The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-02-24


him, and he who wins the spirit alone
is In mortal danger of the woman of
the flesh"
"The explanation" said fremont.
whimsically. "is so feminine that 1t
confuses. II you had said that each
| woman is trinity and must be thrice
won before a mans honor can feel
secure, understanding would be a sim
pie matter. Did you leave out the
Yelled God purposely or just to be
different and avoid the obvious?"
ITO avoid the obvious is an instinct
of breeding" said Miss Van Teller.
land / would never blush for doing il
but where would your thoughts he now
if l had said just what you expected.
If had treated the Yelled God as a
matter of fact! Oh mol One can
clip with words the wings of flesh and
spirit, but not of the Yelled God in
woman, for its very essence is a de-
ferred possession"
She paused, but ms fremont chung
to the silence. she presently contin-
ued. ''The complete lover Is the man
who having conquered all the heights
of flesh and spirit in his mistress.
dwells consciously in the presence of
an undiscovered god and gazes out
upon a broad land eternally promised.
never materially seized. Few are the
men-few are the men" Her voice
trailed off as though her thoughts had
run ahead of words and reached final
ity without the use of the spoken
phrase.
Few are the men who attain to
that serene security" fremont fin
ished for her, only half conscious of
what he was saying.
Randolph could her the rustic of
her turning to her companion. "How
wonderful" she said. "That Is what
thought, but didn't say"
"Madge," said fremont. ''what have
you done? It's true that have never
stopped to hypocrisies with you and
that have never while with you
spoken a vulgar word. Did. you
think that have been knowingly
wise? Well, haven't. didn't know
until this moment why chose a rare
and high atmosphere to reach you.
Now know. 1t was because you were
there. l chose only to come to you
rather than drag you down to the drab
of the usual. What you have done is
to carry me higher than ever meant
to go. You have taken me off the
beaten path and showed me an un-
expected treasure. I'm no longer my
self. I am cold and afraid"
Randolph could feel that the speak
er was drawing away from the girl
and n moment later his senses were
to surpass themselves in additional
divination. "You are afraid of that
woman in me?" asked Miss Van Tel
lier softly. "What about this one?'
And then 1t was that Randolph's de-
ductive antennae quivered under their
burden of intelligence. He knew as
certainly as though he had faced
about that an adorable Madge, tender
and wide-eyed, had slipped her bare
arms around Beacher Tremont's neck
and kissed him on the mouth.
There was long silence; then
came Tremonts voice. thick and
strange to the ear. "a moment ago"
1t said. Il was afraid for you; now
I'm afraid for myself. I am like a
man who has carelessly dropped a
|
in the ring of a prairie fire. ! can
only wonder at my stupidity in think
ing of you in connection with casual
possession and not as a consuming
fame. You see7 Already you have
burned through the thin crust of lies
that guards man from definite seizure
by woman-any woman"
kiss me, Beacher," murmured the
girls voice as though his words had
swirled around and by her, leaving
her purpose untouched. "Take me
and hold me carefully where no un-
kind air can drive me from you. Take
all the women in me-one by one II
you must"
At that moment Mr.. Robert H. Ran
dolph. in the person of Slim Hervey,
chauffeur. very nearly wrecked his
four-cylinder argosy with its burden
of three fates, still Individually and
collectively Indispensable to the con-
tinuity of this yarn. He missed the
ditch by hairs breath. caught his
own with gasp. returned to the mid
die of the broad highway and fixed
his attention on a certain very definite
matter with which 1t had been more
or less constantly concerned ever since
he had been directed to hit 1t up for
Greenwood.
The road to that well-known hostel
ry was usefully devious and fares
were seldom worried as to how any
particular driver set out to find this
choicest of needles in the hay-stack of
the country inns that dot the land
scape of Westchester and adjacent
counties as long as he brought the
search to a successful end somewhere
this side of the pangs of hunger.
Nevertheless, had not Mr.. fremont,
himself motorist of no mean expert
ence, been completely absorbed by the
| Suddan discovery thar he had his