The Lamar register., 1919-12-10


To Andrea's tranSfXing terror was
added n mcmory--a fleeing glimpse
of Trevor, standing. hands in pockets,
before his door. On his face was an
ser-cold. white. unforGving anger
She thought she cried out to MacClos-
ter To stop. to give her but one moment
to explain, to beg forgiveness, to
grovel ut the feet of the one man In
all the world, hut no sound came from
her lips
Not until she stood tottering on the
canted bottom of MacCloster's boat did
life come back to her heart and veins
and lungs. She threw up her head
and screamed as she had never known
mortal could scream-a wild. terror
winged wall of desperate appeal. Mac
Closter snntched tiller from rudder.
struck her across the shoulders,
knocked her. face down, into fetid
Dilge-water.
The stencil of the stale water pro
duced IN her n reaction; 1t was 80
nauseating that II momentarily drove
thoulhts OF ali other things from her
mind. She drew away from 1t and.
crawling to the grated floor of small
cockpit, crouched in the corner formed
by the gunwale and the after thwart.
just TO her left, so close that even
with head bowed she could not avoid
seeing his enormous feet, sat MacClos-
ter.
He talked to her steadily in a NUT
tering undertone, but long time
passed before she began to distinguish
one word from another. The mutter-
ing swelled slowly to clear and
liquid enunclation; the voice became
like music undefiled. But no longer
could 1t drug her senses; she shud-
dcred. cringed under its terrible
caress. Its beauty had become forever
leprous.
Dear, lovely, vile and sullen per-
son." 1t was saying. "who would have
thought 1t? Who would have imagined
that you, Helen among women. pos
sessed of beauty, youth and a really
lovely evening frock. should have
come SO far for manf Cheer up
You've found two; one dunghill ban
tam and-and me-"
He laughed, not silently and still not
quite aloud. II was an extraordinary
sound. 1t awoke in Andrea a chord of
memory. 1t was not the stereotyped
laughter of the stage II was more spe-
cialized than that. Then she remem-
bered. His was not the laugh of an
individual; 1t was the clipped. stacca-
to, maddeningly deliberate. "Ha Ha
In 10 Ia 10 80 hAr M
conspirators in the "Ballo in Mas
chera.'
II ask you. who could have lima gined
it?' he continued; then, his voice
thickening to a sinister Intensity. he
added. II could, D. your soft car
cass. Women Fair women Hs ! Ha
Hal Dreams of fair womeni CARR!
Spawn of helll Pestilence that sleep
by day and lurk in the shadows of
night and wine. Damnation Of the
filthy byways of the world, parading
in the sweet likeness Of Godr
Andrea suddenly looked up. straight
into his blazing eyes. "You yourself
are speaking" she said In a clear
voice. II am a woman. weak. miser-
able-never so miserable as in this
awful night-but I'm not q coward
can forgive not you but what you
say, for you cried out just now from q
hell infinitely deeper than mine"
The blaze of light in MacCloster's
eyes died to brooding glow. There
was something in Andrea's face. some
illumination OF the clean soul within
her, that spoke with a sure voice.
louder, more persuasively than words.
''The gifts that women may bring In
their hands," he said with "a whisper
ing sigh, ''love. tenderness and honor.
rest to the anchored souli l. Mac
ClOster. had the world at my feet for
a single night. Drunk with adulation.
drunk with wine. went out to seek
the gifts that women bring in their
hands" His voice dropped to a bitter,
half-fiippant note of self-mocking.
Smallpox and worse in a single night.
Ha Ha Ha !"
The laugh rang out full-throated.
thunderous, terrible for the freight Of
rage that II carried. II rolled and
echoed across the silent night like the
roar Of stricken lion. Scarcely had
1t died to a stiffness when to Andrea's
ears came a clear command. calm as
the voice of an executioner, Lie down.
Andrea"
Before she couId uuitp obey A rifle