The Bismarck tribune., 1924-04-08

Gertrude Atherton
night, and he put on his trousers
and coat, over his pyjamas. thrust
his feet into bedroom slippers and
went out into the living room.
There he put log on the fire and
paced up and down. not unlike Q
tiger round its cage.
He felt as IL black bats were flying
about his brain. each charged with
different portent )of disaster.
Once more the unreality of the
whole affair overwhelmed him.
How could he have been so fatuous
as to believe that he had really
won such q woman? He remem.
bered his first impression: that
she was on a plane above, apart.
They hadn't an interest In com,
mon. not even memory that ante.
dated their meeting q few short
weeks ago. She had lived q life
Of which he knew nothing outside
OF European novels and memoirs,
She had known nothing of any
other world until he had intro.
duced her to his friends, and he
made no doubt that her interest in
them was about as permanent as a
highly original comedy on tho
stage would inspire. There was
nothing. literally. between them
but a mutual irresistible attraction,
and that bond recognized 80 un.
erringly by both. y
That bond.
Would 1t hold?
Had this man offered her some.
thing that would make love seem
and trivial? She, who
had had surfeit Of love long
since? Whose eyes had looked a
thousand years old until he had
given her mind back its youth as
the great Vienna biologist had re-
juvenated her body.
He was entirely Indifferent to
her old love affair with Hohen.
hauer. 1t was those years of politi.
cal association and mutual interde-
pendence in Vienna that he feared.
He had. when he first met her, ap-
praised her as a woman to whom
power was the breath of life. Am.
bition-in the grand manner-in.
She had all the appear.
ance and the air of a woman to
whom the welding OF power, how.
ever subtly, was an old story. Has
recalled that that terrifying suE-
gestion Of concealed ruthless
forces behind those charming man.
ners, those -, feminine wiles, had
almost made him resolve to avoid
her like the plague" And then he
had fallen madly In love with her
and forgotten everything but tho
..
He had OWNED even before these
asst miraculous days that she had
ooked upon love with adherence
or almost half as many years al
ne had lived, an adherence rooted
n profound revulsion of body
ind mind and spirit. For nearly
,wenty years that revulsion had
endured and eaten into the very
iepths Of her being. -. He
lad sudden blaze Of enlighten.
nent She had frequently alluded
% that Lodge OF hers in the Dolo,
mites and their sojourn there to.
,ether. bu: always in the terms OF
'omance She had never
,iven him glance of understand.
ng. And she had put OIL
he wedding unit, the last possible
moment. - she had really
'een as eager as himself she would
lave left her power OF attorney
With Trent and started fer Austria
TX weeks ago. Or the papers
'ould have been sent to aer to
ign. IL her signature was impera
i've. And in spite az the
act that everybody had taken the
engagement for granted, she had,
With wholly insufficient reasons
IS he saw. now that Ne was re-
moved from the influence of hey
and dominating self-re.
used to announce It. Could It ba
hat in the depths Of her mind-un-
by her consciousness-
he had never intended to marry
I'm? Was that old revulsion nara.
mount? -. Sixteen vearal
A long time. and nothing 4,
lie is more corroding than habit
Perhaps-as long as they weref $
own there in New York. But not
p here. That he would be williua
o swear. There had been another
evolution. involuntary perhaps,
ut the stronger for that; and ev.
ry shackle that memory and
abit can forge had dropped from
er. She had been youth. incar.
ate. The proof was In her joyful
to marry him imm ediateiy
nd remain in the mountains
nd then her complete surrendeA
I the future into his hands.
he had during those three brief
avs loved him wholly. and with.
ut shadow In her soul.
But now? Whatever had han.
ened, she was not Mary Ogden
onight. Fastening to New York,
or would she be when In her own
ouse on the morrow. She might
ate Hohenhauer, but his nerd
resence would have made the
asst live again. She must have
nown when she went down that
fountain that even with her strong
III and powers OF self.delusion,
1fngs could not be quite the same
gain. Not even IL she had re.
lrned with Dinwiddie. Why fl
-.