Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 258, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1919 — WAY OF THE HEART [ARTICLE]

WAY OF THE HEART

By WINIFRED C. O’BRIEN.

The eanoe drifted lazily with the current close to the low hank of a placid, narrow river that ran through the woods. A young man lay in its’ bottom with eyes closed, his face marred by the expression of bitterness and the stern set mouth.. Edgar Rawley, noted young painter arid received Hr iluFFPsr' society, Wtang bniiir for a bruised heart andfhurt pride. ' He had aslrnd Marion"Efacebridge, of £he beauties of the debutantes, to me.'iy Itim. and after ft few months’ •ngagenn hadj.Tyitlmut warning, sent, back his ring with a cruel little ’ note that “she thought that they were i dor congenial ,___ Th«*n ih«‘ news §1 hur Ueieiit, -amliUrn■ engageineiit oL tjle seai.to Alan" Coe. the banker, and Marjorie’s to Stanley Lew is, the poet. Half ■ the young girls and all the women were frankly in love with Stanley’ and they envied Marjorie her possesion. Just as lie was sending the canoe into mill-stream with a sweeping stroke, he heard a loud call for help, and looking.up the bank he espied a girl in a pink dress with her hands held in front of her. seeming to ppsli some object away. W ith a spring, Ld“fear bl :hTi and pick Ing up a large club which was sometiriies used to push Imats out into the stream, he hastened to the scene. When he neared the girl he gave a start of surprise as lie saw' that it was Marjorie Brooke, but he stiihal a cry of alarm for there on the log was a three-foot diamond raft leT,~ swishing -nearer and nearer, and rattling fiercely. With a well-aimed blow the club landed w ill) stlligiag f'<m the head of .the rattler, crushing it immcdiati ly, ami hot h v. arched the slimy body _w ith- > ■••liiiful diamond markir.g< writhe _ULits death agciriies. _ turned to the girl: “Thereare not many of tho~-e large ralll ers ri?bfriiT ; Torc. I atn surprised that this one should have venturerFouFuit-ftll.” Suddenly she made a little rush, and throwing iier arms about Idm kissed him firmly on the mouth and then flew up the path before he had vaguely sensed her action. Somehow it was a Measurable tljaught.that she had kissed him. be that thought that he must be lacking in something so that no wom--ftfttFfhen-h+s-cyes caught a book-which-she had dropped, and stooping he picked it up. also a little lace-bordered handkerchief. Without realizing whatr he was doing he had read the- -page that was lying open. “How could I .ever Ivave thought,that I was in love with that person. “I will never be deceived by my feelings again. There was more on the closely written page, but that was all that Edgar ‘feml^EelSreZfiflZSiin£-BEfiinJSHit that he was reading a girl’s personal secrets. Thinking to semi them to Marjorie, on the following day, he dropped them in his pocket and turned the canoe homeward. A few hours later in his den, smoking, suddenly Tie had an -llln

splration, and hastily he ran up the short flight of stairs to his lighted studio. There was an unfinished painting -tbereofthe low bank. the_stunted fir trees and the sweeping forest beyond the placid river. With quick, sure strokes he sketched in. the figure of a young girl in a pink dress, with a large shade hat haruihu do u n„llpiju-Jice shoulders, her hands'st retched out and - nn-tarUy wnuh Ima ke slLUd-de-r»"_-aud lastly the venomous snake, with its diamond markings. He called the picture r," - and—knew without -doubt that it would be well received at the prize exhibition in the fall. The following afternoon ho made his way to the (little cottage which Marjorie occupied ami found her drying her hair by the hedge. She thanked fiim rather distantly for*the"return of her ptoperty, and then began to talk of the' various nothings that make up conversation when two persons are occupied with their own thoughts. Suddenly he said “I did not know that you Lewis, until I read the paper yester-

day.” - I She looked at him for a nroment and t then saidr “Well, It is -a woman’s j privilege to change her mind.” Then I she hastily- changed the conversation 1 to other matters that concerned The world which they had left behind. The days slipped by, and the summer was drawing slowly to a close and both vaguely felt that parting would | be hard, yet neither would acknowledge to themselves that they had growri to eare. Then, one afternoon, Marjorie was not at her accustomed place and Edgar learned that she had left suddenly for home. Three months later, in the large drawing-room at the fashionable town home of one of the great society, leaders, an exhibition (X the prize paintings was held, and the prize picture which had won the medal at the academy was to be shown for the first time. While the polite chorus of oh’s and ah’s was rippling through the room out in the conservatory where Edgar had followed Marjorie just after his picture, as the prize picture, had been exhibited, there was another scene for a delightful picture. “But you see 1 knew that I was beginning to care and so—” But the rest of the words were mumbled against his coat sleeve for the second time the dainty lips wire pressed against Edgar’s. (Copyright, 19W, McClure Newspaper dicauJ ... -