The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1920-10-14

my mission. was it not? That and
nothing MORE"
She lifted her head and regarded
him with astonishment. Hhs immcbilo
face bespoke no inward hesitation.
Nothing u calm purpose. He was
inscrutable. She sustained q con-
t,ict of emotions, but all her respect
and liking. so slowly upbuilt, were
wounded by his words.
II thought" she said h~esitantly,
that you had remained for some
thing more-than that. I thought
friendship, a liking for a great work,
a happiness in doing something worth
while, had beer reasons"
He smiled out did not answer. She
Interpreted his silence as an admis-
sion that she had been mistaken in
been imbued with nothing but selfish
motives. She spoke regretful(y, now,
and he saw that her reserve was
breaking; that, tried and distressed,
she was giving way.
81 thought we meant something to
you, my brother and 1! And I tried
to be worthy of what I thought you
were. l believed you to be the great
est man I had ever known! Karl
would have lone anything for you.
T would-'
CT. .,,co %1,;.{orl 49, G--o-o Tan
harder and then looked at him with
ewes like those of a hurt child, can
did, o~utspoken in Inundated confess
sion. Il would ave given anything to
have you be my friend, as you have
been Karl's." She paused, bit her
lip, then impetuously clenched her
hands and with sheer recklessness
added, II would have given much
more-to have helped you-always. If
you had failed and been beaten, hon
orably fighting, I would have liked
to go to you, and put my hand in
yours, and walk with you in defeat!
I was sick Of illusion-of sham royal
ty- of polite lies! I wanted your
esteem! Yours! all of it! And now,
I despise myself for it,"
She stopped, choked by her own
Humiliation, and looked at him; but
his eyes were on the floor, his hands
shoulders and stalwart frame inert,
and passive, as if all she had con-
fessed, and all her scorn, were not
capable Of moving him. For a long
time she stood thus, quivering, while
he stood dumbly before her. The
chipping of birds in the sunlit gardens
outside, the slow measured footsteps
Of the sentry in the corridor without,
and that ominous, distant hum of
Marker itself came to them accentu-
Iated in volume by their own silence.
The echoes of her voice, like the ap-
pealing sobs of establishment com
ing from a hurt heart, died away
like the last faint sounds Of a re-
QUEEN, like one astounded by some
loNSh "lASiihAllS plloS, IC LIE
head and met her eyes. All the Did
bravery was zone from them. Gone,
too, all the old mockery, h old readi-
ness of response, the quick accepta-
ton of overchanging chance. Some
thing in their great seriousness, in
their very depths, made her catch her
breath. She saw that he was hum
bly,, yet desperately, fighting to
speak; that word were being sought
and that none satisfied.
There was a clamorous, insolent
note added to that murmuring
~d:apason OF SOUND that swept monol-
onously through the room, the sound
of some one clanking his way through
the outer corridor. 1t stormed his
ears like the call Of a trumpet IN
rouncing battle. 1t whirled him back
to his own sphere Of action, where
men were to be met, where a fight
the fight he knew as a veteran, vat
imminent. His hands shot forward
anu caught hers, and his big body be.
came endowed with a suggestion O.
Bent steel, alive. ready to spring IL
was the master again.
"Listen!" he commanded ner, hi
words crowding one upon the other
Go quickly behind that screen ant
sit down! Hurry! Sit there am
hear what is said. Say nothing! NJ,
:. honor in your eyes ma Deepen upol
it-and that's more to me than ev
erything else in the world"
), He caught her by the shoulders ::
his strong hands, whiried her. be
wildered, across the few steps inter
vening, thrust her into an easy chat
behind the screen, and was ont asai
Z for,orl F--4l,o#E 5oa. fhrorIon y.tio