The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-08-29
CHAPTER XIII-Continued

NhC Gil ICLuLhCu " SAAAhD UPNAA
her. Her mind went reluctantly to
Will, as though forced against itself
to consider dangers. Perhaps he
needed mothering. He was subject to
periods Of nervous and mental depres-
sion because he could not remember
that he had body long enough to
take care of it. She wondered If he
were worried about money. They were
spending it like water, but there
seemed so much of it.
The children came in, rosy and
laughing from their walk, and crowded
upon her. She loved to have them
close. They chartered eagerly as she
sat down with them to their simple,
appetizing supper. the nursemaid smil-
ing and talking to her with pretty
difference. She and Will had dinner
together, later, after the children had
had half an hour with their father,
and gone up to bed. But Will did not
come in at their bedtime as he usually
did. Disappointed, they finally trailed
off up the stairs, and Ernestine Won
dered if she had missed Will.
HAS Mr.. Todd been in, Molly?"
"He's in the garden, ma'am," the
maid replied.
Ernestine went out through the din
west porch and paused at the garden
steps, to stare. Will stood about fifty
feet away from her, leaning against
the corner Of the garage, his hat off,
his head tilted back and his eyes fixed
on the one tree that stood on the lot,
tall narrow poplar tree.
Ernestine had never seen him look
like this. The slight habitual twist of
satire that had become set on his
mouth was gone. His lips were re-
Taxed and full, like a child's. His
black eyes, always so bright and alert,
were soft now and strangely luminous
in his pale thin face. And in his coun-
tenance was such yearning, such
poignant beauty, that Ernestine could
scarcely forbear crying out.
He had not noticed her, and silently
she turned back to the house and 81
iently closed the door behind her. For
what was Will laundering there in the
dusk? What did he worship? Some
thing she did not know, see nor feel.
Something beyond her. Again, in the
absorption of life he had slipped away
from her, into some secret path he had
to follow alone. Again his mind had
escaped while his body only remained
by her side. The poplar tree-he was
ailing, as he had allied before.
She gathered herself together with
a spiritual gesture. She strengthened
herself. Something was imminent,
something was to befall them. She
realized with horror that they had not
saved cent, in all their new pros
perity. She was confronted with the
necessity to cease her butterfly whirl-
ing and turn squirrel again. For
Wills run of luck would inevitably end
in disaster Of some kind that she could
not even forsee.
Thinking of the longing and the
sorrow of his face, Ernestine forgot
for the moment how but a short time
ago she had loved her house and
blessed her possessions. Was there
nothing she could do for Will? Moth
ing. She had learned this hard fact
once, and let her not forget it now.
Was he always to be lonely? Could
not her body encompass him, her love
enfold him? At times she could be
close against his heart. At other
times he would be remote from her,
from all Of them. Her spirit cried out
in protest against the sense of aliena-
ton that was sweeping down upon her.
Her throat ached bitterly.
She shook herself This was nom
sense. Because Will stared at tree
and star she was invoking disaster.
He had come in early and gone out in
his garden to enjoy the evening, and
the light had made him look wan.
But these thin mental comments
died unheeded. Nothing could shake
the deep fatalistic conviction that had
laid itself upon her heart.
=
ErneStlne WatcneQ VIII during the
winter months that followed without
making much Roadway in her efforts
to understand him. His abstraction
at times was so intense that he moved
like a somnambulist. The children
bloomed. Peter was a tall strong boy
with lively mind and body. 1t was
evident that Elaine would be able to
start with her lessons in another year.
The baby would be three in the sum-
mer and he was every ones darling.
Mamma was always sending him things
from New York. She could not shop
without remembering him.
But none of Ernestine's joy in her
children could compensate for Wills
strangeness. Sometimes he came out
of his absorption and was feverishly
bright and active. He was guarded
with her, and put on an artificial nom
chalance. She accepted this casually,
without the irritation that had almost
disrupted them before. His whole air
and manner were the air and manner
of man who is pursuing a secret love
affair, but Ernestine knew that Wills