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Show Im's W' VY" rijrrl 'WS ! Who Qime Back ! B1 Jack Woodford ;s,ct I I CHAPTER VIII Continued ' 13 "1 was not thliil.iiif; ot your lirst ails-take, 1 was thinking of jour second sec-ond one the pniiletnau you speak, of as Cray ICyes." "I'ut he's nothing " "Naturally you'd s:iy so. And 1 do ) believe that he U- nothing to you now, but lie must have neon tit some time, nitlioub he, too, takes the more thai) a little ahsnrd position that his in-I in-I terest In you Is purely altruistic. I Frankly, 1 don't believe either him or yourself in this connection, and you might as well know it soon as late." "Then the reason you're going to ' marry Miss Pringle is that you he- . lieve me to he Involved In some sort of an a'Tair with Gray Eyes':" "No. that's not the reason." 'ien it's f in.- rmer " "No, that Isn't It, either. You are I In no way to blame: it's just my own i sheer eussedness." He seemed a Unle j uncertain of his course now, a little ashamed of himself. Lolita leaned , forward sympathetically. "Tell me all ahout it, Mr. Warrill." she begged. "Well," he began, heartened by her tone, "it's like this. Please try to understand. un-derstand. I have been, as you know. 1 for some years writing for the niaga- tines. I'm getting nowhere. The stufT that I write is cheap commercial drivel, written for a price. 1 can do ( better than that, 1 know. 1 want a chance to do the very best work that 1 am capable of. and by marrying Miss Pringle 1 can do It. She has promised me that 1 shall not have to worry over tinancial considerations at nil. I shall have a big study to work in. infinite f time, and no responsibilities: no neces sity for turning out cheap stu;7 in or- ' ler to make a living; no necessity for writing advertising copy for the j papers that advertise theaters by nay j of so-called play reviews. Do you see my point? Last night I thought that 1 would give up the idea, and marry. i but. hut She slopped him. "Yes. I do." returned Lolita slowly; " think that you are hopeless. Much 1 as I care for you, I cannot help hut think less of you now." "But you're perfectly silly. Why should you think less of me? You re taking a sentimental view of this whole thing. Your mind is full of the ! contemporary cant in this country; i , the French, with their broader con- ' '. templatior of the moralities, would UjT ' think nothing of such an arrangement ; and. besides, it will be a help to you. ; 1 love you. and shall always love you 1 more than anyone else in the world. This will give me a chance to be of i some help to you, too, while you are ; learning to write. I can help you i financiclly, after I've married Miss Pringle." I "Do you think for one minute I'd ' accept such help from you under th"S3 ' circumstances?'' ! ''You accepted It from Gray Eyes. did you not?" j "But that's very different." I "Different. 1 think it is much worse, considering the fact that you do not love him. Either way, consid ering that, you are doing something very small. If you do not intend to make him any return for his money. i you are cheating him; If you do in tend to, you are lowering yourself, since you admittedly do not love him." "Then you think that if 1 let you help me financially, and made some ( sort of return to you, considering the I fact that we love each other. It would be all right, despite Miss Pringle. de- spite the conventions, despite all of the decencies?" i . "There is another phase to the thing, i Lolita, that you overlook. We are artists, and therefore not to be bound I down by the ordinary conventions that ( the herd observes. The greatest thing j in the world Is the ability to create beauty. Those who have that ability, as you and I have. In a measure, should be, and by plain right are. exempted from the observance of the conventions that the Babbits are dedicated dedi-cated to. The creation of beauty Is the highest possible form that man's endeavor can take. We should let no petty considerations of any kind In terfere with our attempt to do so I am not alone In this view; almost all of the great, for hundreds of years. " have agreed that this Is so." '. "' Regardless of that, 1 don't believe It. 1 shan't accept the theory, and there Is utterly no use in your presenting that fast and loose argument to me. I've sturted out to make something of myself and If I do It, I'm going to do It on the 'American plan.' " "Then, the whole fact of the mutter Is that you simply don't love me Isn't it?" Before tills question Lolita sal silent The whole fact of the matter was that she did love him. mightily, and It was all that she could do to hold to her determination to win . out In the right way or not at all. Her heart wa9 breaking at the thought tbat hf. could for one moment consider mcrryins Miss Piingle for her money, j "I do love you " she said nl lasl In n tone hardly audible. lie roe and ciossed to her chair, took both of her hands In his own. pulled her to her feet. Almost brutally brutal-ly he kissed her, and. brutal as the Llss was she gloried In It. for she felt somehow certain that he would never kiss Miss Pringle like that. For a moment she abandoned herself to his kisses ami his lips searched her face, her throat. e en her bosom. "Oh, Mr. Warrill, you do love me," she said softly, "drop this mad Idea of marrying Miss Pringle you and I can manage somehow. I'll go without anything, everything. We can work our problem of life out together, nnd then, if we ever get anywhere, we will have done so by our own efforts cleau ly. Please say you will." "No." he said roughly: "1 know what all that means, and 1 won't drag you through It; you're loo beautiful to be marred by the ugly contacts with life that that might call for. Let me make It easy fot both of us please." Suddenly he picked her up bodily and started to carry her across the room. For one moment delicious reslgna tlou took hold of her senses; It was wonderful to be picked up and carried car-ried ofT that way. lie laid her down, and she could feel his hot breath up on her as l,e bent over her. und while every liber of her being called out for surrender she yet fought back, sat up. pushed him away, stood erect, the tears rolling from her eyes as she saw the expression upon his face one ol such passion that it was horrible. "Leave the room." she ordered. He grasped her in his urms again, but with every ounce of strengih in her body she fought hiiu oil aud pushed him away, marveling that she was able to do it despite the fact that she loved him uo iess for what had nearly transpired. "If you dare to touch me again," she told him earnestly, "I'll call for help." This sobered l.iai, and he sieppid back, his face lluhcd and a n g ry. "You haven t always been so particular." par-ticular." he rfaiituled her. "No." she agreed. "if you loved me a little more " be began. "If I loved you a little less," she denied, "you would have had a better chance of succeeding. As It is, I want you to go. and I do not want you ever to come near me again until you have changed." "And if I do not change?" "Then I never want to ' see you again ever." "You mean that?" "Absolutely." "Lolita. you're superb." She did not reply to t ti is. Sitting upon the bed she covered her face will) her hands and cried frankly and openly. "You almost make me change my mind," lie said sadly ; "but I can't very well -now, l can only hope that you will change yours. I think It's big of yon to take this position, and all that; still, by and large. It's foolish fool-ish and because It is foolish, 1 think you'll get over it. I'm going now. but I'm coining back soon, and 1 want you to think things over and try and see them from my viewpoint." She did ot reply; and. ofter a moment, he went to the door, passed through, and presently Lolita beard his feel descending de-scending the stairs for the last time, she reflected. In an agony of torment she threw her slim body full length upon the bed and shook with sobs, realizing, now, that she didn't realij want him to go. that, if it were pos si hie to call hiin back she would ue-cede ue-cede to his wishes in everything, rath er than lose him forever. Yet, as she lay there sobbing, little voices inside of her kept telling her approving, heartening things. At last she sat up dry eyed, thinking Intent ly. For once and for all. under the in mt trying clr cuiiislnnccu Imaginable, aim hud proved to herself that aim win nbl to withstand temptalloii. The easiest way had been mosl alluring from every ev-ery standpoint, jet she had turned from It. A great truth becmed to dawn upon her as she sat there, mill as ti Manic, Muring at her relleclloii in the ilivnser kIiiss; a nilsniep In life did not di-quality one but merely made li harder for one to light and win the ultimate battle. Ileyond a doubt, the battle Just won was a most decisive one. Things would be differ ent now. She Jumped up, and, though It win late, pulled a trunk out of the closet and opened It lliislly alio Hew about the room pulling her things Into II SI.e would leave I hp neighborhood, break away from everything and make her own way. When tdic had succeeded suc-ceeded If she Kilcceeiled. she would pay bail! Cray Kyes every cent tluit he had spent upon her. Deep down Inside of her, she knew, had been born a new .strength ot character, a new detenu, nation strong er. liner, llrnier than ever before, an,i It was this knowledge that made hei happy, even as the additional knowl edge that she had not stopped loving Warrill nnd probably never would, made her sad. Forcing thoughts of him from her mind she continued to pack. In the morning she would lose herself so that neither Warrill nor Cray Eves could possibly find her. aud. from that time on. light her own bat tie. In the morning Lolita rose still fully ful-ly determined to carry out her resolution reso-lution of the night before. It was a cold, raw, drizzly, typical Chicago day nnd not one likely to lift the spirits. When she was drcsed, Mrs. Hardy came In with the mall. "Well, well, why so ambitious this morning?" usked that lady In her usual cheery manner. "I'm going to leave you," returned Lolita, with sincere regret. "Not really?" "Yes, really. I want to get away from everyone, make my own way. I've let people help me out plenty long enough. If the man with the gray eyes wants to know where I'e gone, don't till him anything about me one way or another. Just say 1 w 111 return w hat he has spent on me as soon as I can, I'll take It out there I to that roadhouse that he seems to hae something to do with." Mrs. Hardy looked genuinely sad. "Well. I'm sure sorry to see you pi j cirlie; yet. I really believe that you re : taking the right step. If you ever git j Into a Jam. or there's anything I can ! po-slbly do for you. don't hesitate to call me up or dmp me a line. Here s , your mail looks like another check j thin envelope." Lolita took the en ! velope. nnd Mrs. Hardy went out it f I ! er repealing her promise to be of aid i if neeib d. j l 'polling the envelope, Lolita found i a cheek tor i?'-! from a magazine, for j anoth. r YiiiVv-don" story she had i written the only story she had had , out in the mails; she need not leave j a forwarding address. j Lolita succeeded, with a generous j tip, In Inducing a taxi driver to allow I her trunks, of which she had two. to go Into the taxi with her. This ohvl- ' ated the necessity of calling an ex- j pressman, which would have made It j easier for anyone who wisiied to trace i her. j "Drive to the Wilson avenue 'L' sta lion." she directed him, "and get me ' a morning paper." After he bad made a stop for the paper she told him to drive soulh. While he did she hurriedly glanced j through the paper. There was a das- j si lied od, extolling the desirability of j a room for rent near the park. . . This somewhat interested her nnd she gave the chaulTeur the nddresa. Presently they arrived before the number, which was Just about a quarter quar-ter of a block from Lincoln park, and Lolila alighted from the taxi, told the driver to wait, and approached a gray stone front house very dignified and pleasant looking though she could see that it was a rather old building. She rang the bell and presently a woman with a dust cap on came to the door. "I'd like to see the room you have for rent." stated Lolita. "Awri," replied the lady lazily and lid her to a room on the second door. It was a much smaller room than the one she had had at Mrs. Hardy's, but Lolita reilected that doubtless it was much cheaper and. beside, it had a bay window where she could put her typewriter upon n table and look Into the park ns she wrote. "How much?" she inquired, without looking around any further. (TO HE CONTIXtlEn.) |