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Show aaBBBBBBBBBBBai J bbbBBB LbbbbV bbbbV '' BBBai I BBk fBBBBBB aaBlk bbbBbBI BbBbBs rBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBi r BbbbbbbbbbbbbbbBBB Iv. T T- VaaMaSaBBHSaaalBaaaB 5Q!Wa bBBBf9RXb9I "Tllr ' ' ""'- JBsBVgBBaaaaMjCBaaaaaaaaaagT JlBiSSfcKl.3-' JHSQBaDL isBBbBJbbbbbbbbbbbbbv BBBr4aeB4aBiiiBBBt -Lib ' sffrNrHr by ICothUrrrTTMfeiSSfcjCTK "isaBBaaBaaaaaaassBaMwi ssjaajaa Harriet nodded te aim, and rose 'aaiHafraat stiffly, to go op to the hoasa. She meaated tka brick steps with a taoaghtfully dropped head -'the ajndakafta ar'-aka aUkt wan mating iTimpessTbla to race the house, iaaajr case and so was within threa feat of Richard Carter before she saw him. Ho looked fresh, hard, even young, in his whlta flannels. They "Stood looking look-ing at each other for a moment without with-out speaking. "Where hare you beenr said Richard, Rich-ard, sharply, then, "You look 111 I" - Tears, despite her desperate resolution, resolu-tion, suddenly stung Harriet's eyesi And yet her heart leaped with hope. "I wanted to seo you, Mr. Carter," she faltered. "I couldn't sli-ep very .well. I've been dowa fithe shore. But later any. Ume'wlU do I" ;"You, couldn't sleep 1" he exclaimed with quick, sympathy. Ha looked from her about him, as If for a shelter for her emotion: "Here," ho wild, "coraei down the 'steps a bit. I was going down to the court for a little tennis; Ward may follow ai,but,Jie Won't be dressed t at feU m bow rat Stt aw& .here; ira can, talk." They bad come to the marble bench on the terrace, where Isabelle and Anthony An-thony Pope, sheltered by these same towering .trees and low brick walls, had had their talk a year ago. Harriet, Har-riet, to her own consternation, felt that ahe was in danger of tears. "I 1 hardly know how to aay It," she began. "But bat yon know how ashamed I am I" i'l know I know how joo. feoir Richard said with a sort of brief sympathy. sym-pathy. 'Tm sorry I But you know you mustn't take this all too hard. I didn't I was .thinking of this last night; I didn't ask you for well, any more thaa ryou 'gave me, in this mar-' riage of ours. Your divorce wasy6ur' .own affair' vTaejg4rt's4tlred eyes flashed. "There ,waa no divorce!" ahe said. Quickly. "No 'divorce 7" he echoed with a puz. zled frown. ' ! w.nn' to tell you about It I" she said. But the tears would come again. "I'm tired I" Harriet said, childishly, trying to smile. "I've been up walking. walk-ing. I couldn't sleep I" The consciousness that ho hud been able to forget' the whole tangle, and slpep soundly, gave Richard's voice a little compunction as he said: "You don't have to tell me now. We'll find a way out of It that Is easy for every one " "No, hut let me lalkt" Harriet, In her I'Hgerncss, laid her fingers on his wrist, and he was shocked to feel thnt they were Jcy cold. "I want to (ell yu the whole thing I want jrou to understand I" she said, eagerly. Rich-nrd Rich-nrd looked at her In some anxiety; there wns no acting here. The rich hair wns pushed carelessly from the troubled forehead. She was huddled du the enveloping coat, a different fig-nip fig-nip Indeed from his memory of the superb and angry girl of last night In the library lamplight. "Mr. Carter, 1 never knew my mother" moth-er" she began. But he Interrupted hpr. ' "My "dear," ho said, in a tone he might Imve used to Nina. He laid his warm, fine hnnd on hers, and patted It soothingly. "My dear girl, if you feel that you would like to, go to that ninllu'rly sister of yours If you feel Unit It would he wiser M "(Mi, I am going to Linda at once!" Harriet said, foverishly, hurt to the soul. "I had planned thnt I But but (Mui't you let me tell you?" she pleaded. plead-ed. She had framed the sentences a hundred times In the long night; they billed her utterly now, and she groped for words. "I way only three years old when my mother died." she said. "Of course 1 don't remember her I only remember Linda. I wns shy, my father was a profobnor, ho wore too poor to have ery much social life. I )led rln book, Jived in mv father's shabby little study really ; I never had lin Intimate girl friend Linda was ulW!H good onwllcnllv good talking talk-ing of tho Armenian sufferers, and of the outrages In tho Congo, and of the Tiwr In New York's lower East sldo die noer cared that we were poor, ami Hint wo hmln;t clothes I" "I tnow 1 know!'1 Richard's eyes were smiling, ns If ho knew tho picture, pic-ture, and liked It. "Well, Linda married when I was Mi, and Josephine came, and then TiiIIii opme. I Mill llyeil for books and hnhles. But, unlike Llndn. I cured." irnritpt'K whole face glowed; she looked off Into spnee, und her voice biul n longing nolo, "I cared for tJotlit'K and, good times I" sho said. "I mjoicd thri children, but I dreamed of enrrlngrx maids glory achievements! achieve-ments! I khpw that other womon did lt- "I remember feeling that wnyl" lllilnird roniimnled. mildly, ns she paused "Well," Harriet said, "I met Ronl Blondln one night He lived" 'ta "wr town Watertown. He had a dreadful, artificial sort of rooUwr. My sister .didn't approve of Jter at all. A fries!, of his named StreeCwas an artist; and ha had a nice little wife, and n baby, and -they lived in' a big, barnlike sort of studio. It seemed 'wonderful to a. They loved each other, and their baby, but they-were ao free! 'They would have the whole crowd to dtaaar,) twenty of us,ibraad and red wlne.and .macaroni ad music and talk; it was wonderful or I fought aol It was so different frees" Linda's Ideas, of frosted layer-cake, and chopped nuta, and Five Hundred. I loved the, studio, and they they all loved me, and' ho Royal lovad me especially. Ha aaed to talk about Yogi philosophy aBd Oriental religions and poetry, and after aft-er awhile it was understood among tkem all that he loved no, and I hti.A Aad we "wars' engaged. Of coarae Linda suspected, aiM there waa opposition oppo-sition at'komabat In tha studio, help-Iff help-Iff lij ftrceta gat their sappers, It aaaaed ao right aatasrila Rsyat fnlil lie tllil not belle e Id th.e ortn9lS cwstton of marrtafa. Hf argvsd tkat no' on could live up to its promises, and I hellevtd hlw. Miriam Street, the artist's wife, was a poet, and she wrote the ceremony by which we wero married. We had a big supper, aud I hey were all there, and this poem this marriage poem was beautiful. It Was published In a magstlae;faftr-,f ward, and called 'A Marriage for True J "HISVbbT I aTzSaBBBBBBCaBBBBBBTBBBBBl BWBBBBBBBfl 0 BBBBBBBBBBBBBBTalaBBWVBBBBSBl BBBBBBBBs ""taSMBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBT "" 1 7 aSBaaiBL bbbBBe 3bbbbIpbBbp PbX "I Rsmambsr Feeling That Wayl" Richard Commented, Mildly, as She Paused. Lovers.' It had a part for the woman to say, and a part for the man, and ,Roya! and I said those, aud then It had a part for the woman's friend, an,d the man's frlend,.nnd for all their friends. And then there wns u promise that when love failed on either side, the two were free, to keep the memory of the perfect lova uustalned by the ugly years." She paused ; Richard did not speak. She had told him thla much In a simple, sim-ple, childish voice, a voice that was an echo of thnt old time, he knew. Presently Pres-ently ahe" went on ; 'There was music, and then they all kissed me, and we had supper, and they drunk our health. I went back thnt .night to ,niy sister's; Royal stayed with his mother. We planned to go awuy on our honeymoon the next day. I did not tell Linda and Fred that I considered myself married. I know they would not understand and would try to Interfere. TJie next mornjng I slipped away from the house .with my suitcase, and I mej Roynl Blond in downtown. Wo motored to Byrucuio and took' a train there for New York. I had felt sick when I awakened It wan partly ex-cltement, ex-cltement, ahd partly th supper tho night befoje, vlien'whad,,kU-"eiiten nnd drunk too much. But I wns cry sick In tho train, I thought was going to die. Royal persuaded me to eat my lunch In the dining cur, and that only mode mo worse. There was a nice woman in the train, with two little J girls, and she took care of me. And when she got to New York I hud told her that I was on my wedding Journey, nnd perhaps that mode her kind she took us, to her boarding house in West Forty-slxth street. The landladj wos a deur, good woman, a Mrs. Harrington, Harring-ton, nnd I wus ery sick by this time) sho put me Into her own room, because be-cause the houso was full, und sent for her own doctor, "It was a time of horror," nurrlet suld, smiling a little, nftnr u moment of thought, "The strange women and the si rungo room, nnd Royal coming In with (lowers, aud sitting husldo me. Tho doctor suld It wns a touch of poisoning, poi-soning, and 1 was It only a tew duys. But the homcslckuefcs, aud the strange- t tt-f" - " "-, aes I Somehow, I didn't feel married, ,Ifelt HL-c S lost little girl. I wanted to be bnck In Linda's kitchen again, safe, ami scolding because nothing In ,esMtlng cer happened. 'Well, I wns sick, for three or four dsj. It wns the fourth day when I was vell enough to go out. 'Royal thanked them, and paid Mra. Harrington Harring-ton nnd tho doctor and "we 'went te lunch downtown It wns at Mania's, I.remember, and Royal was so excited and Interested It) everything. But I stlll felt limp and dull. Wo shopped fid went about seeing things after ', ranch, and then we went to the hotel !'5.Bere hu Wft stalng. We were regis-'Wfed regis-'Wfed there ns Mr. and Mrs. Blondln ; It was alt quite taken for granted," $ Harriet stopped; her face wns drawn and white, her words coming Ith difficulty, the phia-jes brief nnd in, Richard wns paying Jier absolute attention, his eyes llxed upon her .ace. '"We had dinner upstairs," she said. She paused, her lips' ilgh't piessed. 1 "I can't tell you." she began again, suddenly, "I can't tell you how It was that I came auddenly to know that I waa too young for marriage I In Miriam Btreet's little studio, where they were laughing about the baby and the sup-Bar, sup-Bar, It seemed different But here, la a hotel. 1 suddenly wanted my sister, I ljpnted to be homo again. "We were talking and planning naturally enough. Royal was coming aad going In the two rooms; I had plenty of chance to to escape. Rvcry ataao I let one go by my heart beat harder." He. could tell from her voice that her heart was beating hard now with the memory of that old tuna. " ' ."If I had let them all go by," she recommenced, re-commenced, "my life would have been dHfercnt. la a faw weeks we would 'pave come, bnck to Watertown, as man 'd wife, and perkasa had a atudk , tear the Streets', and perhnn fuum! a solution. But I couldn't J "I caught up toy coat; left By hat and bai I tfont down the" stairs, not daring to wait for the elevator. And I went to Mrs. Harrington's. She wns svery kind nnd took me In; she sold ,that perhaps it would be better to wult I, until I was older. I cried all nlht, and the next day1 Mrs. Hurrlngton leut aw the money and I went bnck to (Llndn. ' MOf course, It wns terrible, at Orst !,But they were kind to me, In their iway. And I was cured. I went Into hysterics at th first mention of the whole hideous thing. They snw Roy, and they told me that I need never see Im again. The papers for It got to the papers! said that a divorce had been arranged, but there wns no need far a divorce. It was all hushed up .Llndn nnd Fred never spoke of It. I ah, well. I couldn't I " """ when Fred's brother, David, Vho was In dental college then, began to Ilkeme, then they began to maka light of It," Harriet remembered. "There hud been no marriage, of course, cfther In law or In fact. They all knew that. And I suppose If I had married Da Id It might have been happier hap-pier for me. But ns It was, I angered them. I didn't want to marry David. And ao it was what folly girls got, themselves Into what tho world thought of a gtrl.whpjmd been 'talked about' what the least breath of scau-dal scau-dal meant I" "And you went buck to BlondlnT" Richard suggested. "I? No, I never saw him again until a year ago In this garden 1" Harriet said. "You never saw htm again I" the man ejaculated. "Npt(for nine years I" "But my God, my dear girl, he spoke of you as his wife!" Richard said. "He said I had been. Not that I was nowl" The man looked at her, looked away at the river, and shrugged his shoulders shoul-ders as If he were mystified by the waya of women. "But you were never his wlfet" he sold, flatly. "Oh, no I You didn't think," Harriet said, hurt, "that I would have married you, or anyone else, If I had been I" "You let him blackmail you for thatT' Richard. further marveled. "I knew in my own mind, of course, thnt I waa not to blome," tho girl snld, anxiously. "But it sounded horrible." Richard bit his lower Up, looked critically at his racket, slowly shook his head. "I didn't mind what any one thought," Harriet said, reading his thought "But they did I" "They?" Richard repcuted, patiently. "Everyone," she supplied, promptly. "Your wife, your mother, Mary Put-nam Put-nam I Even: Mrs. Tabor." "I,aufpose HoH.f-e conceded, after a pause .Und beneath his' breath he add-edf'Jsabelle-Tda Tabor I" v HJs tohTwasair'sire asked of ex-oulslte ex-oulslte reassurance. T' hoped you wouldn't I" sho said, standing tin with clasped hands and a sudden brightening of her tired and col orjess fuce. "Thnt's what I tried to make myself believe you would feel I I wanted so to le.ive all behind. I thought he had gone, that It was all over, (hat what it was mattered more than what It sounded like! I thought I could sine Nina better, with what I knew, than any ono else I But last night," Harriet added, "proved to me that I had been all wrong. I've been so worried," she added, with utter faith In his decision. "I don't know whut you think wo had bettor do." For n full minute Mellaril watched her In silence. Then he said, mildly: "About Mlim, you mean?" "Abouteverj thing I" Harriet suddenly sudden-ly laughed gaily, llko u child. Life seemed oncejnore straight and pleas-unt pleas-unt la this exquisite June morning; a I she felt puxxlcd, but somehow ao long- j f er afraid. The menacing horrors of all tho yenrx. the vague uneasiness that, she IflCd neer quite dared to face, were fluttering about her awakening spirit like Alice's pack of cards. "Nina will come Into line," her father fa-ther suld, thoughtfully; "she doesn't know what she" wants. I wish I wish ho loed her I" he added, with a fnlnt frown. "I'll see him about It again. We'll take hfr to Rio. Shell get oyer It." "And" Harriet stopped, and begaa nguln: "And do )ou wanMhlngs to go ou Just as they nrel" she asked. For,answer Rlchnrd smiled at her In silence. "NV," he said, Anally. "I can't say lliiit I do. I want you to worry less, nnd to buy yourself some new gowns, and to begin to enjoy life t Shakespeare Shake-speare had you down fine when ho talked about conscience making cowards cow-ards of us all. What did you do It fort A young, capable, good-looking girl acared by a lot of old women'!" Now, we'll take up this Nina question, later on. You'd -better go up and get your self some coffee, and go to bed for awhile. Better plan to be In town for a' day or two, for you'll both need clothes for the steamer-" "You're very kind," the girl said, eyes averted, voice almost Inaudible, They were both standing now, Harriet's h'ead turned-aside, so that he could not see her face, but her soft fingers resting la his. 'Tm not kind nt all 1" Rlchnrd said, with h rather confused laugh. He patted pat-ted her hand encouragingly. "The sea trip will shake both you nnd Nina up, and do j-ou a world of good!" he .said. -You think 'Harriet raised the soft, dark, lashes, and her .splendid, weary eyes met his, Vou really aren't worried about NlnuV ,And she tried by ii very faint stirring of her fingers to fiee them and, tadlac than held, dropped bar ayes agala, n think 1 have lUmdln'a number" Rlchnrd snld, wllj moro tyrce thau pio-uuce. pio-uuce. llicn, with n II I tie faugh that waa partly aasiuud ua4 partly, embarrassed, embar-rassed, he let her go, He watched the young, slender figure fig-ure and Hie shining, Imre ead until they disappeared among the great trees about the house. CHAPTER XV. The summer Sunday ran Its uaual course. Ward and his sister want to luncheon at the club; Madame Carter drove majestically to a Vte service la the pretty, vine-cohered village church. Harriet at Jast aU to relax In soul And Baa Triad by a Very Faint stir-'rffif stir-'rffif af Her Fingers te Free Them, and Pmdlna Them Held, Draassd Mar Byss .Again. aadjtody, slept hour after glorloua hasr. 'Richard. wturaiwrsiW fatf ifor a late luncheon, asked for her. Mra. Carter was, still asleep, Bottomley as- ,sured htm, and received orders not to disturb' her. But when Mr. Blondln called, Richard told tiic butler, he was to be shown to the terrace at once. "I had your message," Roul said, as an opening. "You've not seen Nina today?" Nt ) nu's father asked. . 'JbbbI 0mmmjm) isBBsl "r isswaaa-fr ii - ,&,, mv?. IbbbI "I bloke an engagement with her ad" jH the club," the otlier man assured bias, H "We will probably nieet at the Bat nTgfJ Inniys. at' dinner this evening." IH "Ah. it was about that I wHherf te H speak." Richard paused, and Blondat watched him with polite tatereat. (H "VoU have held your knowledge of Mfa, jH Carter as a sort of weapon for aeaaa , months," Rlchnrd said, presently, ' '!fgfJ use it when you saw tit. 1 have aV ways been In my wife's eontldciko " "fsfj Ho pauseil, but for no reason that. Blondln could divine. As it" matter t 'jM fact It gae Itlchurd a sudden aud aaj j exiiected pleasure to speak of her as, H to realise that ho really might give taa H most wonderful title In the world I ItH thla beautiful and spirited .woman. Bfl ''And I have also talked with Klaa IflJ this1 morning," he went on. "I regret (o aay thnt her Intentions have not at Jflflfl urtd," - ' ;-$ MA lo)al little heart I" BlondUa saTa, ( gravely and contentedly, "I knew I IflJ Wl dafsMd ap hrr flj "latld'l wauted to see you oabual' fljl neas, Mr. Blondln." lUehardsiaHaaii,, trying to .keep Impatience and cob- jflja 'tempt out of his voice, "and wall kaa Ifljl to business. I don't kaow what yassr jBBJ circumstances' are, of course" Iflja He hesitated, and Btoadla leokoB flfl at him with a faint Interest fljB "I Uve simply," ,he said. "Iflaa '' money will be all her owa." fljjfJ "Nina will have no nosey, ast aaa jfljla flve-cent piece, for exactly aaraai years 1" Richard said. fljjB Blondln1 shrugged. IjjB "She Is quite-willing to try ttrla fl lemlnded her father. Bfl v"I know she 1st But haw abas our' Richard, asked. "You are.aot a flfl boy. you have sola Idea ef what saar flfl jiasjaraeans. Forthraa yearatyaw flfl must ' take care of her. dress "aar, flfl amuse her, satisfy her that she has flfl not mii'de a mistake.' Then she' daw jflfl 'come Into her money yea. But threa flfl years Is a Iqug time In which to keep- flfl her certain that the wisest thjnr,shs jflfl run do is turn It oer to you." jflfl He paused; Btohdlu smoked Imper- iflfl turbably. Bfl Ass vtaa pwanaaj) flfl BJBB |