Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-11
By VARICK VANARDY
Author Of "The Two. Faced Man,
Alias the Night Wind" etc

Katherine was puzzled and disturbed.
1t did not occur to her that Bel
knap might be watching her own win
dow or that she was visible from the
grounds below. She did at once assume
that he was waiting beneath the senor-
ita window for some sort of signal and
that she desired very much indeed to
see whatever might happen.
However, there were eyes in the
shadows below that did discover her /;
eyes that did not belong to Conrad Bel
knap; eyes that had seen him standing
in the shadow of the balsam as il wait
ing, that had then sought the windows
Of Katherine's room in time to see the
that glowed and burned in the darkness
because of what they had seen and
were sccing-Bingham Harvard's eyes.
Katherine had not thought that Bing
might be somewhere down there. He
was the last person in the world to
watch or spy upon another: and there
was no reason that he could be aware
of why he should watch Beknap.
If she had thought of her husband
not, she would have believed him still
seated on the veranda or gone to his
room and to bed.
1t did occur to her to have a care
lest Bclkrap discover her, but she re
fcctcd that the pink of her neglIgce
would b, like black in the shadow where
she stood and therefore virtually invisi-
bic; nevertheless. she drew the bdrony
chair closer beside her, and was on the
point of seating herself upon it when
an upward glance discovered the sudden
extinguishmcnt of the light in the Sc
norita's room.
She remained in an upright posture
a moment longer to see the better. In
her eagcrness to observe closely she
leaned upon the balcony rail, bending
over it and peering-beieving and at the
same time fearing that Roberta would
come out of her window to keep from
her balcony some sort of tryst with
Bclknap and hoping and praying at
the same time that she was mistaken.
All unknown to her as she bent over
the rail her handkerchief slipped from
beneath her sash where she had tucked
it and futtered to the ground, and, be-
ing white, it attracted the attention of
two pairs of eyes, with a widely diff
fent effect upon them.
Belknap had not seen her until that
happened, and in another moment he
would have betrayed his purpose in be-
ing there. and therefore would have
informed Bing of the fact of his some
what intimate acquaintance with the
SCnOrta--for it had been his inten-
tiOn to call her to her window at the
least
He stepped out from the shadow of
the tree precisely as if the dropped
handkerchief had been a preconcerted
signal upon which he might act. With
in n second he stood directly beneath
Kathcrine's balcony. and with both
arms outstretched as if beseechingly he
called softly:
"Lady Kate. Katherine"
He did it, let us say, only to annoy
her, to trouble her. to anger her, and
to give her an added proof of his power.
Perhaps there was even a deeper motive,
but that, if there was one, has not
Yet appeared.
But-he did it; and other ears than
Katherines heard him.
For an interval too short to meas
urC by ordinary standards-an interval.
nevertheless, in which Bingham Har-
ward fought desperately to control him
self, and succeeded Conrad Belknap
was never so near to death as then,
and doubtless never would be again un-
til he met it.
Yet Harvard never once moved a
muscle of his herculcan strength.
He stood like statue in stone. and
as hard and frozen.
He saw Belknap'S upliftcd arms. as if
the man We're expecting Katherine to
leap from the balcony into them. He
heard Katherine gasp-and utterly mis-
understood the meaning Of it. He saw
her grasp the rail with both hands and
for just an instant bend her body across
it. as if to speak or gesture. He saw
another white thing. like an envelope,
drop into Belknap's vlutching fingers.
and he heard Belknap speak the same
two names again.
katherine Lady Kate, Don't 90
away. Wait. will tell you-"
But she was gone by the time he
had got that far and had disappeared
into the room behind her.
Harvard saw it all and misunderstood
it all. Who would not?
The simple truth of the matter was
that Katherine, in her CONSERVATION
and fright at being discovered BY Bel