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Show xIhen the mist cleared jjlk I ET KATE M. CLEARY. Mr I ,rfrhtc4 m.V Kate M- Cler ParL had known that the meeting OtyfU Ilm would be a rtock. but she WU6p Irflstcd to the hope hat. being by I3 ,rntl. she would also be forc-u forc-u 7 5" ""a she felt helplessly furi- CO I . leellsc that she had grown cold I Jsbltc the instant he stood before bocn crossing to the parlor te. ?tt dining-room after luncheon, J m Cameron had come along- 111 lirmo than the III I '? had wooed. She had bloomed V li the atmosphere of luxury, and ISSSured social position that had I If fa her with her marriage. And ' fiff'? He rejoiced that the hand JrM ! him an Instant trembled In "r tv rSt. But his eyes, that dwelt as scrl .ffiisclnatlon upon her face, were ' 1 ntfl uh unutterable reproach, cr. AYferfrst words were plteously defen- Jl'ft s in all the papers," she fal-n fal-n sl$ -Everyone believed it. Your own 3uL0. M3CC2pted the r.ews of your j 1mA k true'" Mfir'ih to God that it had been!" he rrn' &l msslonntely. "When later I read ii lOr' marriage well. I hated those lc Co 'pulled the Spanish knife out of 2i iiuddered-her sweet lips paling:. -jj . l&You heard," she asked hiin, "you iipT that was my liusbnnd -who :. WlH fccke?" it dsaMI , kt you look quite well iulte like 'J 'itJ old self," she said anxiously. fn 1 KOt over lhtlt nurt 1111 rishL UJijJ the other I can't get over. Put on J hat and come down on the beach. Isabel. That Is, if your, husband doesn't does-n't object," he added, with a slight, sarcastic curl of his handsome lip. She drew herself up proudly. "My husband," she said coldly, "objects "ob-jects to nothing that I dol I will go with you for a short -walk. And she told herself the while she Hung on her golf cape and crushed a little scarlet Tarn o'Slianter down on her dark hair with hands that still shook that this was the only time she would speak with him alone. She owed him nn explanation, and he should have It lie must not be permitted to coil-strue coil-strue her emotion at sight of him Into In-to belief that she still harbored a romantic rom-antic attachment toward him. Towering cliffs hid them from the sprawling, fashionable town. The roar of the surf came up to them in a low. booming, thunderous monotone. Ahead behind over the vlstac of sand and ru-oi. duiscs ui. mu ui.t:aii nuug a log, dense. Illusory, silvery, mysterious. In its rifts phantom ships were visible, dipping and curtseying on their noiseless noise-less course. "It's all very harmonious," said Roy Cameron grimly. "Might have been made to order as a setting for our little lit-tle comedy, eh9 Nothing around us but vague obscurity. And we three the most hopeless of all the ghosts that walks!" "We three?" she repeated, not comprehending. com-prehending. "You and I and the ghost of our, vanished happiness!" he said. "Oh!" she murmured. Then, for a little while they walked on In silence. "Isabel." he aslced suddenly, bending forward to look Into her averted face, "why did you marry that rich man?" Her wifely pride rose Instantly in arms at the insinuation. i "You speak as though Robert Graeme were a rich man only," she said Indignantly. Indig-nantly. "He is a good man a wise and honorable man." "But you did not love him," Cameron went on mercilessly. "And you were engaged to me." "They told me you were dead In the Philippines!" she burst out, harassed and eager to have the talk over. "My brother Frank was In tremendous monetary difficulties. There was disgrace dis-grace of some sort ahead for him. Mother was breaking her heart over the whole matter. And then then Robert nsked me to be his wife. I knew he could fix up everything. Besides, I was fond of him. I always admired him very much!" she ended defiantly. "Ah!" he said quietly too quietly. "That was the way, was it?" They had walked rapidly, quite outstripping out-stripping all the others sauntering in the same direction. Isabel was breathless breath-less from haste. The hulk of an old boat, drawn high on the beach, offered shelter from the rising wind and the too insistent clamor of the waves. Mrs. Graeme sat down on an embankment of sand somo children had made In the shadow of the boat. "I shall rest a few minutes. Then we will go back," she said. She was wholly unprepared for the violence with which he broke Into speech. "Back! You would go back to him? "When It Is I. Isabel I, who have the best, first, real right to you! If it were not for that accursed blunder about my death you would have been waiting wait-ing for me still." White, stricken, shocked, she sat there while he raved on. She had never Imagined such madness, nor such selfishness. sel-fishness. For it was all of himself he spoke all for himself hc cared. He would miss her so. Hc had great pos- slbllities, which only she could inspire. If she would only go away for awhile let Graeme get a divorce for desertion. Then they could be married and leave this pnrt of the world. He knew of a good opening In Havana. His love should make a recompense to her She found her voice there. "Love!" she repealed. "Love!" And he quailed a little before the grave scorn In her eyes. "You would have me break my pledged vows, degrade my loyalty, bankrupt my life for what?" She paused, shaken by the revulsion of feeling feel-ing that overwhelmed her. Was this her Ideal lover? Was this man peevish, peev-ish, passionate, wearisomely persistent the hero she had enshrined in her heart? "Oh. hush!" she said brokenly. "Hush!" Ho thought she spoko (hus because of the approach of others. Two men wero leaning against the hulk of tho boat on the farther side. But It was only after she had spoken that she recognized her husband's voice. "If It were not for a certain knowledge knowl-edge I possessed, Travis,'' he was say- child to be my wife, long and dearly though I had loved her. It was not even that I coud help her family out of a dire difficulty were I one of them, nor yet wholly because I was aware of tho unstable Character of the man for whom she had, I understood, a girlish preference. It was chiefly because I knew I could not live long. I've heart trouble of an Incurable kind my doctor doc-tor tells me. She does not suspect of course; she is all that is sweet and pure and womanly. But it does me good to know that one of these dayj, when she is free again she will have the protection of my name even though I am no longer with her. She will be still a young nnd beautiful woman, and a very wealthy one. You understand I aril only .telling UiSs to you In confidence, con-fidence, because you are such an old friend, and I could not bear to have you doubt my motives. Shall we talk on?" , Thoy went back toward the town, oblivious ob-livious of the two In the shadow of the boat. Isabel rose quickly and looked out-over out-over the tumultuous waste of waters. A fluctuant color was hot In her cheek. Her eyes were full of a brooding brilliance bril-liance Cameron had never seen in them before. "You heard?" she asked him. "You know that waa my husband who spoke?" "He nodded, misunderstanding her emotion. "If what he said Is true, Isabel, Isa-bel, I will wait." She fiared out at him then. He would wait he who was not fit to brush the shoes of that other man whom he flouted I That other man whom she honored whom she loved! She 3poke In no uncertain terms. He quivered with tho merited stlnir of her rlisdnin But he understood a last. And when she had Hung away from him and was walking rapidly back alone, he followed and caught up with her. "I'll go aSvay tonight Forgive me If you can! See, the mist Is clearing off." The silver veil was rolling up like a scroll from the tossing, peevish billows. Arid the sun was shining forth, dazzling, daz-zling, resplendent. "Thc mist Jias quite cleared," she said. And then lower. "Thank God!" That night Robert Graeme, marveling at her greater gentleness of words, the new tenderness of her smile, thrilled to think that perhaps his one wild dream was coming true after ajl, nnd that he might win the love he crnved. "Dear,' she said to him, "It 'is such a beautiful world. I am finding out that I am happy!" He bowed his head over her hand that she might not see the rapture In his eyes. And both found tho silence sweet. |