The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-01-19

TALLY polygamous and woman %.
sentially the vehicle Of the race.
When the individual soul had been
decreed BY the embittered gods
eternally to dwell alone and never
yet had been tricked beyond the
moment Of nervous exaltation into
the belief that 1t had fused into
its mate. Life itself was futile
enough. but that dream Of the per-
feet love between two beings i'm
memorially paired was the most fu- !
tile and ravaging OF all tho dreams
civilizatio had imposed upon man.
kind. The curse OF imagination.
Only the savages and the ignorant
masses understood love" for the
transitory functional thing it was
and were undisturbed by spiritual
unrest by dreams
mad lonEings.
No one had ever surrendered to
the illusion more completely than
she. No one had ever hunted with
more passionate determination
for that correlative soul that
would submerge. exalt, and com.
plete her own aspiring soul And
what had she found? Men. Mere
ly men. Safety or disaster. Weari.
ness and disgust She had not an
illusion left. She had put all that
behind her long since.
1t seemed to her as shs sat there
staring into the last chickering's 81
tho charred log that It had been
countless years since any man had
had the power to send a thrill
along her nerves, to stir even the
ghost Of those old fierce desires.
No woman had ever had moro
cause to feel immune. Too con.
temptuous of life and the spurious
Illusions man had created for him.
self, while destroying tho even
balance between matter and mind.
even to be rebellious. she had felt
profound gratitude for her com.
plete freedom from the thrall OF.
sex when she had realized that
with her gifts Of mind and fortune
she still had q work to do in the
world that would resign her to the
supreme boredom Of living. Dur
in the war man had been but q
broken thing to be mended or
eased out Of life: and she knew
that there was no better nurse iE
Europe; It had always been her
pride to do nothing by halves: and
before that she had come to look
upon men with certain passive
federation when their minds were
responsive to her own. Whatever
sex charm they possessed might
better have been wasted on tho
Venus in tho Louvre.
And tonight she had realized
that this young man, 50 unlike any
she had ever known In her Euro
pean experience, had been more
or less In her thoughts since tHe
night he had followed her out Of
the theatre and stood coyertly oh.
serving her as she waited for her
car. She had been conscious dur
ing subsequent nights at the play
Of HIS powerful gaze a. he sat
watching for a turn of the head
that would give him glimpse OF
something moro than the back Of
her mock; or as she had passed
him on her way to her seat. She
had been even more acutely con-
scious Of him ~ he left his own
seat while the lights were still
down and followed her up the
aisle. But she had felt merely
amusement at the time. possibly q
thrill Of gratided vanity. accus-
toned as she was to admiration
and homage.
But on the night when he had
hastened up to her in the deserted
street and offered his assistance.
standing with his hat In his hand
and looking at her with q boyisA
and dimdent gallantry in amusing
contrast with his stern and cynical
countenance, and she had realized
that he had impulsively followed
her. something had stirred within
her that she had attributed to q
superficial recrudescence Of her
old love Of adventure, Of her keen
desire for novelty 1t any cost.
Amused at both herself and him.
she had suddenly decided, while he
was effscting an entrance to her
house, to invite him into the ID
brary and take advantage Of this
break In the monotonous life she
had decreed should be her portion
while she remained in New York.
II She had found him more person.
ally attractive than she had ex.
pected. Judge Trent, whom she
had deity drawn out, had told her
that he was q young man Of whom,
according to- Dinwiddie, great
things were expected in the lit.
erary world; his newspaper career.
brilliant as 1t was. being regarded
merely as phase in his progress:
he had not yet found himself"
After that she had read his col.
umn attent1vely.
| But she had not been prepared
for powerful and sympathetic
personality. that curious mixture
OF naivete and hard sophisticat ton,
and she had ascribed her interest
in him to curiosity in exploring
what to her was q completely for.
eign type. In her own naivete It
had never occurred to her that