Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 71: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE STRANGER “It is in the air,” he said. “ It lingers around this place, within the whisper of this fountain, don’t you think? And so you’ve come back to it? You’ve missed ier” “Yes,” whispered Olivetta. * Ah!” cried John Hodge. “ You heart- - stopping little beauty!” Her mind worked with wonderful speed and precision, but her body was numbed. She saw what was about to happen and strove to fight against it. But she could not lift the weight of a finger against him while he took her in his arms, tilted back her head, kissed her lips. It was of his own accord that he freed her and stepped away. She could not speak. “’m terribly sorry,” he said, but there was no sorrow in his voice. Still she could not answer. She kept staring at him in horror—dread lest he should take her again in his arms—dread lest he should not! And all the time there was the mute wonder at the strange manner in which her volition had deen chained. But her silence was doing more than words could have done. “ Miss Dascom,”’ he was saying, and this time there was all earnestness in his tone, “T repeat that I’m ashamed. I—I should have stayed on my side of the fence, I’ know. I should have played the game. But—but the infernal moonshine was really in my blood—and you were so beautiful— I’m overwhelmed with humiliation!” She tried to find her tongue at that. It was her clew, she felt, to make some gra- cious remark. But she could find none. Her mind was a strange blank. With every instant of silence his distress was converted to a greater agony of mortification. “Miss Dascom!” he pleaded. And then: * Shall I leave you?” He took that further silence as a com- mand and retreated. “ T shall leave the house in the morning,” he said. And: “I cannot tell you how troubled I am. Good night, Miss Das- com!” She watched him disappear beyond the shrubbery. She saw his head as he swung down the path toward the house. And AT THE GATE. 697 was one secure moment, she dropped to the stone bench, catching a great breath. Her lips were stinging. Her whole body was hot with shame and joy commingled. Tears began to roll down her face. But all at once she threw up her hands toward the placid, bright moon and broke into a silent laughter. | CHAPTER VIL. THE GLOBE OF MYSTERY. HEN she sat in her room, afterward, she looked back upon that evening as upon a long course of years. The girl who had jested with her father and mocked her mother as they sat under the pergola seemed hardly related to her. One great event had made all that went before a part of the dead past. What most worried her was the parting. For she was half tormented and half de- lighted by the memory of it. She had at least made him take her seriously. Therein lay the triumph. He had begun a careless flirtation. He had ended shocked into a new consideration of her. But was, he not so thoroughly baffled and chilled that he would indeed leave the house in the morning as he had promised? Perhaps she had succeeded too. well, and this was a Pyrrhic victory. Suddenly the room became too small for her. She had to have a greater space about her, some place to walk and to ponder. She might go down to the living room. The rest of the house was long since in bed. So she threw on a dressing gown and went down. But the black forms of the fur- niture in the living room were to her like so many observing figures of men. She went to the front door. The garden was glis- tening under the moon. The wind moved hardly at all. And the air was soft and warm. She stepped down to the path. There would be at least one sleepless per- son in the great house that night, and that was her father. Half in pity for him and half in mirth she smiled and shrugged her shoulders. But for that matter, why should she not pity and tremble for herself? For she was drawn on toward an undiscoverable . cComichbooks.com — —s, when she had seen that, feeling that there —~ ae ~ - r en 5 5 ee a ae = = ie os —, * ee = at “ -s. ! > ~ ss < ei ae - om —_ 7 ~ a ae . 2 a . - - - P Py - . - ¢ 4 ca -, : ~ - Tt ee ie ay a i — > rs _ % oe =" “ ee i OE in! i ee : as — ~ : viene =< . - a Fe ae ae — ee a A? “-? 7 a a ~