Part 16 (1/2)
But while we have been indulging in cheap philosophy Mr Brown's sweetheart has got well down the road, following at a considerable distance the footsteps of Lionel Evidently she is in a good huhtly sound as of the boulevards or cabarets, and she stops to pick a wild rose She is shts--possibly at the lamentable lack of self-control exhibited by her lover, possibly at the reathered And as she is in a good humor, self-possessed, and the air is of the balood-looking stranger sitting by the roadside, ser is Tony Wild, who has left Mr Hedderwick exhausted at The Happy Heart, while he strolls out to exa,” says Tony courteously, raising his cap He does not get up, for that hten her away ”Can you tell , but”
”I have never heard of it,” says the lady, with a smile that shows she penetrates Tony's ele”
Tony deliberately flicks the ash froarette
”What a bore!” he observes with a fluent laziness in his voice, and of course the lady can not continue her progress while he is speaking It would look so prudish ”I fully keen on seeing Hetton-le-Hole, but nobody here seeive up the idea I say, don't you find life rather a bore?” It was an abrupt change of subject, but there seemed no inconsequence as the words dropped idly fro at random for an obvious purpose, but with an unaffected sincerity ”Nothing to do, Ianother, and so forth, you know”
”Heavens, no!” replied the lady with an amused contempt ”There is soman like you think of himself if he is bored atat twenty-six?”
”Good shot!” said Tony ”I say, please forgiveand all that, and do sit down and talk to ratified, and I'd doalready,” she said with a crisp note of rebuke
”I have neither the tiers I hope you will soon find the road you speak of”
She turned and went on her way Tony sood-naturedly; really, she had been quite lenient, though he had hardly deserved all she said and implied She was more than pretty and was evidently no fool A lady?
N--nobutwas it worth following up? Should he try to engineer a small flirtation or be content with the fair promises held out by Mr
Hedderwick? NnoYes! She had spurned his lightly-proffered hoive in without a struggle He was only too willing in s so soon lost their interest; but to be forced to play the part of rejected spectator, that could not be perly ”I bet she turns and waves!”
thought the despicable Tony ”She's a char lady's maid who likes fun, respects herself, and means to be treated with correctness--when she chooses She will turn and wave before reaching that bend in the road And _I_ will be stand-offish and refuse to reply A perfect cause of offense, with a delightfulto follow _But_, I shall follow her secretly along the hedge and find out where she lives
Adone some little distance, but still did not turn round
Worshi+pers of beauty,and decorous behavior, rejoice! She did not turn round! Her gay _svelte_ figure inal defiance in her shoulders and the swing of her tailor-allant whistle floated back to Tony, and he murmured ”Bravado!” with an uneasy doubt The curve of the road was close at hand now: a few more yards would carry her past in triuitation, for his knowledge of wonosis were at stake
Three yards were left--two--hope seemed dead Then, alas! she stopped and a smile crept to his lips But she did not turn round--there is still a loophole for the sex,--she did not turn round! All she did was to open her reticule and take her handkerchief from it As the handkerchief ithdrawn a bit of pasteboard was caught in its folds and fell--unnoticed?--on the road Tony waited with vast contentht heart he followed and picked up the card He read the inscription with aht, The Quiet House”
CHAPTER XIII
RATHER STAGY
After Beatrice had bidden Lionel good-by in the early dawn she did thepossible: she went to bed But it is one thing to go to bed and another to go to sleep, as estion, or kindred ailments--has found to his cost You feel weary, oppressed with the want of sleep, let us say, yawnsome--in a word, ready to drop off the ht be inscribed in the book of Fate, how changed the ht is out! At once, al slumber and beco occurs to interest your ht succeeds, and another, and you grow o to sleep now,”
and resolutely try to refuse to think But resolution is vain before insohtly shut, but the ilantly into the void: hands may clench themselves in the hopeless effort to compose the will and induce the wished-for slu the accustoain--in the expectation of influencingthrough innuht of verse revolts--nu brain--but still you are far froora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world”
could bestow the ive up the unequal struggle and try to s--and one has to be a smart society lady, a broken man or woman, for theht and read till sleep co and enterprising, you can go for a walk and see the dawn
Or sometimes an impromptu bedroom picnic--bread and cheese and a bottle of beer raided thief-wise froreat care not to let the stairs creak and alarm the house--may have excellent results These, and a score of similar expedients, may be recommended with assurance to the patient And if they fail, at least they have passed an hour or so more pleasantly than in ainst her will She knew that sleep hat she needed, and would need still , followed by her preposterous adventure at the nanimous churchwarden's, had used up more of her nervous resources than was desirable Sleep was therefore the obvious thing But alas! it proved the iht, waiting impatiently for what she kneould not co those hours of frenzied vision? Was it of Lukos, waiting in an eastern prison for the news that would set him free to join her? Was it her dead son, the little boy she had spoken of to Lionel? Or Turkey, the land of her adoption, struggling for freedom, enmeshed with perils, the slave of diplomatic and selfish adventures?
Her art--had it a place within those weary wheels of thought; her success on the stage, the triu, so satisfying and co fancies to a wilder effort toward the goal? Soed her, for each was inextricably interwoven with the others Lukos--Lionel--the sultan--Mizza--the Hedderwicks--the ambassador--a hundred minor characters, ”supers” in the dra, questioning The horrible lines of Wilde burned in letters of fire upon the wall: