Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-20

iOND HEX.
happening on the deck of the yacht
some sound, some motion.
What do YOU mean?"
Il mean the mental conception -
the woman. that she flowed into ana
was enveloped by the figure behind
her, becoming a part of II. Now wha-
was that"
Good heavens said the doctol
| how do l know"
Presently the man went on.
Il suppose" he said. mo one knows.
The human mind itself is as profound
a mystery as the moving impulses be
hind il. 1t IS no use TO assemble =
lot of names. | know all about i.
She went right into events that Were
as real as any actual events of life
She saw the life that she was goifS
into on this night Just as accurately
as anything chat she had ever lived
through. She saw IL just as clearly
| as though she were looking in through
window upon il.
she saw a woman hurrying about
the tables al Monte Carlo, forcing her
way through the crowds Of people.
searching among the players every
where, through the gilded salons, peer
ing into every corner, into every face.
| Finally at the door to the tables OF
the trente-et- qtIarante she stopped. as
! though stricken rigid. a man, stoop-
ing over. was putting down some gold
pieces beside a girl.
The girl was young, but the man
was older than he was tonight; his
dark hair had d tinge of gray in It;
his firm, Sun-tanned face showed puT-
pie veins: the jaw had grown heavy.
That s how she said he looked.
"Sne saw the opera in Paris. \
woman, this same woman. sat in II
box. She was alone. About her We're
the beauty and splendor OF Paris; the
gorgeous extravaganza of the opera.
vast, heavenly music. But she did
not regard It. Her eyes wandered
furtively, desperately. everywhere
through the immense crowned arc be-
You'd her. Then she got up. went out
OF the box into the foyer, and looked
down over the balustrade Of the stairs;
below girl, ii Samin from Mont
| martre, was smiling up at that same
| time-changed man, concealed partly b.
the screen of a pillar
There was a moment Of silence.
The doctor was leaning forward il
his chair. He was trying to make ouc
the figure before him in the darkness.
He was beginning to understand this
man was. He had seen that face be-
low deck when he had been first called
on the yacht. That change in the
man. at least, was no hallucination.
1t had happened. What the woman in
this story had seen was life: u life
she had escaped, but this man had not
escaped il. lie had lived it. He was
here; he sat there in the darkness,
with these physical evidences upon
him, and now suddenly he went on
sort of desperate energy in the thick
voice:
NO duty. no obligation. When no
vow is kept, You can't deny the years
their toll of you. License makes way
for license. And she saw her own
face-what it would have been-peer-
ing over the rail of the balustrade. It
was awful. The soft, straw -colored
hair. harsh with henna; the eyes.
crow-footed; rouge, stencil, every futile
device"
THE voice changed. The heavy
emotion slipped out of il. 1t went
on with the narrative.
THE woman III the silence, in the
dim light of the buffers pantry, put
out her hands in a great gesture Of
rejection. Then she began to stagger
about, cropping Tor the door.
Something lured her.
"She must find it; 1t was here:
somewhere in this house; but how tired
she was. How her knees dragged!
"She came finally into the drawing
room as through heavy water. The
child covered with the white lambskin
lay asleep on the silk cushions at the
end of the blue divan. in the soft glow
Of the fire. She flung herself down be-
side it and gathered it up in her arms:
| and far off the bells of the village be
gan to ring"
Again the mans voice stopped; and
again the doctor, living through every
| ietail Of the story, put the query that
moved him;
And what happened?"
For a time there was no reply.
Then the voice in the darkness seemed
| o tail off.
1T was the thing that didn't hap
| pen.
You see, her husband had been
warned about it. and he had waited
all night at the gate of the grounds
| with this weapon for the two persons
| in the motcr to come out. He came
| in at daylight, and found his wife
| asleep on the divan before the fire"
| But the mountain woman" said
the doctor; 1.-The man with the mule.
| he child. what had become of them:
Did not the man watching at the gate
see them when they came out? Did
he not see them when they entered:
| What became of them?"
| The voice of the dying man became
| stronger; 1t took on almost the firm
ness and the vigor Of health.
| TITS the Gospel according to st.
Luke" he said. that I wished you to
remember. I mean the story of the
Nativity according to that Gospel.
| Jesus of Nazareth was born in
Bethlehem Of Judea when Joseph and
Mary journeyed into that village to
be taxed. You see, doctor
The voice ceased as though fingers
had closed on the throat.
The doctor knew what had hap
penad, but he did not move. The de-
| tached embolus had fioated into the
heart He looked up at the cross of
stars hanging in the sky. And sud
denly far away the great bell Of the
cathedral began TO sound in the still.
| thick dark.
Copyright. 1890