The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-06-24
Pat one-(continued)

tall For . few moments q faIntneas
came over her, and the whole room
appeared misty and dim.
Ah0 heard that he was tanc1nE,
and GhS tried to Listen, but tho
words ran into each other. and Ihs
ooold not disconnece them He did
1oG know the depth Of her emotion,
Tor aha Was seated upright IN heR
chair, and hor eyes were ftDed upon
. picture on the opposite vaIl, Al
most SxprOssionlesa.
he was repeating 70 herself, ia
must not be told; I must keep Il
from him" Yet at the same time
there was q great yearning upon
her to speak. 1T was no marriage;
he has no claim upon you" It was
a. II two voices were talking within
her, and the second, answering the
drBt whispered: SHe Il no Born
dAla. Were II not better for y0a.
Tar better, II he had q claim?'
Married 70 EstheR.
Il accepted the offer" continued
Basil. almost mechanically, and Il
u my having done this that consti-
tutea the confession wished to
make 70 you Did do so very
Vrong7 The old man had q speciouS
tongue, and the argument about the
annuity was forcible. I refused at
6rSt, hotly, angrily. To what was
I laying myself open by consenting
TO his proposal I asked the question,
q sign OF weakness in itself It was
not running the smallest danger,
he said. The marriage was q mere
form, that had to be gone through
for family reasons. Was II likely
that . serious marriage would be
contemplated when the groom was
20 Obviously out OF his senses2 The
ceremony would take place in . dis
used church. and at night; to an
tntent8 and purposes It was play
acting. In any case how could IL
eRect met No one would know that
for An hour had filled another
character. Immediately after the
function might 60, and, II kept
my own mouth shut, should never
hear another word Of the whole
business. Only there would be .
settled g, 800 . year, which I should
be able TO draw from . certain
bank for the rest Of my life.
"'How about the bride? asked
VIII not she have to be q party to
the decoptionr He told me no. There
was no intention that the bride
should remain with her husband, or,
indeed. ever see him again I must
wear 4 long oVercoat, and see to 1t
that my face was concealed, then no
one would notice that matters were
not passing Off exactly as they had
been arranged. Ny hair, luckily.
was the same color as Basil Clare's
II was told then for the first time
the name OF my patient It was q
good thing, too, that our Christian
names were the same.
A Startling Proposal
"I know that my proposal Is .
startling one the old man said.
but II you will consider it reason
ably, you will see there Is nothing
Do terrible in It after all merely
ask you to help US out Of a difri-
Guilty. The case is in q nutshell
For a reason which cannot well ex-
plain to you It Is necessary for this
young man to go through the cere-
mony Of marriage with a lady
whom he will not see again-the
whole business has been arranged
merely for the sake OF expediency.
AZ he is too i'll to play his part I
ask you to take his place. No one
VIII be tie wiser. You will have
done him q good turn, harmed no
one, and helped yourself very ma
tsrially. Come, what do you sayF
1T was q long while before I
yielded Believe me, Mrs Bora
dale, did not jump at the
idea. In spite OF the reward that
was offered me. Do not despise me-
for IT" Basil Fleetwood lowered
his voice to a tone OF earnest, pas
n0nate entreaty. you may Judge
me more harsaly because in some
way which do not yet understand
my action may have affected you or
the family to which you belong. but
will you try to consider II as II
this were not the case? 1 wished
to have your verdict on this mat
ter. whether for good or Ill. and
It was that which induced me to
speak of it wished you to know
me as I am, and I presumed upon
the friendship you have shown me
to tell you of my shortcomings
They say that confession is good
for a man. and have longed to
make this confession. but, till
met you. there was no one In whom
i cared TO COnuoe.
Then you came into my life and
proved yourself kind and symps-
thetic, and soon I wanted to talk
as q man will talk-about my own
Affairs I felt I must tell you all
about myself. good and bad I kept
this secret of mine until today be-
cause I knew you were going away
and could say to me-if you so de-
sired-that you had seen enough OF
the friendship OF such q man I
knew the possibility OF your saying
this. but all the same I had to
speak. And now that you know my
weakness, Mrs. Borradale. how I
accepted this money, conscious that
I might be lending myself to .
crime, protesting to believe all that
ne old man told me, solactng my
conscience with the assurance that
I was harming no one-now that
you know all this, WIN you still
DO kind 70 me; VIII you forgiven
Esther was forcing herself 70
listen; Il was difficult to DO 50.
for those two voices within her
maintained their wordy strife, the
one telling her that this man must
be put out OF her life, that he did
not know and must never know the
part he had played that night, the
other whispering that he was not
to blamo-whRt had he done moro
than she had done hersslf7
II he had accepted a bPIb0 from
sheer want had she not also yielded
To the same induoemsht?