The weekly Iberian., 1920-05-29

which betrayed the deep sense OF COM
pliment she felt.
II don't think I could be prouder Of
anything that could possibly happen
to me-" she said.
Was it worth the blatant mummery
he had conceived and executed Was
it not worth that, and infinitely more?
She was proud Of his friendship
and she shared that distinc-
ton with no one else in the entire
universe.
Proud of it! Hilliard was fulsome-
ly abashed. Abashed-yes, and stimuli
taneously glorified. He had come to
make the city proud, ignorantly proud,
Of the man whose deeds had merited
no renown. Here, at the very incep-
ton of his plans, seventeen-year-old
girl was proud Of him as he was.
Courage. Inspiration. Resolve.
He had won her respect by the prom
Use of lie; and in this instant he
vowed to deserve, by other and In
creasing lies If need be. the prestige
he was unalterably committed to gain,
whereby the past should be as moth
ing, and the future should be mag
nificent citadel Of reconquered dreams.
She was proud of him, and she had
approved the lie in behalf of Dicky
Morgan's memory. Unwittingly, she
had sanctioned the very purpose OF
his coming, and the method of his ap-
proach. She had confirmed his own
intentions, and given him the will to
advance. He was to act as the stanch
defender of her playmate perished,
and to make Of himself new and q
better man, worthy Of the eulOgies
which, as trustee, he now accepted for
the unworthy Morgan. He consecrated
himself to this end. Told himself
fiercely that he would succeed. And
she was proud of him! 1t was an
other omen.
II was eleven o'clock to the minute
when Hilliard, not quite so blithe as
wedding guest, and yet not alto
gether as doleful as a mourner, waved
his hand to q slender girl who stood
on the veranda of house diagonally
across the street, and went slowly up
the Durants' brick walk. He had an.
ticipated the effect Of this pilgrimage
upon his nerves, he had discounted
It; and Angela's advice had given him
an artificial stimulus for the moment
nevertheless, as the front door opened
to him, and he saw, over the head OF
smirking maid-servant, hallway
and vestibule unchanged. his breath
came little faster than usual. and
his cheeks went little darker. II
was. SO to speak, return to shrine
and a normal man might easily be par.
doned for little sentiment on the
7 side, no matter how often he had
changed his religion during the mean.
| time.
The maid having deposited him in
the living room, disappeared in quick
hurry Of skirts; Hilliard, standing al
the end of the long. high-roofed apart.
mept. found himself surrounded by a
thousand goads to remembrance. Not
an item was out of place; not an item
| was otherwise than as he had often
| recalled it; his memory had beer
Photographic.
At the opposite end Of the room
Aanking the black-marbled fireplace
was a graceful, swan-necked sofa
beautifully carved and splendidly up
holstered. Doctor Durant had once
remarked that Carol represented the
fifth successive generation Of her fam
,lv to be courted on 1t. And evening
after evening. in the ages that hat
gone before. HiIliard had sat ther'
and dreamed and loved and sometimes
when Carol had slipped away from
kim he had sat there and dreamed ant
loved and smoked. while she playet
Chopin and Rubinstein and Moscowsk
to him. And the piano-somewha
battle-scarred hut withal master tn
strument-was still over In it, accua