The Washington times., 1922-11-19
Grains of Dust

TO make pretenee Of a passion
and an affection which he was very
far from feeling.
He reviewed these facts smil-
ing grimly, and mentally decided
that he was a quixotic fool. Yet
In his heart of hearts he knew
that he could not have done other
wise. Sally's whole happiness was
/at stake. He was miserably con-
scious of that. Her mistake had
been "a, natural as II had been
wretchedly unfortunate. Fate,
and his own hot heart and head
and blood had conspireu to place
him in predicaInent from which
II was impossible to extricate
himself without bringing bitter
humiliation and intolerable pain
upon a girl who, In all innocence
and trust had revealed for him a
feeling which he had never, for
one moment, suspected.
Those years in the wilds Of
Africa had fostered his naturally
somewhat primitive instincts.
There were moments, even In the
overwhelming atmosphere of ultra
civilized civilization when he was
powerless to put che * upon his
passions, and they held unbridled
sway. Last night had held one
Of those moments. In his inten-
ton of pressing his attention upon
Fancy, albeit against her will and
her desire, he had erred against
all canons of good taste. He had
forgotten his obligations toward
Billy Fanshawe as host. He had
remembered only that he was just
man, hungry hearted, and robbed
ruthlessly Of his mate. He had
allowed the savage t. Lin to pre-
dominate. And now he was being
punished.
Still with his fingers pressed
against his eyes he laughed bit
terly. Then as the car whirled in
at the station gates and stopped
with a jerk he threw back his
head and Strengthened himself. A
new mood of recklessness swept
down upon him. After all, what
did it matter? Fancy was lost to
him. It lay in his power to make
another womar happy. So be it,
then!
He sent the announcement Of
his betrothal to Sally Hicks to tn.
papers that night. BY his orders
those journals in which it appeared
were despatched to Billy Fanshawe
upon the day foll.wing his de-
parture. They arrived by the late
evening post, while Fanshawe was
smoking his after dinner cigar.
He glanced through them in sill
ence. In silence he rose and made
his way into the drawing room.
Fancy was sitting i,i a deep chair
just within the window. Her eyes
were closed, her face had fallen
into the strangely weary lines
which, he had noticed, had become
habitual to it of late.
A little strand of hair had fallen
loose across her forehead. It
softened her expression, giving her
a half childish appeal which stirred
the mans heart to a quick tender
ness. One hand dropped rather
Imply over the side of her chair.
The rings hung upon 1t loosely,
and quite suddenly he was struck
by the fragility of her whole ap-
pearance.
Impulsively he stopped to touch
the white wrist. Then, as she
opened her eyes quickly and looked
up he laid one Of the papers, with
out speaking, on tn, arm Of her
chair. Turning he went with the
others to where Sally stood, her
face tilted up to the moonlit sky,
dreaming among the scents and
shadows of the garden.
He watched her while she read
the brief paragraphs; then closed
a kindly hand upon her arm as she
lifted a rose-red, startled face to
his. Behind the smile in his eyes
there was a shadow. The look Of
ineffable gladness that shone out
of her own eyes sent a stab Of
chill apprehension to his heart. It
was with something of an effort
that he uttered few quiet words
of congratulation and 'ood wishes.
Sally blinked up at him, the
,aper squeezed tightly in her two
hands. Her voice was not alto
gether steady when she spoke.
'Tt's-rather like waking out
of a dream to find that the dreams
come truev' she said, with a quick
little laugh. "This"-she looked
down at e. e paper-''makes me
realize for. the first time that I
am awake-that it's all-truew
She turned away her face for
a moment. When she looked back
at him her eyes were full of tears.
II never guessed" she said very
low, ''that I could care 30 muchi
Or that l could be so happyv
Billy nodded. His vocabulary
was limited at the best of times.
In .he face Of the girls joy---and