Evening star., 1926-04-23

was to be seen except her slanting
eyes
Queer lot. queer looking. too.
thought the station master. We'll,
I'll know all about it tomorrow" He
handed her the tickets and her change
Just as the increasing roar of the New
York train announced its arrival.
time to say to him:
Please, if you get a telegram in
quiring about me-MrS. Moore-say
hat l am well and have taken the
train to New York"
She left him. as she had left SO
many others, absolutely nonplussed.
He began to doubt if he would know
all about her on the morrow.
She boarded the train assisted by
the conductor, who handed her her
satchel afterward. The coach she
entered was not crowded and she
found an empty seat near the door.
There was an open book lying face
down upon it which she discovered on
moving some sheets of newspaper. A
passenger must have forgotten it in
the hurry of leaving the train.
She glanced at it absently before
closing the book =. A book of
Nerse. A line held her eyes:
Al shun the thought that turks in
all delight" Her glance skipped to
the last lines:
With the first dream that comes with
the first sleep,
run, I run, I am gathered to thy
heart"
Celia put the book down gently.
Yes there were women in the world
who felt like that. The woman who
wrote those lines, and the woman who
had been reading them among others.
49,. AS for herself. she was alb
normal 1t had only been
embarrassing to her to be gathered
10 Padraic's heart She Won
dered duly at herself. at the state of
mind she must have been in to think
she could have endured marriage with
him
The train was now grinding out
rhythmically:
Il run, l run, / am gathered to thy
heart"
If she had had a father who loved
her But then no one had
ever loved her Not even
Padraic-he had only loved her hair
and the wonderful clothes that made
her look like Melusine :
MySter,GsS hGG caI1e5 her mysterious aGE often ne
And all the while there had been
nothing mysterious about her :.
Celia Gibbs.
The train substituted her name for
the line of verse:
Celia Gibbs Celia Gibbs
Celia Gibbs Celia
Gibbs Celia Gibbs :"
1t grumbled harshly all the rest of the
way
1t was after o'clock when she
reached the house. She stopped her
taxi on the opposite corner and walked
lacrosS the street satchel in hand. She
Nhad wished now, as she had wished so
often during her return journey, that
she hadn't thrown away the two latch
kers-one to the front door, one to
the little gate that opened on the
garden under the library windows.
She had found them, overlooked in
the suede bag, and had tossed them
from the open window of the Pullman
drawing room as she had afterwards
scattered her shorn-off locks from the
platform of the day coach. Her chief
thought was: SIS Hilary awake? Is
he in the library?" For concerning
her entry into the house she had plan
ned exactly what she would do, and
lwhat she would say to the footman
who opened the door. Then, as she
passed it, walking on in order to look
through the garden grill and find out
whether the library was still lighted,
she caught at the iron railing to
steady herself. He was there still.
Light filtered through the drawn cur
tainS.
She went back and mounted three
steps that led to the front door. 1t
was of old oak heavily hinged with
iron hinges, apd looked like the door
of a church. Well, wasn't she going
TO confession for which no one could
give her absolution though
She pressed her finger firmly on the
button Of an electric bell hidden in
q, the carving of the door frame. 1t
was the bell that rang in the second
footman's room and meant a telegram
or an emergency of some sort. She
waited a moment, then rang once
more in ca Sc the man should be sleep
ing TOO soundly. After that she waited