Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-08-09
ea. He never had thought very

<A&1u .CV01l yCl, ~ W00 OIL AS
ing in a mental circle Of doubt, rath
er than thinking. The girl and tn.
child flung open a door through
which he glimpsed strange vistas
startling in their forbidden POSSIBLE
ties. He stood watching, dumb, unit
she turned to him. Her face wa
kindled and laughing; she looked in
fnitely candid and good. But-sh'
looked maid, not mother. Somehow
he felt that.
"You are married?" he questioned
almost roughly. II did not sup
pose You are married, then?
Into her expression swept scorn FOL
his dulness. compassion for his ignor'
ance, fused by the aaringsfre Of SOM
intense feeling far beyond his ken.
"Marriedr No. or l would not b
here!"
why: where would you sbe?"
The baby was standing upright If
its coach. The girl passed an arm
about the tottering form to steady the
tat little feet, and retorted on hel
Questioner.
ready for my man! II I lived there
uricus apartment houses : on the
Drive. behind them, &" would be
choosing my prettiest frock and coil
ing my hair the way he liked best. II
I lived there. across the river in one
OF those little houses, ! would be
making the house bright with lamps;
wearing my whitest apron and max
ing the supper hot-very hot, tor
there Is frost In the air and he would
be cold and tired and hungry. And
I would have his chair ready and
draw the curtains because he was in
side and no n else mattered." She
paused. drawing a deep breath. That
is where I would be-" she concluded,
as one patiently lessoning a dull pupil,
and reseated the baby in Its coach In
obvious preparation for departure.
The nan had stood quite still,
dazed. But when she turned away,
with y bend Of her dark little head by
way of farewell. he reused himself
and overlook her in a stride.
"Thank you." he said, II mean for
letting me know anyone could feel
like that. 1 suppose a great many
people do, only 1 have not met that
kind? No, mind answering;
how should you know? But, thank
you. May If I see you again-may
I speak to you?"
She surveyed him gravely, as If
with clairvoyant ability to read q his
tory from his face, a face open-brow-
ed and planned for strength, by its
square outlines, but that somehow
only succeeded in being pleasant and
passively agreeable. 1t vas the face
of q man who never had been brought
against conflict or any need for stern
decision, whose true character was a
sword never yet drawn from the
sheath. And now, he was in trouble;
so much lay plain to see. He was in
bitter trouble and, she guessed, alone
with the trouble.
He stood in mute acceptance of he'
scrutiny, recognizing her right. since
he a asked so much. Before she
spoke. he knew her answer, seeing 1t
foreshadowed in the gray eyes.
If you wish to very much. But
not 100 soon again."
She stepped from the curb, allow
ing no reply. but without apparent
haste, pushing the carriage in which
the baby 'chuckled and. twisted to
peep back, at her. He. watched her
thread her way through the rushing
lines of pleasure traffic; saw her reach
the other side and disappear behind q
knoll clothed with turf and ever
greens that rose between them. The
woman from whose presence he had
wa ~ Ia SI4ollN0 CAlOOulllCE. OIlSC
had told him that any human being
looked absurd propelling a baby
coach. He recalled that statement
now, and did not find it true. 1t was
such q sane thing to do. so natural
and good. At least, it seemed 80
when this girl did it. He envied the
man. whoever he might be-, who did,
or would love her; envied him the
clean simplicity she would make Of
life and the absence of hateful COM
People were glancfng %curiouSiy at
his m~otionless figure; he aroused him.
self and walked IN. He had chosen
his " way Of living, he angrily told
himself; there was no excuse for
whining If he did not like the place
where free-will had led him. Yet
bad he? Or had he, instead, been
ira pped? The doubt was ugly. He
faster to escape It, but 1t ran
At his heels like one Of those sinister
demoA-animals of medieval legend.
Across the b1ackening river electric
signs were flashing into view; Eigants
affairs insolently shouldering them
selves into The unwilling attention, as
indeed they were designed to do by
Jerseys desire for the greater city's
Looking toward one Of
these, the man read it with a sullen
"Adriance's Paper" That
simple announcement marked an in
dustry. even a monopoly, great
enough to have been subjected more
once to the futile Investigations
OF an uneasy government.
The family name was sufficiently
unusual, the family fortune SUFFICIENT
~ we'll known to- have been bracket
ted together for him wherever he
had gone. In school, in college, and
later. always he HAD found a courier
whisper running %ohiciously before
MIN. YOUNG Adriance-paper, you
know. Millions" And always 1t had
led him into trouble; at twenty-six he
just commencing 10 realize that
The trouble never had been
committed anything his mothers
church would have called a mortal
sin. Even yet he stood only on the
verge Of commission. But he could
0 draw back: he was like a man be-
Ing tnexorably pushed into . dark
place. s,
The house toward which he turned
did not arrest the eye by my osten-
tatious display. In fact, Il was re-
markabic only for being mi OF the
very few houses on lower. Riverside
1.-two winch possessed laWnS ana YER
midas. Set IN a small town, or q sub
urb, the gray stone villa would have
Teen merely very Handsome" Here;
II gained the value OF an exotic. To
Anthony Adriance, Junior. Is he
climbed the steps that night, It seem.
ed to stare arrogantly from its scor>
of blinking windows At the giitterina
sign on the opposite shore. Cause and
effect, they duly acknowledge each
other. The man paused to glance Il
them both. then let his gaxe fall u
the avenue below the tSrraced lawn
That way the black-Eowned girl had
gone. Probably abe had turned
across into the city: her dress WA
borhood. q
~ Tho man Nhn fnnk his hak 80 -.