The Washington times., 1922-04-23

dered why the cook had shown no
surprise at finding her in the kit.
chen. This conveyed so much that
she remained before the mirror IN
an arrested attitude. or course,
she hadn't thought OF that. OF
course, they'd heard. Mrs. Calde-
cot stood twisting her hands to-
gether in agony as she made pic.
ture OF her servants on the top
floor, first frightened by the noise,
then peering down the stairs and
hearing - heavens! hearing! or
course, they'd think 1t was true.
She looked wildly about her. For
a moment she was without courage
to go on. II she had had a weapon
she might have killed herself She
felt rather sick. The future was now
filed with indescribable horror
She could hush her husband witE
money-but those tongues below?
She had just heard Maud pass her
door. No doubt they were talking
now. Tongues! Mrs. Caldecot
made for herself a fantastic vision,
a sort of frieze Of scarlet. twisted
tongues, quivering gently like
flames.
She must have stayed in this con.
dition for half an hour, for she still
stood before her mirror when Maud
knocked at the door and brought in
her breakfast. 1t was only sec.
ond before Mrs. Caldecot said,
Come in" but in that second some
sort of transformation came over
her. In that single second she had
been able to think, Maud knows;
Maud knows the worst, thinks tho
worst. Well, let her think the
worst. Let my best friend betray
me, II he likes, to the husband who
blackmais me. Let them all lie
and scheme and think evil" AS
she said Come in" she thought:
After all. ! am l."
Little by little she realized the
day before her. Her husband was
coming. She knew what he wanted
and, no doubt, he would explain
to a certain extent the events Of
this incredible night. But Stephen!
II was Stephen she wanted to hear.
She wanted to be assured by him
that she was wrong, that he had
not done this. The telephone was
by her bedside. Why not ring him
up? But suppose 1t was not
Stephen-oould she tell him?
That, at least, was how she put
the problem to herself. for Mrs.
Caldecot was only trying to think
it was not Stephen; pride bade her
do nothing, but only to be. She
forced herself to eat little. for
she knew that before her lay day
of contest and she wanted to he
strong. Her husband was coming,
and no doubt she would hear from
Britford she wondered which OF
the two interviews would be the
more terrible.
She was partly disappointed
when. just before nine, a messenger
brought her an envelope addressed
in Stephens familiar handwriting.
She could feel that it was very long
and she stayed some time afraid 10
open it; a letter from stephen!
This made '' impossible TO pretend
she had dreamed this. Still, she'd
better know.
Mrs. Caldecot read the letter
twice very carefully, her features
showing little emotion. The las.
five hours had provided too much
strain to enable her readily to re.
act to the stimulus Of revelation.
She read it twice because it seemed
almost impossible to believe this
story. Only little by little did she
understand that Stephen wanted %
force her to marry him by becom-
ing her correspondent, and thus
making social life impossible for
her unless she married him 1t
seemed so wild, so absurd; like the
sort OF thing one reads of in sen
sational novels.
Only by degrees was she able to
tell herself, "Fm wrong, perhaps.
These things do happen. People
are murdered. People are ab-
Quoted. It's true" 1t was a ter.
rihle letter, so abject, so remorse-
ful. 1t was a pathetic letter, too,
for it protested undying love; il
palliated while II implored. She