary of what was to have been Elaine liar. graves wedding day, but that wedding never took place; and on the third anniversary of "what might have been," as Elaine expressed 1t herself, and just home from travels that had taken her into the faraway corners of the world, the girl had become pos sessed with the desire to see the place that once she had expected to call "home."
 She stopped for q moment in her fitting from room to room and looked about her. Here, but three short years before, she had planned to come as a happy bride, and here she had left the man she loved after their bitter quar- rel, called him Puritan" and "Prude," because he would not countenance the ways of her "set" How empty and false were the ways of that very same set, she had come bitterly to realize, just as In her heart of hearts she had come to respect all the more the man who would not bow down to them. And how empty was her heart as well ]
 She could see him plainly, if she but shut her eyes for a moment, as he stood before her that day so long ago, so tall and proud and good to look at. She had always taken such pride In his good looks, all the more so because he had not belonged to her "set," but had come to the city unknown, and had worked up to an enviable position. She could almost hear again his earnest voice as he remonStrated with her on that last fateful day in this house.
 "T know that I do not belong to this set that you seem to think so much of, dear" he said, land perhaps that Is why I find it so hard to accustom myself to the things that they do, but am certain that have too much regard for the woman who Is to be my