OCR Text |
Show a till using steady discretion, ho had been drawn gradually neater the fas-cinnting fas-cinnting whirlpool of new interests and new work. Shut his ejes as he miEht. there wag no denying that this moment, so personally vital to him, was politically vital to the whole rnmitry and Jhat by a eTtrions com- cldenee rhilcote's position well niKt forced htm to take an active inter i rs"t in the situation. Again and ag:tn ' the tfiiRgest um had arisen that, ahoul. the smolder. nr fire in Persia break into a flame. Chilcote's commercial In-j In-j terealM would facilnite, would practl- i ( 'on t 'nni'H fin pae- i i i i ii i ii i inn IB THE MASQUERADERf ,ny KATHER1NE CLC1L THURSTON , n Viiyrml-.t. H.irpr A Mroa.) . " I (Continued from yesterd.iy.) L.ike nil other experiment, his showed unlonkrd for f-aturea when put to a working test. Ps exi ected dtfft-j cuitiea Mimothed themselves away,, while others, wnrcely antitipar. d. came into prominence. Mont notable if ail. j the physical likeness between nim'lf; ami t'hilo.to. the bedrock of the whh ; scheme, which had been counted ui n 1 to offer ino.t dantrer. woiked wi'lm u a hitch. iU stood htemiiy amazed before be-fore the nwecping credul.ty that met him on every hand Men wno had known t'hllcote from his youth, servants ser-vants who had been in i.i hm employment employ-ment for year. Joined lasu in the itn-qupstlonlng itn-qupstlonlng acceptance. At tim the ease of the deception lewildercd him; there were moments when he rta'ixd that, should circumstances force him to a declaration of ih. truth. he would not be believed. Human nature prefers Its own eyesight to the testimony of anv nun. Uut in f tee cf this a.'tomshlng suc-ceis suc-ceis be steered n nteady course. In the first exhilaration -f Kraid" h faor. m the flr-t egotistical with to break down Kte'a skepticism, he might possibly have pluiiK'-d nil" the vortex of a.tion. b-t It be in what dtwii.m !( m. phi : bwt. fort una lely for himself, for i bib ote and for their chem he as liable x cMfnu'Mis second thoughts these wise and nc-esary nc-esary curbs thai" go further to the steadying of the universe, than the uimerse gucs-s. iit iing. in the quiet of the House, on the same day that he had spoken with ! on the terrace, h had welc led possibilities slowlv an 1 c;iutioiif-l. Impressed to I the full by the atmosphere of the place, thnt in his eyes could never ! iack character, however dull Its mo-' mo-' inentary business, however prosV the mice that flliid it. he had sifted im-1 im-1 pulse 'from expedience, as only n man I who hag lived within himyif can sift and distinguish. And at the l.se of I that first day his progmm had. been formed. There must be no r ish. no headlong vlunff-. ho had de -id-d things must work around. It was his first exi-uition Into the new country, coun-try, and it lay with tate to say whether wheth-er It would b his last. He had been leaning back In his se.it, his ryes on the ministers opposite, oppo-site, his arms folded in imitation of 'hitc,otes most natural attitude, when this ' final speculation had come to hun. and aa it came us lips had tightened for a moment and his face h-nie hard and cold. It is an unpleasant un-pleasant thing when it man firt unconsciously un-consciously reckons on the weakness of anothVr, and ' the b'ok which expresses ex-presses the idea is not good t see. lie hud stirred uneasily, then his lips had. closed -again. He was tenacious by nature and by nature Intolerant of weakness. At the f.rst suggestion of reckoning upon Chileote ' mses. his mind .had drawn ba k in disgust, but as the thought came a-un tUe disgust tad UbaBvirvJ. i In a weektwo weeks, perhaps rhllroto would reclaim his place. I Then would begin the routine of the affair. Chflcoto. fvesh from indulgence indul-gence and freedom, would find his ublig.it ions a thousand times more irksome than before. He would struggle strug-gle for a time. Then I A shadowy smile had touched Ln-i Ln-i der s lips' a the idea formed itself. Then would come the Inevitable recall. re-call. Then In earnest he might ven-ll'jre ven-ll'jre to put hi hand to the plow, lie j never Indulged in day dreams, but something in the nature of a vision hud flashed over his mind in thit in-I in-I stunt. lb had seen himr.elf stand- in.: In that same building, seen the ; trws of faces first bore.i. then hesl-' hesl-' tai ing! transformed under his person.! per-son.! domination, un'ler the one great power he knew himself to possess the power of eloquence. The strength of the mgtfostnn hud been almost painful. Men wrm havp attained self repression are occasionally oprtn to a perilous inrush of feeling. I;elirv-j I;elirv-j Ing th-tt i hey know tnem.se.ves, they , walk boldly forward towards the hifcih , ro-id and the pitfall alike, j These had l fen I.oder's discon-; discon-; nccit-d ideas and speculations on the first dny of hi.- new life. At 4 o'clock ( on the ninth day h wus p.icing with ! qu.e-l ci-nf ideni-e up and down Chil-I Chil-I cotes study, hia mind pleasantly busy j and his cigar comfortably alight. ' wh.-n he paused In his walk and frowned, interrupted by the entrance I of a servant. The man came snftly into the room, drew a small table towards the fire, anil proceeded to lay an extremely j fin- and unserviceable looking cloth, i- I.odcr watched him in silence, lie i had grown to find silence a very use-I use-I ful commodity. To wait and let J thmws develop was the attitude he ' cfu nest assumed. But on this occa sion he was perplexed. He had not i rur.j; for tea, and in any rase a cup i on a salver satisfied his wants. He . looked critically at the fragiit cloth. ' I 're -entiy the servant departed and ! solemnly reenter d. carr ing a sliver j tray with cups, u teapot and cakes, i Having adjusted them to his satisfac-1 satisfac-1 tion. he turned to Loder. I' "Mrs. fhilcote will be with you in ! five minutes, sir." he said, j He waited for some resonse, hut Ixder gave none. Again he had found i th advantage of silence, but this I time it was silence of a compulsory kind. He had nothing to say. Tne man. findmg him trresponsibe, retired. Left to himself. lender stared at the array of feminine trifles. Then, turning abruptly, he moved to the center ot the room. hince t he day they had talked on the terrace, lie had -only scn Kve thrice, and always in the presence of others. l:tnte the night of his first 1 coming she had not invaded Ids do- main, and he wondered what this new j departure might mean, j His thougat of her had been less lwv;d ill too last fvw dus. for, though felt that the position wna ridiculous. Hi) glanced at Kve's avertel head, and 1 laid his empty rup upon the table. ' Wlmost at once she turned, and their eyes met. "John." she said, "do you guess at all why I wanted to have te with 'Tie looked down at hr. "No." he said, honestly and -without embellishment. embellish-ment. , . , The rnrtneas of the answer might huvw displeased another woman. 1-ve se ined to take no offense. "I hud a tslk with the iraldca to. day," she said. "A long talk. Mr., Krnlde aa(d greut thiiiKs of you things I wouldn't have believed from any-botiy any-botiy but Mr. rralde." Hhe altered her position and looked from Loderg face back Into the fire. . He took a atep forward. "What things?" be s..ld. He was aVn.t ashamed of the sudden. Inordinate sot-Isfactlun sot-Isfactlun thst welled up at her word. Oh. I mustn't tell you!' Me laughed a little. "Hut you have nr-prised nr-prised him." She paused sipped her tea. then looked up again with a change of expression. ,." (Continued tomorrow.) (Continued from page 4.) cally compel, his standing In In the campaign attalnst the government. The little incident of the tea table, recalling rlie social sld of his obll- i gallons, had aroused the realisation of greater things. As he stood meditatively medi-tatively In the middle of the room, he saW suddenly how absorbed he had become In these greater thlnga. How, In the awing of congenial Interests, he had been borne Insensibly forward his capacities expanding, his Intelligence asserting Itself, lie had so undeniably undenia-bly found his sphere that the Idea fo usurpation had receded gently, as by natural laws, until his own personality personal-ity had begun to color the day s work. As this knowledge came, he wondered won-dered quickly If It held a solution 'of the present little comedy; If Eve had seen what others, he knew, had observed that Chllcota was showing a grasp of thlnga he had not exhibited ex-hibited for years. Then, aa a sound of skirts came softly down the corridor, cor-ridor, he squared his shoulders f It h his habitual abrupt gesture and threw his cigar Into the fire; Eve entered the r.om much as she had done on her former visit, but with one difference. In passing Loder, she j quietly held out her hand. J He took It as quietly. "Why am Ij so honored?" he said. I She laughed a little . and looked across at the fire. "How like a man! you always want to begin with reasons. rea-sons. I-et'i have tea first and plu nations after." She moved forward for-ward towards the table, and he fol-1 lowed. As he did so It struck him that j her dress seemed In peculiar harmony with the day and the room, though beyond that he coulY not follow Its details. de-tails. Aa she paused beside the table he drew forward a chair with taint touch of awkwardness. 1 Khe thanked him and sat down. i He watched her in silence as she poured out the tea. and the thought crossed his mind that It was Incredibly Incred-ibly long since he had seen a Woman 'preside over a meal. The deftness of i her fingers filed him with an tin-i tin-i familiar, half -Inquisitive wonder. , So ' interesting was the sensation that. ! when she held his cup toward him, he didn't Immediately see it. ! "IXn't jrou wanf any?" rihe amllrd , a little. He started, embarrassed by his owa tardiness. "I'm afraid I'm dull." he I said. "I've been so" "So keen a worker In the last w'kr 1 Fur a moment be felt relieved. Then. ! as a fresh silence f-ll, his sense of ! awkwardness relumed. He sipped his , tea and ate a biscuit. He found himself him-self wishing, for almost the first time. I fi.r some of the small society talk that 1 crime so plrnantly to eth'jr men. He |