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Show 1T7 Dr nave no man's pity, no mans con-- mally toward the islander this gentempt, that no man shall marry her tleman, to establish his identity, upon on suffrance, and that which, as I learn from Mr. Whittaker, y Right. said the surgeon, who was much seems to depend. I have here But could you not do this more cona man of very few words and generalILLUSTPATOfKW 7(tu'tpKt ly good ones. veniently later on the ship. Miss BrentQfYRlW 90arWf CHAPM COm.SHT iff GATAT SRtTAlH My young friend, broke in the ton? interposed the captain. He had been told that she intended to stay on chaplain, if I might advise SYNOPSIS. But this, returned the islander, the island, but he could not believe it. A young woman cast ashore on a lonewith fierceness, is not a matter for We shall be very glad indeed to offer ly island, finds a solitary inhabitant, a advice. I dont know the world or its you passage home. The ship is fitted young white man, dressed like a savage and unable to speak in any known lan- customs. I must appear strange to for a flag and the admiral's quarters guage. Jie decides to educate men. But I take it that a man's are yours to command. We are sailing him and mold his mind to her own ideals. She you hnds e nit m e that leads her to believe choice of a wife, a man's settlement direct to the United States, with a stop that the man is John K. vell Charnoek of of his future is not a thing that he at Honolulu, and will be glad to reVirginia, and that he was east ashore brooks counsel over. At any rate, 1 store you to your friends. tthen a child. Katharine Brenton was a highly specialized product of a leading want none of it. Sir, said the woman, I have no university. Her writings on the sex probfriends who care enough about me to the with Come said me, lem attracted wide attention. chaplain; son of a i..rm.1''"rm'llonlllri becomes The we will talk it over. I have lived welcome me or whom I care enough infatuated with her and they decide to put her thehe went on, gently. about to wish to see. My mind is ories into practice. A few on his in the world, I can help you. Have we made up. I shall stay on the island, yacht reveals to her that hedays proPerhaps only fessed lofty ideals to her. While to withdraw, Capt at least for the present. drunk he attempts possess to kiss iier. She your permission knocks him down and leaves him uncon- Ashby?" But, my dear young lady, began scious and escapes in the darkness in a the officer. said the captain. Certainly, gasoline launch. a storm site is cast ashore on anDuring said the woman, Pardon me a moment, chaplain, island. Three years Capt. Ashby, teaching gives the man a splendid cduca-- t but the young you are the commander of that ship? mm Their love for each other is revealed interposed Whittaker; I am. when he rescues her from a cave where lady has asked that some of us go she had been imprisoned by an earthTo you is committed the ordering to take her deposition as to quake. A ship is sighted and they light a ashore beaeon to summon it. Langford on his the matters that have been alleged of her course? yacht, sights the beacon and orders ills To me alone. Miss Brenton. our friend here. Capt. yacht put in. The woman recognizes the concerning Cities Townsend r Brady yacht and tells her companion that a man on board had injured her in the greatest Way. Langford recognizes Katharine. He tells the man that she had been his mistress and narrowly escapes being killed. An American cruiser appears. Officers hear the whole story and Langford asks Katharine to marry him. Katharine declares that she will marry no one hut her Island companion. The latter says he still loves her but that the revelations have tnade a change. CHAPTER XVIII. Continued. "Is the present Charnoek married?" No, returned the chaplain, he is an old bachelor. That will make it easier for our friend here, said Mr. Whittaker, "provided the evidence is thought convincing. "The best evidence that he could present, returned the chaplain, is in his face. He is the living Image of his father as I knew him, and he has family characteristics which I think would enable almost anyone to identify him without question. Sir, said the islander, addressing the chaplain, did you know my mother? That I did, returned the old man. Her name was Mary Page Thornton, and she was one of the sweetest girls in Virginia. And will you tell me about her, and about my father and my people? With the greatest pleasure, said the chaplain, Meanwhile kindly. Capt. Ashby and these gentlemen will wish to hear your story. Take him to your cabin, said the captain promptly, and tell him the things he wants to know. We can wait. No, returned the islander; I can I have waited all these years and a few hours more or less will make little difference. You have a right to know my story, and here it Avait. is. Rapidly, concisely, with a fine dramatic touch, he told the story as he knew it of his life on the island. He was so entirely unconventional that he interwove the bare details of the strange relation which he gave them with personal touches. He made no secret of his love and worship for the girl, of the belief in her which he had cherished, of the reverence in which he had held her. He exhibited that strange commixture of feeling with which he regarded her as a human woman and as a He showed that he was at once her master and her creature, yet through it all there ran such a thread of bitterness, of grief, of resentment, of shame, that his- - auditors,-- .t f.rst unpossessed of the key to his feelings, listened to him with amazement and could scarcely realize or comprehend. He told the story of the two lives up to the sighting of the ship upon the island, and then, his heart failing him, he turned to Whittaker and bade him take up the relation. It was a delicate matter of which to speak, but the simplicity with which the first part of the tale had been presented gave the officer his cue. He was a man of retentive memory, of quick apprehensive power, and with a nice sense of discrimination, a rare man, indeed. And he told the rest of the tale with a subtle sympathy for the situation and the actors that enabled him so to present it to the interested litttle group of officers that he almost made them see it as it transpired. And what, asked the captain, when the final word had been said, do you propose to do now, Mr. Charnoek? It was the first time that he had been so addressed and the man started. He had heard Mr. Whittaker's words as one in a dream. He had been going over that dreadful scene on the sands. His heart was lacerated and torn again. He was blind to everything but the past. He saw her face dimly in the present. He could see nothing of happiness in the future. "I don't know. he answered. But surely this has not made any difference in your feelings? I can't tell. The difference is in her, not in me. She made a frightful mistake," said the captain, impressively, but she has nobly atoned, and She's not what I thought she tas, said the man, and if 1 love 'her, I love her now not because, but in spite, of what she is, and there is a difference. Miss Brenton, interposed Whittaker at this juncture, has settled the matter herself. She says that she will demi-goddes- A 1 No, returned the woman, quietly; my mind is made up. Katharine! exclaimed Langford, extending his hand in one final appeal. Not with you, either, said the woman. My dear young lady, began the old chaplain, think what it is you do. Has any human being with such powers as you possess a right to bury herself in this lonely island? Is there no call ? Sir," the woman interposed, your plea might move me if anything could, but indeed tis useless as the rest. Hear mine, then, said the man, abruptly, even harshly. The woman turned and faced him as unrelenting and as determined as she had faced the others. What could he say? There was but one plea that could move her. Was he about to make that? "We have loved each otner, he went on, brokenly. It was my dearest wish, my most settled determination, to make jou my wife. That wish I still entertain, that determination has not departed from me. You have refused to marry that man You decide all questions connected Ashby, will you? And would you have me do so? with her on your own responsibility? 1 will go. Mr. Whittaker, Certainly, the woman. asked I but do, will certainly; And if you accompany me, doctor, No, a thousand times, no. I am Sir, this is my ship, this island. If and you, chaplain, I shall be glad. Mr. I cannot think sorrier every moment that I look at Whittaker, you are a notary public I choose to stay here, and can administer the necessary you will endeavor to take me hence him that I did not kill him. But havby force. ing refused him, there is nothing now oaths. no means. that you can do but marry me. And By WhitMr. returned Very good, sir, Nor have I any more fondness for as you have refused him, it makes it taker. The other gentlemen bowed The lady said having my decisions discussed than the more incumbent upon me to marry their acquiescence. would like undisturbed to until you would have for hearing your you and to take you away. Your honor she be demands it. orders argued or questioned. evening. "It is my island, cried the man, My honor! flamed out the woman, At two bells in the second dog ' " indignantly. watch then have the cutter called roughly, and if you stay, I stay. I have said "We lose time, said the woman, it, returned the man, away, returned the captain. I am here to give my testidoggedly. Beg pardon, captain, said the sur- shortly. Gentlemen, you will forgive our geon, but do you or any of you know mony; you are prepared to take- It? said the lieutenant-com"I am, frankness, said the woman, turning this lady to be Miss Brenton? I don't No, said the captain, know her. .Do you. Mr. Whittaker, or you, chaplaift? Well, then, said the surgeon, as both the officers shook their heads, it will be necessary to have some one ashore who does know her in order to swear to her identity to make her deposition worth anything. There is Langford, said Whittaker, he knows her. Very good, said the captain; send a boat over to the yacht and present my compliments to Mr. Langford. Ask him if he will meet us ashore at quarter after five oclock. Say to him also that I should be glad to have him dine at seven. Chaplin, with me will you and Mr. Charnoek take luncheon with me later? Now, to go back to the island. The woman stood on the strand proudly, resolutely, sternly erect, without a sign of unbending until the boats reached the sides of the two ships. Even then she kept herself In the bonds of a control of steel. She turned slowly, walked up the beach, entered the grove of palms, mechanically found the path and plodded along it, still erect and unbending, until the wind ings of the trail and the thickening of the grove hid her from any chance watchers on the ship. Then, and not until then, did she give way completely. She threw herself down upon the sand in the cool shadow of the great rocks in what to her had suddenly become a weary land, and outstretched her arms as if to clasp the earth to her breast in default of the man she had dreamed of and trusted, she had loved and lived for, and lay there a silent, shuddering, wretched figure. Her crushing disappointment at his Is the Present Charnoek Married? failure to rise to the measure of her of of end her ideal him, the total mander, stepping forward, notebook in to the little group who waited, all exdi;eam of happiness, the breaking of hand. cept Langford, who had walked away all her hopes, the closing of all her will you conduct the neces- out of earshot and who resolutely kept Captain, ambitions, the tearing asunder of her sary his back toward the party, but this inquiry?" heartstrings whelmed her in agony. Certainly, said the captain. Mr. thing has to be settled. Now, said the She had thought that never could hu do you identify this lady? woman, here is no question of honor, manity experience more than the pain Langford, but of love. I ask you, Man, do you I do, sir, answered Langford. She superinduced by the horror of her polove me as you did last night?" is of Miss San Katherine Brenton to but that pain sition upon the ship, I he began, falteringly. the present wqs like a caress. For to Francisco. You have never told me a lie, she You say this of your own personal all that old horror was added a new You have never known continued. sense of loss, of disappoinment and knowledge? but the truth. anything Yes, sir. despair. Like Elijah of old, dismayed, Until I learned from you, cried the You will make affidavit to that disheartened, broken, she prayed that man, what you had concealed. , fact? she might die there on the sands. The woman smiled bitterly, waving With pleasure. this cruel stab. aside I wondered, said the woman, bitCHAPTER XIX. Tell me the truth. Do you love me came back." terly, why you as you did last night? It was at my wish, madam, re The Mans Failure. If you will have it, no, said the turned off from Capt Ashby, formally. At five o'clock a boat put man, rushing to his doom. He was not greatly prepossessed the big white cruiser, conveying the Men have taken a bullet in the islander, the captain, the other officers with the imperative manner and de- breast, a shot in the heart, and for a and Langford to the shore. The woman meanor of this young woman, but he moment have maintained their erect met them on the sand. She had dis- did not see exactly how he could re- position. The woman knew in that carded her woven tunic and was sent it, or force any Improvement in moment how such things could he. dressed in the faded blue blouse and it. Will you proceed now with your But I love you still, said the man. skirt which she had worn when she story, he continued. Will you speak And I still want you for my wife. had left the yacht and which she had slowly so that Mr. Whittaker, who Last night, went on the woman, ever since preserved with such scru- does not write shorthand, can take it as if in a dream, I seemed to you pulous care for an emergency like this. down?" the embodiment of every excellence Well was it for her that the garments Thereupon the woman told that por- that humanity can possess short of were loose and easy-fittinelse she tion of her tale which related to the the divine. could not have put them on, so splen- evidence which she exhibited, the Yes, said the man, I loved you didly had she developed in waist and piece of the boat with the name of the as chest and limb. She wore stockings ship upon it, the dog collar, the silver Do I still possess those qualities ard shoes, and, save for a certain na- box, the Bible, the two rings. These in your eyes? tural elegance and freedom in her were marked, set down and sworn to. He hesitated. He strove to speak. The truth! The truth! whispered bearing, she looked much as any other The affidavit to which she subscribed woman, except that few women were her name, and to which she took oath the woman. Nothing else, so help on the very Bible of the island, was you God! as beautiful as shp. After a momentary hesitation and a brief, though comprehensive, and the No, said the man, but I love you glance at the islander, who, after his little ceremony was soon over. Mr. still, and you ought to marry me, you first swift, comprehending survey of Whittaker assumed charge of all the must. Cant you understand? exhibits. The tale having been comthe woman, stood with averted head Listen, said the woman, fiercely. she, conscious painfully of his every pleted and all the little formalities got I did not go, to that man yonder, algesture and movement the lieuten- through with, the little party stood though he offered me that ant commander performed the neces- around in awkward silence wondering honor could dictate andeverything that true afThis ceremony what was next to come. fection could suggest, 1 do believe, besary introductions. over, it was the woman who spoke. Miss Brenton, said the captain at cause I did not love him, although I I sent for you, gentlemen, she be- last, breaking the pause, it seems a have since come to respect him. after gan, in order that a necessary deposi- shame. For God's sake, reconsider I Lave thought it over. It is not duty, tion might be made to enable, if possi- your decision and come off to the but love, which is the compelling motive in this matter. And I won't take ble, my" she patsed and bowed for ship! you; I would not take an angel from heaven unless he thought me in every particular all that a woman should be to nan, unless he loved me with his whole heart and soul abdly, completely. You solutely, unfi don't. I dou't .'en think that I love and jou now. You have been tried tested, and you have failed. Gentleping about her feet held her back, men, will you take him away? I stay here.' aid the man, blunt- drove her back, retarded her in he ly, drawing ap.ui from the others, advance. Could she do it? Should she do it? and I will kill with my own hands the nun who lays a finger upon me. At least she would not give up th "Sir, said the captain, tills land, I idea for want of trying. She resolutetake it, is the United States. As the ly set herself to wade into the deepranking officer present, I represent its er sea. That she waded was evilaw. It is under my rule. As to dence of her indecision. Under other I have nothing to say, circumstances, or bad she been clear choice, your but as far as regards other tilings, you in her mind as to her course, a quick will have to obey mo here as any run, a spring, a splash, and she would have been in the midst of the lagoon. other citizen of our uountry." nd I know nothing of the United She went slowly, and as the water States or its laws," answered the man, grew deeper. She went more slowly. It was warm and pleasant in the laI am a law unto myself. proudly. "The first lesson that the world goon. The slight difference of temwill teach you, sir, returned the cap- perature between the water and tha tain, pointedly, is that that position air ordinarily was only stimulating. cannot be maintained; that the whole And yet the sea had never seemed sa fabric of civilization depends upon cold to her as it was in that hour. By and by she stopped, the waconcession by individuals of natural now up to her breast. Tb rights and upon the enforcement of ters these concessions by other individuals w ind blew gently toward the land, and to whom has been delegated that tlie waves struck her softly and beat her back. She stopped dead still and power." I dont wish to learn It, and that is thought and thought, wrestling witb t, why will not leave this island, per- her problem, full of passionate vain regret, despair, consisted the nmn. It was the woman who intervened. scious that life held nothing for her, She stepped close to the man and and yet dinging to it, unknowing what would be the outcome of the Titanio laid her hand upon his arm. You said that In some fashion you struggle raging in her breast between loved me," she urged. primal passions, love of life and lova of man! "In some fashion I do, he replied. It grows late. Captain, can your CHAPTER XX. ship lie by the Island until morning? "If you wish, certainly, returned The Repentance That Came Too Late the captain. For the first time in his life the man Very well. Man, will you then go aboard the ship with these gentlemen of the island played the coward. Ha and leave me alone here for the was afraid to be alone. The others, the officers of the ship, that Is, not night? Alone, madam! excaimed the capLangford he had gone back to hia own yacht, declining the captains intain. vitation to dinner would have reCertainly, sir, returned the woman. There is not a harmful thing spected the islanders mood and have upon the Island. You can come back left him to himself, but it was eviin the morning and we will discuss dent that he craved their society. then what is best to be done. Really, Whittaker and the old chaplain susgentlemen, she went on, with a pite- pected how it would be with him, but ous tremble of her lip, for one mo- they knew that sooner or later be ment losing her control, I have been would have to retire to rest, and soon tried beyond the strength of woman er or later he would be alone. If I can have a quiet rest, if And then his grief was so obvious, in the morning that In accordance with a natural and That Is reasonable, said the sur- commendable tendency they strove ta geon. "The lady is In no state for cheer him up. They encouraged him this discussion, nor, Indeed, are you, to ask questions. They told him sir, he continued, looking hard at many things in reply that the woman the man. could not have told hlrti; that he had Very well, said the captain. Come, half dimly suspected, but had not Mr. Charnoek, you cannot refuse that known. They cleared up to him many Madam, good things which had seemed mysterious request; gentlemen. night. and strange to him. He turned away, followed by the And on their part they marveled at others. Charnoek for the moment hes- the things he did know, at the itated. with which he had been I give you one more clianre, whistaught, and at the wonderful acutepered the woman in his ear. I think ness of perception which he displayed. myself fit for the wife of any man, do Tlie woman had marveled at it, too, you think so? Do you love me? Do but she had become used to it in three you care for me as you did last night? years of Intimacy. They saw it imCan you think of me as all that is mediately with greater surprise. sweet and lovely and noble and pure, A spare cabin in the wardroom had and worthy of any mans affection? been arranged for the islunder, and She bent closer toward him in the there provided with the unwonted luxintensity of her feelings. The words ury of night wear after a hearty rushed from her. The man passed his Good night" from the lieutenant comhand over his forehead. mander and a fervent "God bless you I can only say what I said before, from the old chaplain, he was left i that 1 love you still, that I will marry to his own devices. The strangeness you, and that you ought to be of hia situation, the soft bed, the "That is enough, Interrupted the snowy linen, the silk pajamas, the conGood-by- . woman. fining area of the cabin, the sudden She drew instantly apart from him. touch with luxuries of civilization Mr. Charnoek. rang the captain's would in itself have kept him awake had he been as heart whole and as voice, imperatively. Slowly the islander turned and made care free as when the woman had his way to the sea after the others. landed upon the island. But, indeed, The woman, thus left alone upon the strangeness of these things the island, was face to face with a aroused no emotions In his mind at crisis which could only be met in two all, for the moment he was alone his ways. Either she must go away with thoughts, which he had been fighting the man, or they must both remain on desperately to keep upon other things, the island. It was possible that the reverted to her. What was she doing captain might be induced to use force for the first time alone upon that 1st to take the man away, but that was land? What was she thinking? Ha not likely, and if it were attempted, realized that no more than he could she believed, with much foundation she be sleeping. Unfiinf liingly for her belief, that the man who had he reviewed witb never been coerced by a human bping what calmness he could muster the except her would fight until lie died. scenes of the morning and the day. She could not go away with him; she He forced himself to consider in all could not live with him on the island. its lights and bearings the informaA future opened before him. She tion that had been given to him. He had learned that afternoon on the sand tortured himself by the deliberate that if his identity could be estab- slow recalling of every detail, and lished ho would be a man of great' then, quivering as if under the stimuwealth, a power, a factor in the lus of some blow upon a raw wound, world's affairs. She had had her ex-p- i he reviewed his own conduct. Enlighf rience In life, her taste of power. It enment came to him in that dark and did not matter about her. It mattered silent hour. He discovered first of all that he loved her; that the check and greatly about him. and variation and alterShe had given him a final chance. counter-checHe did not love her as she would be ation in his emotions had been swept loved. He could not love her. It was away in a great development of a evident to her that he never would. more transcending feeling. if she Sl.e bad nothing to live for, nothing should ask him that question on the to hope for, nothing to dream about. morrow as to whether he loved her There was one way of cutting the as he had on that Gordian knot; stie could die. And yet, night, he would still answer no, snnfhow, the instinct of life was because he loved her more. (TO BK CONTINUED ) strong in her heart. She crossed the island to ner sidp, Oh, That There Were Others. where she was hidden from the ship, They knew that she lived abroad and went down to the edge of the wa- for a couple of years, they said. Why ter. She even slipped off the garments did she never speak of It? of civilization and stood forth a primiI used to once in awhile, she an tive Eve and waded out a little way swered, "but not any more after I into the lagoon. The night had fallrn met the two Brooklyn girls who had and she was calm in the screen of the traveled ail over the world. darkness. She could easily swim out cured me. It was When I wasThey in to the barrier reef, clamber upon it, China. or When I was in or Japan, arid then plunge into the blue Pacific When I went through the Black forand swim on and on, and fight and est, or When I took a sail down the fight until the last vestige of her Red sea, until they just about bored strength was gone, and then sink me to death. I said to myself then down, leaving him free and settling that 1' would ever after spare my the question. And yet the waters lap friends, and I have my word. . 1 dls&p-pointmen- to-da- thor-oughnes- s j kept |