Elbert County tribune and Elbert County banner., 1920-08-06


genuous estimate of Carols heartache.
perhaps you'll tell me-because it's
time for me to be going over"
Angela had risen, too, and stood be-
side him. Her features were com
posed, but still suggestive Of inward
emotions little too tender to convey.
"If there's anybody in the world
she said, "who could give Carol any
consolation just now, It's you. / don't
suppose you ever were a minister, but
you look as though everybody could
come to you and tell most everything,
and you'd help anyway, you'd
try to. So l wish you'd you'd
sit and listen Carols got to
talk to somebody, and when you're
hurt the way she is, you can't talk to
your family and you were a
friend of Dicks. And :" She
swallowed, and went on more slowly.
you can use your own judgment, of
course. but If 1 were in yorr place
I'd lie."
'Lie" he repeated, aghast.
Eyes, 1 would He he
must have sent her some word, Mr..
billiard He must haveW She was
desperately serious now, and thor
oughly aroused. at means the whole
world to her It's everything Why,
even I've got more than she has, and
she was waiting for him to come back
to herl I'd lie myself black In the
face. but I'd tell her somethlng-tell
her anything l could think of to make
her believe he hadn't stopped caring
1t can't do any harm now. 1t can't
hurt you. And won't even ask you
whether you do or not. Only you're
here. and she'll trust. you"
Twill she2"
"How could she help it? And
and that's ALL Please don't let her
think he didn't carei"
Hilliard stood irresolute; chaos in
his brain. "I'n see," he sale
with difficulty. "I'll see"
won't you promise me? l won't
ask you afterward, If You"
Does 1t mean so much to your
Ever and ever so much.
Won't you please promise?"
He gazed at her moment, yielded
with a show of reluctance.
Very WE'LL promise. Because
you've asked IT And because it's the
dearest, most generous, most thought
full thing I ever heard OF in all my
life. And after that, can't we
be truly friends?"
Flushed. perplexed. honored, she
gave him her hand with hesitancy
which betrayed the deep sense of COM
pliment she felt.
81 don't think could be prouder of
anything that could possibly happen
to me-" she said.
Was 1t worth the blatant mummery
he had conceived and executed Was
1t 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'll 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-
don of his plans, a seventeen-year-old
girl was proud of him rs he was.
Courage. Inspiration. Resolve.
he had won her respect by the prom
Use of a lie; and in this instant he
vowed to deserve. by other and in
creasing lies II 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 a 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 himi 1t was an
other omen.
1t was eleven O'Clock to the minute
when billiard. not quite so blithe as
a wedding guest, and yet not alto
gether as doleful as a mourner, waved
his hand to a 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 a vestibule unchanged, his breath