Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-09
Continued from Yesterdays Starr
INSTALLMENT XXXTV.

- HE was on the point Of flight, when
In the air, as 1t were, opposite
here eyes. she saw the window
~ of some huge building-a sin
gle window that caught her gaze
and held it-glowing out OF nothing
therel A man and o woman-who
might have been actors, dressed up IN
some trappings of the stage for cos
tune play-looking out from within, TO.
ward her-from just beyond that sill!
But no actors ever conveyed q 1raction
of the emotion concentrated IN tnose
awful faces. Here in this ampnltnea-.
ter on the California coast termed
American girl knew that she looked INTO
the countenance OF that woman OF
France whose memory has haunted the
world for $50 years, and of q man whose
sheer weakness took a CHASTITY toll Of
$4,000 Of his peoples lives!
From around her there arose cry
inarticulate, fierce! The throng saw
what she saw! Those two! And hui
manity could take heed Of its individ-
uals, Ii It's Omnipotent Manipulation did
notl
But the woman in the window had
caught the mans arm and was
pointing down. And Phyllis followed
the directions of that gesture, three
centuries old She saw a naked child
running. On the ground at hand lay
woman, her limbs tangled IN her
torn dress. A soldier in a fantastic
dress was bending over her. what was
he doing? He was
Choking. Phyllis turned and ned
She ran back along the corridor to-
ward the gates. She ran! She could
not run fast enough. Horror shrieked
at her heels. She burst out into an
open space. Some one seemed to try
to catch hold Of her. She evaded the
outstretched hands, She saw a space
where no walls were, where no people
moved. She ran for that. She ran
silently, screams struggled in her throat.
but she could not utter them. Away
away-if she could only get away! II
she could only get away, somewhere
where men and women were not! She
wanted to hide; she wanted to die! She
did not want to live any longer in q
world where men and women did such
things-or looked at them!
But she was stopped by some one
who threw arms around her and
Phyllis! Phyilisl Phyl!" Relief
Brainard's voice cried In her ear. MY
God, where are you going. child? And
Why?'
The girl sank down. They were in
the midst Of an open field. The grass
was trodden into the dust-clouds OF 1t
raised by their feet drifted all about
them. It almost strangled her as she
gasped and sobbed.
"What in the world?" naourned Miss
Brainard, caressing her. Nov, now!
Nothing's hurt you, has 1t? You've been
to the airdrome? To see Catherine s
bloody fingers, Ell?
We'll well-after all, she's been In
hell for a million years, hasn't she?
And what she did don't hurt anybody
now-except herself 1t stopped hurt
ing even too soon for her, guess.
When it's as old as that, spilled blood
is no more worth crying about than
spilled milk" -.
Phyllis tried to answer. "Then 1t
never Isl" she Sobbed. 1.-THE moment
they died, their blood was old! When
shall we cry over It'll"
She uncovered here eyes-because
when she closed them, all she could
see was that pointing woman-that
Look here!" persisted Miss Brain
ard desperately. Don't you know
that Catherine de Medici didn't bring
the world to an end, even for the
Huguenots? Even she was only q little
piece of history. You can't Judge a
man by what he did yesterday, unless
YOU can also see what he did the day
before. and today. The human race
is iust the same-it can't be estimated
by one days work! A bird's-eye view
is the only true one-ensemhle 1.-The
world wasn't made for one individual
nor to be looked at IN close-ups!
Don't you see? Don't you see, Phyl?'
she begged.
These were echoes of her own con.
fused thoughts to Phyllis. She had
thought these things They steadied
her
'It's quite true" Aunt Relief hur-
ried on, that when somebody grabs
the reins, or the tilier. or the steering
wheel, and tries to manage things his
way, he makes trouble! But whether
a man is a murderer or reformer he's
only one little member OF the great hui
man body, and never runs things long
to suit himself"
Somewhere here was q truth. Relief
Brainard had not stated 1t, but the
glimmer of 1t was before Phyllis Nor
mans eyes. She had seen 1t before,
that glimmering. Catherine de Medici
herself was a reformer! Instigating
wholesale murder-with its unspeakable
detail-for what she considered re-
form! Both-murderer and reformer!
destroying her kind. but changing
nothing to suit herself
Aunt Relief was watching her.
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