The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-02-11
ThpSecrpt Of The BodEnlr;S Tent

suited build up from the materials
of defense powerful and
formidable attack, and they had
realized, with amazement, the ex-
traordinary power of the secret in
fluence which the old, experienced
man of the world, Roger March
urst, diplomatic, polite, suave,
could enlist on behalf of his
nephew-not because Dick was his
nephew or young man who re-
pented deeply the errorLof his
immediate past, but because he
was Lord Lissmere, one of caste
whose long-entrenched position
was daily menaced more gravely
by the rising tide Of reform and
progress-so gravely threatened
that, as a class, it dared not dis.
dain any means which would help
1t to conceal any fresh evidence of
weakness, unworthiness or vul-
nerability created by the folly of
any member of it.
So that in the end and quickly
the Llssmeres, young, susceptible,
generous-natured, and tolerant
with the warm, ready tolerance of
lovers absorbed in each other, had
found themselves gazing with
curious, vague unease upon the
sharp weapon so patiently forging
for the heart of Sais. It was evil
dent to them that Dick had nothing
really serious to fear from the
vindictiveness of Sais-and from
that it was only step to the feel
ing of pity for the dancing girl
that crept in upon them.
They had said to each other that
they would be hard, fully believ-
ing it. But neither of them was
of that nature.
Louise could Understandable
believed she could understand,
the angry desolation of Sails Had
she not lost forever the man whom
Louise adored "a terrible thing.
Louise could not have resisted a
surge of sympathy for any
woman who had lost Dick, and she
could understand only too well that
woman so bereaved should feel
bitter and revengeful.
And, after all, she had save,l
Dicks life. That was indisputable
There was the child, of course.
But there was a reason why the
intangible bat painful jealousy of
the dancing girls motherhood was
fast dwindling in the heart of
Louise.
And Lissmere thought with
Louise.
A hard-natured critic would
have called them weak - but
neither had ever pretended to be
stronger than average people. And
like average people they were al
heart generous-though with, in
finitely greater opportunities of
acting generously than the average
person who, quite frequently
dares not, for thousand complex
reasons, give his or her generous
instincts free play
They were human - ordinary
little human folk, dreading sorrow,
fearing tragedy, who longed only
for happy peace, who recoiled
sharply from the thought of tense
and bitter hostility. To them, at
last, the cold, balanced, competent
plans of the legal people seemed
almost merciless, and they had sud.
denly disclosed their united de-
cision to go to Egypt and see first
what could be- done in tolerant,
broadminded. peacable way with
Sais. To forgive certain things, to
he forgiven others; to establish
Sais in the happiest circumstances
possible. and, their consciences
clear. to return to their own hap.
piness.
Their advisers were wholly
against that. Roger Marchurst,
indeed. came near to anger at
what he considered sheer weakness
But they insisted obstinately with
the impregnable obstinacy Of the
weak. Soon they gave up dis
cussing it
They were right and they knew
it-but they could not explain
their instinct clearly
Unexpectedly Barr, the lawyer,
came nearer to approval than old
Roger But then his happiness,
too, had been founded on love-
and that was a chink in his armor
of legal habit and mode of thought
which made him far more vulner-
able to their influence than any of
them suspected,
"Well. we are going," said Dick
at last. 80 let's drop the dis
cussion If we are wrong. we shall
pay. It need not affect the case
- the - the weapon - you are
building up-and it need not post
pone its use if it is needed. In
any case, you will not be ready to
proceed before we know whether
we have succeeded-or failed. So
we can do no real harm-and we
may do some good. To settle all
this amicably would be splendid.
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