OCR Text |
Show TSe Girl Who Had No God Uwtr Tta," c o .. J , , I , ,1 (OwtUW Uui lit liMtort) 8YNOPSI8. CHAPTEn I-OM Hllarr Klnmton. starting' with Socialism, drift! Into anarchy, an-archy, and gfttheri round him In the hall above the vlilnRe of Womnicham a band ot accomplished deineradoei who rob the rich. Incite editions and arm the rebellious. re-bellious. Ills motherless dauehter, Elinor, U raised to fine living and wrong thinking, think-ing, to no law and no Chrlit. CHAPTER 11-In an attack on the Agrarian Ag-rarian bank messenger, old Hilary U killed, but I not suspected of complicity. Boroday brings the body home to the hall. CHAPTER III Ward, assistant rector of Bt. Judo's, makes a call of condolence On Elinor, who consents to have her father fath-er burled from Bt. Jude's fh the odor of sanctity. The chief of police recognises Boroday and Is suspicious. CHAPTER IV-After the funeral the band meet at the hall and agree to go on as before. Elinor acting In her father's etead. Hurt asks Elinor to marry him and she consents, though she does not love him. Boroday Is arrested and threat-ened CHAPTER V-Boroday In Jail. Talbot Flans a raid on the Country club. The rlendshlp between Ward and Elinor ripens to something deeper. Bhe envies him his faith. CHAPTER VI-Huff burns St. Jude's Varlsh house, Elinor offers to help re-ulld re-ulld it and Is angry with Huff. CHAPTER Vll-Huff plans to rob Ward of the money collected to rebuild the parish house. Elinor objects and Huff la jealous. CHAPTER VIH-Mrs. Bryant, who has lost a. valunble pear-shaped pearl In the Country club robbery, tries to poison Ward's mind npalnat Elinor: $78,000 Is subscribed toward the rebuilding of the parish house Elinor drops the Bryant pearl Into the olmsbox near the church door. CHAPTER IX-Talbot tells Elinor that tho chief of police demands of Boroday I tho Bryant pearl ns the price of his free- I dom. By anonymous letter they advise tho chief where to And It. Elinor tries I 'to dissuade Huff from robbing Ward of the church money, but only makes Hurt more Jealous. CHAPTER X-Ellnor calls Ward to her and In despair tells him that sho Is 'head of n bnnd of thieves and warns him ' of the plot to rob him. As Ward Is on his way home from the hall Huff shoots i him down. CHAPTER XI The chief o," police re-; covers the Bryant penrl rvd r liases Bor. oday. Ward Is taken to the hall. In nit ,her troubles Elinor finds herself alone and turns to a higher power for help. Boroday comes to the hall and advises Elinor to leave. The chief sees him leaving leav-ing the halt and shadows him. Boroday sends Huff to the hall to hide the Jewels. . CHAPTER XH-IIuff bids Elinor good-by. good-by. She leaves her home. A year later ward meets Boroday In England and 'learns that Elinor also may be there. He finds her In St. Paul's, Ixjnrton, kneeling and In tears. Ward tells her he loves her and she promises to go with him. "And your Qod shall be my God," she sold. . !', i It dawned even on Tnlbot after time that her solicitude was for none of them. When ho realized It, ot Inst, he sat back with folded firms and frowning brows. Here was mockery,' for sure; old Hilary's daughter, reared t on pure violence, and In love with a ' parson! old Hilary's daughter and ' , successor, defying the bnnd In Its hour of need, and quoting a divine trust. In extenuation t In view of her attitude, there seemed to bo nothing to do. "We'll give It up, of course," said Lcthbrldge, nfter n pause. There had never been any drinking in old Hilary's house. Only abstainers abstain-ers were ever taken Into the band. Hut .' j It was the custom of the two older men to remain nt the table over their cigars, giving Walter hnd Elinor a hnlf-bour together. That night, when Elinor ,rose from the table. Huff, although he rose with the others, made no move to follow her. She looked back from ,tho doorway, n slim, almost childish figure, with beseeching eyes. I "You must nil try to think kindly of me," sho snld wistfully. "I care for you ns much ns I ever did. You are all ' I hove, you three. It Is only that I have been thinking." For the first time since the organisation organi-sation of the bnnd, there was qunrrel-ing qunrrel-ing thnt night In old Hilary' paneled ' llbrnry. At tho end of on hour Walter i Huff flung out of the door, white with fury. lie stumbled through tho garden gar-den townrd the garage, muttering asi he went. In the rose alley he met El-, Jnor. "I was watting for you," she said Simply. Huff stood before her, and the anger (eft his face. "Ynll'ro tho nn ihlnc In nil thfl "You'ro tho ono thing in nil the world I felt sure of." His voice was heavy with despair. "I'vo been thinking about Boroday" Boro-day" "Elinor, how far have things gone between you and this man at St. Jude's?" Sho recoiled. "I hardly know him." "You think nliout him." She looked down Into the valley. "I think of the things he stands for. It just seems to me thnt, when a man like that, not n dreamer nt all, but hu-limn hu-limn and and keen, when he believes nil that he does " "It was Ward on tho ridge-pole, the one who nenrly fell?" "Yes." "And you were frightened?" "It mode mo sick. I " Quite suddenly he crushed her to him. It wuh ns if he meant to drive nwny this barrier between them by I sheer force of his lovo for her. But, nltliough she held up her face for his I kiss, he released her as suddenly, without It. "You're crnsy about him," he snld thickly. "I'm not blind. I'll get him for this I" CHAPTER VIII. Snturdiiy evening It wns tho custom of the Bryants to entertain the rector at dinner. ' j Now, In his absence, It wns the as- slstnnt rector who dined In the paneled 1 Jacobenn dining room of the Bryant house, swallowing much unctuous dictation dic-tation as to church policy with his dinner. Not thnt Ward was mild. But he ,hnd an easy way of listening to the dvlco of his various Influential parishioners parish-ioners and then going abend nmj doing no ho liked. In nonessentials he always al-ways yielded. To him the church was Iso much bigger than Its ritual. That evening Mrs. Bryant hnd tnken up the question of women In the choir. "Frnnkly, Mr. Ward," she sold, Ignoring Ig-noring her fish, "I do cot approve of It. It's tho feminist movement, I tell you. Before long they'll want to be on tho vestry." Ward glnuced up, half smiling. The ( penr-shaped penrl, which usually hung nt his hostess' withered throat, wns, naturnlly, not there. From the pearl to the parish house, from the parish houso to Elinor thus In two lenps of Ward's mind he wns far from tho subject sub-ject In hand. ' "As president of the Chnneel society," soci-ety," snld Mrs. Bryntit. "os honorary president of the Woman's guild. I protest pro-test against women In the choir." Back to the choir with a jump came Ward's errnnt mind. "I wonder," Wnrd reflected, "whether "wheth-er n matter of tradition and custom will prevent women from singing In tho heavenly choir I" Mrs. Bryant stnblied nt her fish. But sho hnd not finished. There were innny things nbout Saint Judo's that did not plenso her. The burial of old Hilary Kingston hnd been one. Sho seized on thnt. "A non-communlcnnt," she snapped. "An Infidel, nn atheist I Tho daughter Is living nlnne up there at this minute. min-ute. It Isn't respectable. It's n bad example to the girls In tho village. Tho houso Is full of men nil tho time." "Thnt must be u mistake." "It is quite true. Servants talk, you know. Whnt enn you eSpect? ltnlsed out of the church, with no belief, and, of course, n'o moral Instruction." Wnrd bent forward over tho table. "That Is a very serious statement, Mrs. Bryant." His eyes wero llko steel. "Of courso you lire not b'asing It merely on what you hear from servants?" serv-ants?" Mrs. Bryant flushed, n purplish spot in tho center of ench sagging check. "I do not gossip with tho servants," sho sold, shortly, "It Is common talk. And there nre other things. Machines come and go from the house nt queer hours ot tbo night. Tho girl spends a great deal of money. Where does she get It? Where, for that matter, did old Hilary Kingston get It?" Thus challenged, Wnrd had nothing VI to sny. SI After dinner he left early, but he did 91 not go home. He went up the hill. As 'H M he strode on, he remembered many til things. The girl wns without the sheet- 9 1 anchor of nuy belief, ml rift and olon 9 1 and he had made no attempt to help H her unbelief. Although it was after 9 ten, the houso was still lighted down- jl stairs, and he went without hesitation , lass! Into the gnrden. nssssl Thus It happened thnt he saw Elinor jH In Huffs arms, saw him thrust her vlv lently from him, and rush away across 'ssll tho flower-beds, leaving her there sssH ,alono, 'H Wnrd remained In tho shadows. To BH save his life ho could not have spoken ''H to Elinor then. Under, his constrained '. exterior he was in the thrall of tho flH fiercest Jealousy. This little fair- fH haired girl, to whom his God was no JtiU God, had taken a powerful hold on VlsH him. Elinor, who slept little that night, M saw the light In his window until it fH faded Into the dawn. ilsfl Elinor went to the enrly communion fllH tho following day. The church was 11 dark. There were hardly two dozen ftpl 1 people scattered over the building. Sho ilssssi snt far back and wns heavily veiled. GisH When tho congregation knelt, she sIbB knelt. An old woman In the next pew SaH gave her the prayer book open nt the IH lervlce. On her knees then went Ell- vllH nor and listened to Ward's fine voice jvjH echoing through the empty building. K JH I Tho morning wns warm nnd the win- a H I dows open. The odor of burned wood a H from tho parish houso crept In. "Thou shalt not steal," Ward read ja U from the Decalogue, and tho people g jm snld: y H "Lord have mercy upon us nnd in- ill cllnc our henrts to keep this law." m IU "Thou sholt not steal." j? fM In tho palm of her left glove Elinor j J hnd tho Brynnt pear-shaped pearl. jj Mm Ward had not seen her. He went 9 t-fl through the service Reverently, with an n 3 Imprcsslvcness of voice nnd benrlng j$ thnt showed how real It was to him. N In And In his voice, reading, exhorting, if Kl commanding, there were tender notes j! H 1 thnt cnught Elinor's breath In her a 1 1 throat. s,i When the service wns over, she rose i'ssT.l from her knees nnd dropped the Bry- Fill nnt penrl Into tho nlms-box by tho S'ssss! door. The congregation, small nnd s Hj scattered, wns still kneeling. Tho ft doorway and tho alms-box wcro In twl- nVs light. M Drawing down her veil, sho went II quickly out Into the sunshine. ill At tho eleven o'clock service Wnrd II announced the bunting of the parish , l I buldlug. j ji "It Is not my Indention to make an h 1 nppcal," ho said simply. "The purlsh j i I house wn,s built to fill a great need; Jjj 11 that need still exists. If our church is ill to be nn clelnent in the dnlly lives ot III tho people of this town, we must have 1 HI a meeting place for them. For the t kl worship of our God, the church build- 5 fug Is stilllcleut, but If religion is to you j : tho thing It Is to me, tho broader rcli- ' II glon of uulversni brotherhood, the 1 l church building Is not enough. " 4 H "Thou shnlt love thy neighbor as 1 Km- thyself." j Seventy-eight thousand dollars was I taken up in tho collection at Saint ( M Judo's thnt morning. Over fifty thou- It snnd was in checks, the rest was in . i lJ cash. ! ll Walter Huff, sitting nlonc in the j W back of tho church, had watched Ward I I intently through the service. ' Unlike" Elinor, Huff had been raised j fL In a Presbyterian household. He had 'j ( H come to Jeer, to watch with his thief's tl eyes the offertory piling Into the sliver ,H plates.- But tho service told on him. ) jH Somewhere down In his violent young llfll henrt there crept a sensj of shame. It III wns only when he looked at Ward that 11H his eyes hardened. tHH This man who hnd coma between tiH him and his girl this white-handed, SjiH surpllced, prayer-reading priest, who ilH in u dozen words could compel the peo- ' 'H pie before him to lay n fortune at his $fl feet Huff ground his teeth together. 1 IW But something of unwilling admiration 1 '111 ivas mixed with his scorn. This was jUV "I Don't Like to Atk You to Talk .11 Business on Sunday." Am '"isl no mean adversnry, this Wnrd ; a man, every Inch ot him. He would beat hlra H out It he had to kill him to do It. Huff btnyed In church after the scrv- jH Ice. Ho accosted Mr. Bryant, one of 'MM tho vestrymen, as the congregation "H filed out. ' "I don't like to ask you to talk H .(To be continued in our next issue.). . I 1 mggmmmmgmmmmmmmmmmwmmmmmm |