Show 00 fv V q 4 STOR A BY A CONAN N I 1 I 1 CHAPTER IL CON TIrEL it wants to get at ellza eliza said the youth in a confidential confident lAl whisper master says she would give him I 1 noren moren he be brought lie he smiled affably at the two little stiff hack black figures and departed in search bearch of his mistress what what did he say gasped bertha something about a oh goodness gracious oh help help help help help the two sisters had bounded on to the settee and stood there with staring eyes and skirts gathered in I 1 n while they tilled filled the whole house with their yells out of a high wicker work basket which stood by the tire fire there had risen a flat diamond shaped head with wicked green eyes which came flickering upwards waving gently from side bide to side until a foot or more of glossy scaly neck was visible slowly the vl va cloua head came floating up while at every oscillation a fresh burst of shrieks came from the settee what in the name of mischief cried a voice and there was the mistress of the house standing in the doorway her gaze at first had merely taken in the tact fact that two strangers were standing ser screaming earning upon her red plush plus it sofa A glance at the fireplace however ho w showed her the cause of the te terror r and she burst into a hearty fit it of laughter charley she shouted heres eliza misbehaving again ill settle her a answered ii a masculine voice and the young man dashed into the room he had a brown horsecloth horse cloth in his hand which he threw over the basket making it fast with a piece of twine so as to effectually imprison its ingate while his aunt ran across to reassure her visitors it Is only a rock snake she ex caned laened oh bertha oh If monica onica gasped the poor exhausted gentlewomen ashes hatching out some eggs that a why we have the tire ellza eliza always does better when she is warm she Is a sweet gentle creature but no doubt she thought that you had designs upon her eggs I 1 suppose that you did not touch any of them oh let us get away bertha cried d monica with her thin black gloved hands bands thrown forward in abhorrence not away but into the next room said raid mrs with the air of one whose word was law this way it you please it Is less warm here she led the way into a very ery handsomely appointed library with three great cases of 0 books and upon the fourth side a long yellow table littered over with papers and scientific lac instruments sit here and you there she continued that Is right now let me see which of f you Is 19 miss BlIs williams and which miss bliss 0 bertha williams 1 I am miss bliss williams said Bl monica onlea still palpitating tating and glancing furtively about in dread of some new horror and you live as I 1 understand over at the pretty little cottage it Is very nice of jou ou to call so early I 1 dont suppose UP that we shall get on but still the intention Is equally good she crossed her legs and leaned her back against the marble mantelpiece we thought that perhaps we might be of some assistance said bertha timidly if there is anything which we could do to make you feel more at home oh thank you I 1 am too old a traveler to feel anything but at home I 1 go ive just come back from a few months in the Marque sas islands where I 1 had a very pleasant visit that was where I 1 got ellza eliza in many respects the Marque sas islands now lead the world dear me ajac ejaculated miss bliss williams in what respect in III the relation of the die sexes they have worked out the great problem upon their own lines and their lr isolated geographical position has helped them to come to a conclusion of their own the woman there Is as she should be in every way the absolute equal of the male come in charles and sit down Is eliza all right all right aunt these are our neighbors the misses williams perhaps they will have some stout you might bring in a couple vf kf k f bottles charles no no thank you none for or us cried her two visitors earnestly no 1140 1 I am sorry that I 1 have no tea to offer you I 1 look upon the of woman as largely due to her abandoning nut etious di inks and invigorating exercises to the male I 1 do ne neither ither she picked up a pair of alf teen po pound u nd dumbbells dumb bells from beside the fireplace e and swung them lightly about her head you see bee what may be done on it stout said eald she but dont you think the elder miss bliss williams suggested timidly dont you think mrs that woman has a mission of her own the lady of the house dropped her dumbbells dumb bells with a crash upon the floor the old cant she cried the old shibboleth what Is this ant s s lon which Is reserved tor for woman all it t that hat is humble that Is mean that Is soul killing th that at Is so contemptible and so ill paid that none other will touch lt it all that la is womans comans mission and who imposed these limitations upon her who cooped her ter up within this narrow sphere was it providence was it ria nature ture no it was the arch enemy it was man oh I 1 say Runt auntie ler drawled her nephew it was man charles it was you and nd our fellows i say bay that woman in 1 a colossal monument to the se selfish lab lessof ca of roan man whit Is all this chivalry valry these fine words and vague phrases where Is if it when we alah to ti put it to the test man in the abstract will do anything to help a woman 0 of course how does it work when his pocket la Is touched where Is his chivalry then will the doctors help her to qualify will the lawyers help her to be cal called led to the bar will the clergy tol tolerate p rate her in the church oh it Is close your ranks then and reter refer poor woman to her mission her mission to be thankful for coppers and not to interfere with the men while they grabble for gold like swine round a trough that Is mans reading of the mission of women you may sit there and sneer charles while you look upon your victim to but you know that it la Is truth every word ot of it terrified as they were by this sudden torrent of words the two gentlewomen i could not but smile at the sight of 0 the nery domineering victim and the big apologetic representative of 0 mankind who sat meekly beating oil all the sins man of his sex gex the lady struck a match whipped a cigarette from a case upon the mantelpiece and began to draw the smoke into her lungs 1 I find it very soothing when my nerves are at all ruffled she explained you dont smoke ah you miss one of the purest of pleasures without a reaction miss williams smoothed out her silken lap it Is a pleasure she said with some reproach to self assertion which bertha and I 1 are rather too old fash boned to enjoy no doubt it would probably make you very ill III it if you attempted it by the way I 1 hope that you will come to some of our guild meetings I 1 shall see that tickets are arc sent you bour your guild it Is not yet formed but I 1 shall lose no time in forming a committee it Is my habit to establish a branch of the emancipation guild wherever I 1 go there Is a mrs sanderson in aberley who Is already one of the emancipated so that I 1 have a nucleus it Is only by organized resistance miss bliss williams that we can hope to hold our own a against the selfish sex must you go then yes we have one or two other visits to pay said the elder sister you will I 1 am rn sure excuse us its I 1 hope that you will find norwood a pleasant residence all places are to me dimply a battlefield she answered gripping first one and then the other with a grip which crumpled up their little thin fingers the days for work and healthful exercise the evenings to browning and high discourse eh charles goodbye she came to the door with them and as they glanced back they saw her still standing there with the yellow bull pup cuddled up under one forearm awl and the thin blue reek of her cigarette ascending from her lips oh what a dreadful dreadful woman whispered sister bertha as they hurried down the street thank goodness that it Is over but site shell return the visit answered the other 1 I think that we had better tell mary that we are not at home CHAPTER HI DUELLERS rM ELLEnS INTHE OW DEEPLY ARE our destinies influx 1 c i encee by the th e most trifling causes g had the unknown builder who erect is yr i ik ed cd and owned these avary new ew villas con jyh J yh I 1 tented himself by 7 si gipy cipy bunding building each each within its own grounds it la Is probable that these three small groups of people would have remained hardly conscious of each others existence and that there would have been no opportunity for that action and reaction which Is here set forth but there was a common link to bind them together to single himself out from all other norwood bu builders id the landlord had devised and laid out a common laun lan tennis ground which stretched behind the houses with taut stretched sti etched net green close cropped sward and ulde widespread spread whitewashed lines hither in sea ah of that hard exercise which is as necessary as air or food to the english temperament came young hay denver when released from the toll of the city hither too came dr walker and his two fair daughters clara and ida and hither also champions of the lawn came the short skirted muscular widow and her athletic nephew ere the summer was gone they knew each other in this quiet nook as they might inight not have done after years of a stiffer and more formal acquaintance and especially to the admiral and the doctor were this closer intimacy and companionship of value each had a idd old in his life as every man must have who with unexhausted strength steps out of the great race but each by his society might help to nil fill up that of his neighbor it Is true that they had not much in common but that Is sometimes an aid rather than a bar to 1 kach ach had bad been an enthusiast st in III his profession and had retained all his interest in it the doctor still read from cover to cover his lancet and his Aled medical leal journal attended all professional gath gatherings elings worked himself into an alternate state of exaltation and depression over the res results u its of the election of officers and reber reserved ved for himself a den of his own III ih which before rows of little round bottles full of glycerine canadian balsan balsam I 1 and braining agents he still cut sections with it a and peeped fcc bcd through lilii ills long brass old fashioned micro t ope cope at the arcana of nature with wit his typical face clean shaven on lip ill and chin with a firm mouth a strong jaw a steady eye and two little white ruff feuds 8 of whiskers he ha could never be taken for or anything but what he be was wa a elgh blab clahti british medical consultant consult tnt of the age ot of fifty or perhaps lust just it a year ear ot two older the doctor lif in Ms heyday hey day had been ool cool over greit great things but now in bin hl retirement he was fussy over trine trifles the man who had operated without the th quiver of 0 a finger when not only his patients life but his own reputation and future were at stake was now shaken to the soul out by a mislaid millaid book or a L careless maid ile he remarked it him self elf and knew the reason when mary was alive he be would say she stood between me and the little troubles I 1 could brace myself for the big ones my bly girls are as rood good as girls can be but who can know a man as his wife gift knows him then his memory would conjure up a tuft of 0 brown hair and a single white thin hand band over a coverlet and he would feel as we have all felt that it if we do not live alve and know each other after death then indeed we are tricked and betrayed by nit all the highest hopes and subtlest intuitions of 0 our nature the doctor had his bla compensations to make up tor for hla his loss the great scalps scalp of fate had been held on a level tor for him for where in all great london could one find two sweeter girls more loving more intelligent and more sympathetic than clara and ida walker so bright were they so quick so interested in all which interested him that if it were possible tor for a man to be compensated pen sated tor for the lose losa ot of a good wife then balthazar walker might claim to be so clara was tall and thin and supple with a graceful womanly figure there was something stately and distinguished in her carriage queenly her friends called her while her critics described her as reserved and distant such as it was boa bo however A ever it was part and parcel of herself tor for she was and had always from her childhood been different from any one around her there was nothing gregarious in her nature she thought with her own mind saw with her own eyes acted from her own impulse her face was pale striking rather than pretty but with two great dark eyes so earnestly questioning so KO quick in their transitions from loy joy to pathos so swift in their comment upon every word and deed around her that those eyes alone were to many more attractive than all the beauty of her younger sister hers was a strong quiet soul and it was her firm hand which had taken over the duties of her mother had ordered the house restrained the servants comforted her father and upheld her weaker sister from the day of that great misfortune ida walker was a hands breadth smaller than clara but was a little fuller in the face and plumper in the figure she had light yellow hair mischievous ch blue eyes with the light of humor ever twinkling in theli thele depths and a large perfectly formed mouth with that slight upward curve of the corners which goes with a keen appreciation of fun suggesting even in repose that a latent smile Is ever lurking at the edges of the lips she was modern to the soles ot of her dainty little high heeled shoes frankly fond of dress and of pleasure devoted to tennis and to comic opera delighted with a dance which came her way only too seldom longing ever for some new excitement and yet behind all this lighter side of her character a thoroughly good heathy minded english girl the life and soul of the house and the idol of 0 her sister and her father A peep into the remaining villa and our introductions are complete TO BE CO |