The Washington times., 1920-12-27

Macmillan 10. and made into a mo-
tion picture by Cosmopolitan Pro-
auctions, Will be released ms a
Paramount-Artc picture
x<D LEASE don't order the mo-
tor for me-" she said. I'D
rather go In the street
ears"
She sat very still in the empty
room her face burning. Character
istically, her father had not once
mentioned the rector of st. Johns,
yet had contrived to imply that her
interest in Holder was greater than
: her interest In religion. And she
was forced to admit. with her GUS
tomary honesty, that the implica-
ton was true.
The numbers who knew Alison
Parr casually thought her cold.
They admired a certain quality in
her work. but they did not suspect
that that quality was the incom-
plete expression of an innate ideal
ism capable OF being famed into
fame-for she was subject to rare
but ardent enthusiasts which kin
died and transformed her incredibly
in the eyes of the few to whom the
process had been revealed.
one ndu ndu even a ioHbcI iiot u
suitors than any one guessed; men
who - usually by accident - had
touched the hidden spring and, sud
denly beholding an unimagined
woman. had consequently lost their
heads. The mistake most of them
had made (for subtlety in such af-
fairs is not a masculine trai) was
the failure to recognize and con-
tinue to present the quality in them
which had awakened her. She had
invariably discovered the feet Of
clay.
Thus disillusion had been her
misfortune-perhap it would be
more accurate to say her fortune.
She had built up, after each in
vasion, her defenses more carefully
and solidly than before. only to be
again astonished and dismayed by
the next onslaught until at Length
the question had become insistent-
the question of an alliance for pur-
poses of greater security. She had
returned to her childhood home to
consider 1t, frankly recognizing 1t
as a compromise, a fall.
And here, in this sanctuary of her
reflection, and out of quarter on
which she had set no watch, out
of a wilderness which she had be-
lieved to hold nothing save the
ruined splendors of the past had
come one who, like the traditional
figures of the wilderness, had at
tracted her by his very uncouth-
ness and latent power.
And the anomaly he presented In
what might be called the vehem-
ence Of his advocacy OF an out
worn ORTHODOXY, in his occupation
of the pulpit Of st. Johns, had
quickened at once her curiosity and
antagonism- 1t had been her sud
den discovery. or rather her In
stinctive suspicion Of the inner con-
fiict in him which had set her stan
dard futtering in response.
Once more (for the last time
something whispered now) she had
become the lady of the lists; she
sat on her walls watching, with
beating heart and straining eyes,
the closed helm OF her champion,
ready to fling down the revived
remnant Of her faith as prize or
forfeit. She had stakeds all on the
hope that he would no lower his
lance
A DAY SUSPENSE.
Saturday had passed in suspense
49, And now was flooding in on
her the certainty that he had not
failed her; that he had, with a sub
lime indifference to a worldly fu-
ture and success, defied the powers
With Indifference, too, to her! she
knew, of course, that he loved her.
A man with less Of greatness would
have sought a middle way.
When, at half-past ten, she Jared
forth into the sunlight, she was
flled with anticipation, excitement,
concern-feelings enhanced and not
soothed by the pulsing vibrations
Of tho church bells in the softening
air. The swift motion of the cleo
tric car was grateful. But
at length the sight of familiar
landmarks, old-fashioned dwellings
crowded in between the stores and
factories of lower Tower street
brought back recollections OF the
days when she had come this way.
other Sunday mornings, and>uin a
moro leisurely public vehicle, with
her mother.
Was It possible that she. Alison
Parr. were going to church now!
Har excitement deepened, and she
nDund II difficult to bring herself to
o. realization that her predestination
was q church-the church of her
ehildhood. At this moment she
could only think OF St Johns as
ne setting Of tho supreme drama
When she alighted at the corner
- Burton street there was tho
ven remembered, shifting group
On tho pavement IN front of the
church porch. How many times,
IN tho summer and winter. in fair
-aafher and cloudy. In rain and