The Dwelling Place of Light, Volume 1

red by the civilization that surrounded them. The Bagatelle she despised; that was slavery-but slavery out of which she migh

tional fashion as a mere temporary place of detention, and likewise the heaven toward which she strained, the dwelling-place of light. In short, her philosophy was that of the modern, orthodox American, tinged by a somewhat commercialized Sunday school tradition of an earlier day, and highly approved by the censors of the movies. The peculiar kind of abstinence o

er, while one dissipated and desperate person, married, and said to move in the most exclusive circles, sent her an offer of a yearly income in five figures, the note being reproduced on the screen, and Leila pictured reading it in her frigid hall-bedroom. There are complications; she is in debt, and the proprietor of Hawtrey's has threatened to discharge her and in order that the magnitude of the temptation may be most effectively realized the vision appears of Leila herself, wrapped in furs, stepping out of

e falls desperately in love. He means marriage from the first, and his faith in Leila is great enough to survive what appears to be an almost total eclipse of her virtue. Through the machinations of the influential villain, and lured by the false pretence that one of her girl friends is ill, she is enticed into a mysterious house of a sinister elegance, and apparently irretrievably compromised. The westerner follows, forces his way through the por

emained ironically ignorant of the fact that he had paid out his money to make definite an ambition, an ideal hitherto nebulous in the mind of the lady whom he adored. Nor did Lise enlighten him, being gifted with a certain inscrutableness. As a matter of fact it had never been her intention to accept him, but now that she was able concretely to visualize her Lochinvar of the future, Mr. Whey's lack

being instantly congealed. She was strict as to etiquette. But Mr. Wiley, it seemed, could claim acquaintance with Miss Schuler, one of the ladies to whose arm Lise's was linked, and he had the further advantage of appearing in a large and seductive touring car, painted green, with an eagle poised above the hood and its name, Wizard, in a handwriting rounded and bold, written in nickel across the radiator. He greeted Miss Schuler effusively, but his eye was on Lise from the first, and it was she he took with, him in the front seat, indifferent to the giggling behind. Ever since then Lise had had a motor at her disposal, and on Sundays they took long "joy rides" beyond the borders of the state. But it must not be imagined that Mr. Whey was the proprietor of the vehicle; nor was he a chauffeur,-her American pride would not have per

o Elizabethan buccaneer swooping down on defenceless coasts ever exceeded in audacity Mr. Wiley's invasion of quiet Fillmore Street. He would draw up with an ear-splitting screaming of brakes in front of the clay-yellow house, and sometimes the muffler, as thou

he would dem

y would laug

one it, do you

ir evening meal. Lise alone made him welcome, albeit demurely; but Mr. Wiley, not having sensibilities, was pro

his evening?" he wo

nk of coffee to emphasize the fact, as though the act of lifting his cup ha

he Arundel's going to run nights, startin

o an unsatisfactory season, was to change managers next year. Mr. Wiley possessed the gift of gathering recondite bits of news, he had confidence in his top

ng out a large hand that gave evidence, in spite of Sapolio, of an intimacy with grease cups and

es thought she might have been capable of putting arsenic in it. H

s alarm, Hannah demanded: "Where

isdom led him

spin up the boulevard.

e or two other

ery well he had no inte

to conceal her incredul

s did insist

lock. That's late enough for a girl who work

us," Wiley would

tions to spill none of the crumbs on a brown suit, supposed to be the last creation in male attire. Behind a plate glass window in Faber Street, belonging to a firm of "custom" tailors whose stores had invaded every important city in the country, and who made clothes for "college" men, only the week before Mr. Wiley had seen this same suit artistically folded, combined with a coloured shirt, brown socks, and tie and "torture" collar-lures for the discriminating. Owing to certain expenses connected with Lise, he had been unable to acquire the shirt and the

iumphant, and had carried off Mr. Whey there would ensue an interval of sil

-law would suit you," she threw

letting down his n

him, to make things as ple

being that he was to blame for Mr. Wiley; if he had been a diffe

pronounced that, word "civil" exquisite

raid of offending folks' feelings .... Think of being polite to that Whey!" In those two words Hannah announced eloquently her utter condemnation of the demonstrator of the Wizard. It was characteristic of her, however, when she went bac

as though speaking to J

get used to it that she

r. She's not like any o

pus

the house. It's better for him to come here. And you can't

e impasse. In the privacy of the kitchen Hannah paused suddenly in her

alculate he mean

o give Mr. Wiley credit for anything, "but I know this,

ne virtue did not appeal to her, but she let it pass. She was in

of Lise-she don't appear

Mr. Wiley lost his automobile he lost his luck-if it may be called such. One April evening, after a stroll with Eda, Janet reac

" Lise declared briefl

th him?" Ja

oked at her sister steadily. "I h

t w

Glendale trolley and smashed his radiator, and the Wizard people sacked him

said Janet. Presently

t you

hair. "Didn't I tell you I was sick of him? But he sure was some s

d relieved, almost gay. She handed Janet a box containing fiv

radually Janet had acquired a dread of holidays as opportunities never realized, as intervals that should have been filled with unmitigated joys, and yet were invariably wasted, usually in walks with Eda Rawle. To-day, feeling an irresistible longing for freedom, for beauty, for adventure, for quest and discov

ked on again, aimlessly, following the road because it was the easiest way. There were spring flowers in the farmhouse yards, masses of lilacs whose purple she drank in eagerly; the air, which had just a tang of New England sharpness, was filled with tender sounds, the clucking of hens, snatches of the s

on the countryside peace, she was aware of a distant humming sound that grew louder and louder until there shot roaring past her an automobile filled with noisy folk, leaving behind it a suffocating cloud of dust. Even these intrusions, reminders of the city she had left, were powerless to destroy her mood, and she began to skip, like a schoolgirl, pausing once in a while to look around her fearfully, lest she was observed; and it pleased her to think that she had escaped for

re replaced by a well-kept retaining wall capped by a privet hedge, through which, between stone pillars, a driveway entered and mounted the shaded slope, turning and twisting until lost to view. But afar, standing on the distant crest, through the tree trunks and foliage Janet saw one end of the mansion to which it led, and ventured timidly but eagerly in among the trees in the hope of satisfying her new-born curiosity. Tr

ction, with a sense of peace deepened by the awareness, in the background, ranged along the common on either side, of stately, dignified buildings, each in an appropriate frame of foliage. With the essence rather than the detail of all this her consciousness became steeped; she was naturally ignorant of the great good for

work there was an abundance, had graciously and intuitively held this earlier note and developed it. He was an American, but an American who had been trained. The result was harmony, life as it should proceed, the new growing out of the old. And no greater tribute can be paid to Janet Bumpus than that it pleased her, struck and s

tered it, bent on new discoveries. It led past one of the newer buildings, the library-as she read in a carved inscription over the door-plunged into shade again presently to emerge at a square farmhouse, ancient and weathered, with a great square chimney thrust out of the very middle of the ridge-pole,-a landmark left by one of the earliest of Silliston's settlers. Presiding over it, embracing and protecting it, was a splendid tree. The place was evidently in process of reconstruction and repair, the roof had been newly shingled, new frames,

stores near her

replied, "come to think of it, I h

tood a little struck with timidity, puzzled by the contradictions he presented of youth and age, of shrewdness, experience and candour, of gentility and manual toil. He must have been about thirty-five; he was hatless, and his hair, uncombed b

he went on, "but isn't it a holiday, or

" she reminded him, w

e on picnics in their automobiles, or else t

t you working?

some people would call it work. I-I

ke it," Janet wa

e confessed. "

sment had flown, and he seemed suddenly an old acquaintance.

s of the notion she laughed again. She discovered a keen relish for this kind

ers, or a sandwich," sh

a restaurant. It's not as good as the Parker House in Boston, I believe,

nk you,"

t till you try it

much." And she was impelled to a

hungry on such a day

ot at the thought that he might suspect her of hinting. "You see, I live in Hampton," she went on hurriedly, "I'm a stenograp

or intelligence of which she had begun to suspect him had been put to any real test by the discovery of her home, and she was quite sure her modest suit of blue serge and he

ponded in the same spirit: and she added wistfully, "it

reed. "We have our troub

he saw and the hammer, the flannel shirt, open at the neck, the khaki trousers still bearing the price tag. And curiosity beginning to get the better of her

was just hoping some one would come along here a

a paint

n of all work-I thought of paintin

answered, judicially, after a mome

e pondering his

nt finger at the magnificent maple sheltering, like a gu

laimed. "I never heard of

n't seem

holes v

tty

think the tree

ht under the bark. If you can keep the o

let the holes

gles all rotten, but the beams were sound. Those beams wer

Janet. "And how

undred. I suppose it wo

u know?" s

te with trees. I fin

exclaimed, somewhat app

n indescribably comical manner down at his clothes. His gesture,

e began, blushing hotly, y

it yet, and there is something amusing about-my owning a house. When the parlour's

n a stiff collar.... But she was more perplexed than eve

said, as though she had bee

ested cordially. "Why

w, suddenly revealing the intense, passionate quality which had so disturbed Mr. Ditmar. She

g so. But it's interesting, in a way." Though his humorous moods had del

estrained her. She was curious to know what this man saw in Hampton. His opinion would be worth something. Unlike her neighbours in Fillmore Street, he was not what her sister Lise would call "nutty"; he had an air of fine sanity

that it's blown up. It reminds me of

eated t

ey say a man once made it by accident, and locked u

ers! I've felt it that something would happen, some day, it frightened me, and yet I w

"Oh, not only the foreigners. Human chemicals-you can't play with human chemicals any

was beyond

ing with the

g across the grass; he whistled softly, the bird stopped, cocking its head and regarding them. Suddenly, in conflict with her desire to remain indefinitely talking with this str

er so much obliged

lked a little way she looked back over her shoulder to see him leaning idly

he had been impelled to conversation by a natural kindness and courtesy, or whether he really had discovered something in her worthy of addressing, as he implied. Resentment burned in her breast, she became suddenly blinded by tears: she might never see him again, and if only she were "educated" she might know him, become his friend. Even in this desire she was not conventional, and in the few moments of their contact he had developed rather than transformed what she meant by "education." She thought of it not as knowledge reeking of bo

ared out across the river, and several times that summer she started to walk to Sillist