The Washington herald., 1918-12-15

because she feels her various short
cOmings under appraisement, when
ever masculine eyes are upon her. and
becomes confused and i'll at ease"
Maud knew how RebeCCa hated to
blush.
An exclamation from her husband,
however. put an end to her soIiloquy.
What is it?" she asked.
The humor had all died out of Mr..
BiIly's face
Martin is blind" he said.
Blind. o Billy. it can't be-
For answer he read aloud an ac-
count of the illness of their friend,
Martin Lewis. who had, been in Cali
fOrnia for several months They had
wondered for some time at his pro-
longed silence, as had many of his
friends. Now the cause was printed
out boldly in the morning papers for
all the world to read, that is. all the
world save Martin; he would never
read again; hf was blind. A tumor
at the base of the brain had de-
stroyed the optic nerve. That IL was
irremediable was the ultimatum Of the
best eye specialists that money could
command.
Oyerwork the Cause.
"Billy. that is fearful, fearful! Why,
Billy, it might just as easily have been
you You overwork continually That's
what has caused IT with Martin
overwork on that horrid railroad
case"
Mrs. Billy came around the table,
and under pretense of reading the ac-
count for herself, laid her head
against her husbands and encircled
his neck with her arm.
That he understood, he showed by
dropping the paper and drawing her
face around until he could see her
eyes.
What's the matter silly girl? Are
you crying for Martin or because it
might have been I?''
He kissed her.
go back and finish that chop" he
ordered, with mock severity, as he
picked up the paper again.
Il had no idea that it was as seri-
Gus as that" he said. Poor old Mar
tin, blind for life!'
Il can't realize it, Billy"
Mrs. Haverhin crumbled her toast
abstractedly.
though. she found it difficult to grasp
IL,
always in the dark
Forced His CheerfuIness.
See here, Maud" her husband cast
>the paper. upon the table and spoke
with forced cheerfulness. you mustn't
talk that way. you know. Some things
are so final that all one can do is to
accept them-as one does death.
There is no getting away from them.
In a sense this is as though Martin
had died"
"Oh. Billy, how dreadful to look
at it in that way.''
"I know it." he said, but it is so,
nevertheless. We must just treat it
as a matter of course. That will help
him most of all. The majority of
men-if they are men-don't care for
too much sympathy In a matter of
this kind. My advice is, when we
meet him again. to follow his lead and
not sympathize too much. Cad, but
it's hardi I suppose that he will
buck up though and bear it like a
Spartan. That's Mart He will return
from California next week"
But we will seem so cold. Billy,
end heartless. 1 know that 1 shall
want to cry"
You mustn't, Maud. What we can
do Is to make definite plans to enter
tain him in some way; keep his mind
occupied. Expend some of your in
genuity on that 1t will mean more to
him than sympathy"
|, CHAPTER II.
Dear Becky
I've proposition to make. Now
please don't grow excited until you
hear all. every bit of it
I've spoken to you of Martin Lewis
You know, 1 wanted you to meet him.
thought that you and he would be
congenial. Well. my dear, . most
dreadful thin h<.s happenad La 1.