Show H name 4 A story of 0 f today and of 0 f all rayj by GEORGE AGNEW chamberlain by the century company SYNOPSIS 4 alan wayne is sent away from red hill V his home by h s uncle J Y as a mora moral fa lure C em ern runs after him ina in a tangle of sl ort skirts to bid h m good by cap tain NN H ayne tells alan of the tailing failing of the th waynes clem dr aks alan a health on his birthday judge healey buys a picture toi for al x lansing the judge defends alan ir in his bus ness w th his employers alan anc and A al x meet at sea homeward bound anc and start a fl which becomes serious at home nance sterl ng asks alan to gc go away from al x alix is taken to task by gerry her husband tor for her conduct witt with A alan and defies him gerry as he thin s sees al x and alan eloping drops every thing and goes to pernambuco fernambuco aux alix leaves alan on the train t CHAPTER VII vil continued that s right said klix as she fol loved lowed his lead to a cab she got in and then shook handa hands with her escort he ile looked at the dollar bill her grasp left behind that gasn wasn t called for miss it v nas as enough for me to have saved ye fro n a tall fall lou I 1 ou d du t save me said alix with a bewildering smile I 1 saved my pl 9 iseff t k she left him scratching bis his head over this fresh enigma alls alix was tired and hungry when ehe got back home but excitement kept ak t br up she felt that she stood on the k threshold of new effort and a new I 1 fe ff after all she thought it was she that had made her hel dear old gerry into a a time server she could have made him t into inath ng else if she hid fried tried ekl she longel to tell h in so perhaps he j would catch hei and crush her in his arms as alan had done she laughed st at herself for wanting him to she rang tang for the butler where s your xii mister ister johnr john I 1 don t know ma am mr gerry iian t come back since ie be went out this morning to jeha mr linsing vs i t person who had been dead for some time his present overlords were mr and mrs gerry and mrs urs lans t I 1 i fm telephone to the club and it if he is there tell him I 1 want to see h in eaid said alix and turned to her welcome tea the sandwiches seemed unusual t 4 ly small to her ravenous appetite 00 gerry was not at the club alls alix dressed resplendently for dinner never had she dressed for any other 41 F man with the care that she dressed for gerry that night but gerry did not come at halt half past nine alls alix or 1 dered the table cleared not din tonight she said to john when your master comes show him in here she sat on in the library listening for or gerry s step in the hall hiu from time to time john came into the room to replenish the fire on one of 0 these occasions alls alix told him he rt might go to bed but an hour later he returned and stood in the door alix allx 1001 ed very small curled up la in a great leathern chair by the fire j its it s after one a clock ma am said john mr gerry wont be coming ile i in ton alls made no answer john held his ground its time tor for you tou to go to bed ma maam am shall I 1 ol 01 call the maid mald A alix was exhausted but it was long before she fell asleep she cried soft F ir ly she wanted to be comforted she had dressed so beautifully she had been so beautiful and gerry bad had not come home As she cried her digap polut ment grew into a great trouble she awoke early from a feverish sleep immediately a sense of weight assailed her she rang and learned that gerry had not yet come home then bis his words of 0 yesterday suddenly fame paine to her if I 1 dropped out of the world today alls alix stared wide eyed at the ceiling why by had she re those words she lay for a long time thinking her breakfast NN was as brought io fo her but she did not 4 touch it it was almost noon in the cloudy sunday morning when she At roused herself from apathy she sprang from the bed she summoned judge healey with a note and mrs badsing with a telegram the tele gram was carefully worded please come and stay for a while gerry Is away the judge found alls alix radiating radii ting the freshness of a beautiful woman care ful ul of her person but it was the fresh 0 nesb ness of a pale flower klix allx was grave and her gravity had a sweetness that made the judges heart bound he felt an awaken ng in her that he be had long watched for she told him all the story of the day before in a steady monotone that omitted nothing and gave the facts only their own weight when she finished the judge patted ter band you would make a asplen t id witness my dear he be said now h ahat hat you want Is for me to find gerry and bring him back isn t it are you sure gerry knew nothing of your er excursion to the stat on aux shook her head prom from the time he left lay my room and the house be has not been back has be he been to the club aux colored faintly I 1 see said the judge quickly ask there go now he went off and all that day he sought in vain tor for a trace of gerry he went to all his haunts in the city he had telephoned to those outs de at it he returned to alix but it was mrs lans ng that received him in the library the judge was tired and his buoy incy had deserted him he ile told her of Ms his failure mrs lansing was thoughtful but not greatly troubled gerry she said has a level head he ile can take care of himself she went to tell alix that was no new s when she came back the judge guined to her well ell heasler he ed what did he she say nothing except e that she wanted to know if you had tr ed the bank the judge struck his big fist into his left hand band Is never ever thought of it he said that child has a head he ile went to the telephone arom the dent of the bank he traced the man ager from the manager the cashier yes gerry had been at the bink on saturday Satu iday the cashier remembered it because air ur lansing had drawn a tain fain account in full he ile would not say how much 1 it there said the judge with a sigh of relief that s something it takes a steady nerve to draw i i bank ac count in full lou must take the news upstairs I 1 im in off III follow up the clue tomorrow mrs lansing and alls alix had never given themselves to each other there had been no warfare between them but equally there had never been un der standing to mrs Lan lansing sings s in herent calm alix scintillation had been repellent and alix before gerry s mothr moth r had felt much the same re as before gerry s old butler there had been strength in mrs lansing s calin she hid had been waiting and now the waiting was ON er aix al x 1 ud d given herself tearful and almost wo wold idless less into arms that were more than ready and had bad then poured out her heart in a broken tale that would have confounded any court of justice but which women wa waa cl dier than logic at the end mrs lansing said noth ing instead she petted alix carried her off to bed and kept her there for three days in her waking hours alix added spasmodic bits to her confes s on sage deflections after the event dreamy I 1 wonders that speculated in the past and in the measure of her emotions mrs lansing sat and listened and sewed her soft brown hair just touched with gray her calm face with its half hidden strength her steady eyes turned now on alix now on her vi work ork brought peace into the room and held it in spite of the disquieting lack of news of gerry when she spoke at last it was to say half shyly you are stronger than I 1 hid thought I 1 believe enery woman at the actual moment of surrender feels an impulse of shame and fear during that moment desire lets go of her its the last chance that fate holds out the women who fail fall to take the chance it seems to me they fall fail through weak weakness nei of spirit and not of flesh more women are rt ined by circum stance than by desire women decide to burn their bridges behind them and then they think tl ey ve burned them III the circumstances were inere against you there wasn gasn t a loophole in the net pate fate gave you pou your moment and you tore your way out on the fourth day alix got up but on the fifth she stayed in bed mrs lansing found her pale and fright ened she had been crying alix she whispered kneeling beside the bed what is it alix told her amid sobs oh my dear said mrs lansing throwing her arms around her don t cry don t worry the strength will come with the need in the end you 11 be glad so wilt will gerry so will all of us it isn t that said alix faintly oh it isn t that I 1 in just th thinking luking and thinking how terrible jt would have been it if I 1 had run away reilly run away I 1 keep imagining how awful it would have been it is night mare call it nightmare it if you like sweet heart but just remember that you are awake les said alix softly I 1 am awake now I 1 want to watch the hill come to life and dress up tor for the sum mer it will amuse me it its s long since I 1 have watched for the first buds ind and the first swallows I 1 wont won t mind the melting snow and the mud its so long since ive I 1 ve seen clean country mud I 1 want to smell it you don t know how bleak the hill can be before the spring comes ob ejected mrs lans lang ng will it be any bleaker with me there than when you were alone asked alix mrs lansing came over to her and kissed her no 1 dear she said a n in the squalid hotel d europe gerry occue ed a large room that overlooked the quay even if there had been a better hotel in town he would not have moved he ile was not lonely he wandered interested through all the ng city NN hen he was too lazy to go to the city he sat in the precarious bal cony of his room and watched the city come to him almost a month had passed since he landed on his lethean shore and it had served him well the world seemed to have time servers in small regard he ile began to think of his moth ur er jue he strolled over to the cable sta tion the offices were undergoing re pairs phd ground floor was dished save for a table and one chair in the chair sat a chocolate colored employee with a long bamboo on the floii beside him gerry s curios ty was aroused he ile went in and wrote his big message to his mother just a few 5 telling her he was all right the chocolate gentleman folded the mes sage slipped it into the split end of the bamboo and stuck it up through a hole in the ceiling to the floor above gerry smiled and then launched at the gravity with which his smile was re the man looked at him in astonishment these english were all mad and discourteous what was there to laugh at in a man at work gerry went out and rambled over the city night came on he ile was restless he ile wished he had not sent the message it was forming itself into a link he ire dined badly at a res caurant and then wandered balk to the quay arr ving steamers mets were posted on a blackboard under a street lamp the mail from new lork was due to morrow the consul s papers would be full of the latest new ew york society scandal his scandal he ile went to bis his room and sat on the balcony watching the var ed craft raft preparing to drift out on the tide suddenly he got up and went down to the quay A long raking craft was taking on its meager brov s ons gerry engaged its captain in a pantomime parley the boat was bound for penedo to take on cotton gerry decided to go to penedo two of the crew went back with him to get h s baggage the hotel was closed gerry was the only guest and he had his key he ile had paid his hiss weekly bill that day so there was no need to wake up anyone in half an hour he and his belongings were stowed on the deck of the josephina and ind she was drifting slowly down to the bar four days later they were off the mouth of the san Iran francisco cisco they doubled in and tacked their way up to penedo renedo there was no life in pen edo cdo it was desolate and lonely corn com pared with the hotel d europe and the lively quay so when a funny little sternwheeler stem wheeler started up the river on its weekly trip to piranhas gerry went with it piranhas was a town of mud plas against a barren cliff it made no pretense to being alive here a dead man could live in peace with his surroundings from fifteen miles up the river came the rumble of the mighty paulo affonso falls singing a perpetual requiem gerry established himself in a hovel of an inn that even in th s far retreat did not dare call itself hotel the only industry in piranhas was the washing of clothes and the women did that fish were caught in great quantities but fishing wis not an in austry here man fibbed only when he was hungry gerry chartered a ponderous canoe at first he hid a man to paddle him up and down and end comet mes across the wide half mile of water but be fore long he learned to handle the thing himself the heavy work soon trimmed his asplend d muscles into shape he supplied the hostelry with a variety of fish one morning he awoke earlier than usual the wave of life was running high in his veins he ile sprang up and still in his pajamas hurried out for his morning swim the break of day was gloriously chilly A cool breeze hurrying up from the sea was stead lly ily banking up the mist that hung over the river gerry sprang into his canoe and pushed off he drone its heavy length up stream not in the teeth of the current for no man could do that but skirting the shore seizing on oil the help of every eddy and keeping an eye out for the green swirling mound that meant a pinnacle of rock just short of the surface he ile went vent farther up the river than ever before his ills mus cles cies were keyed to the struggle he ile passed the last jutting bend tuat the boatmen on the river could master and found himself in a bay protected by a spit of sand rock tipped and foam tossed where it reached the river rivers s channel from froin this point the river was a chaos of jagged rocks that fought the mighty tide hurled from the falls still miles ralles above gerry ran the canoe upon the shore and stripped he ile stepped on to the spit of sand in that moment just to live was enough A sharp cry broke on his astonished ears almost at the end of the tongue of sand stood a girl her hair was blow ing around her slim shoulders over one of them she gazed startled at gerry he ile drew back horribly con fused and mumbling apology es that she could not have understood even if she he could hae heard them th thi t she plunged with a clean long dive into the river but before she plunged she la igho gorry gerry heard the laugh with an an answering swerin 6 cry he hurled himself into the water and swam as he had never swum before the giri girl had farther to go across the I 1 we bay but she could beat gerry swimming and she did only she failed to use her head and when she found bottom started to wade wading is slow work in 10 water waist high gerry stuck to his long powerful stroke As the girl reached retched the bank the strong fingers of h s right hand closed on her bare ankle gerry s cab cablegram legrain to h s mother was forwarded to ped hill on the very day that the judge had gone to tell them that no trice could be found of the missing man the judge was more down hearted than ever over gerry s d arance and when he found the two women rad abing happiness and excitement his heart sank lower still I 1 haven t any good news he said ruefully before he alighted tease him said alix in a low tone to mis lansing but mrs lansing had found new lines in the judge judges s tired face and she whispered back I 1 can t she put the cablegram in the judge s hand what s th s he s id and read it then he gave a war whoop caught alix around the waist and kissed her the firs were gay that night gay ay iy with the joy of happy people happily planning in a month say at the most two months gerry could be here cpr ng would have come the hill N n be decked out in full regalia of leaf and blossom it would be in full commission to meet him they looked at alix and alix seemed to look at herself he would come into his own |