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The Heroine
“After supper Susan had to get
herself ready for Sam’s visit.”
i
and 'rowning Work of
Be Witten—A Fearless
est S dal Problem of
S MAGAZINE for Jane
This Is One of Exquisite Draw
ings by Howard Chandler Christy
Which Illustrate “The Story of
Susan Lenox.” Published by
Permission of HEARST’S
MAGAZINE.
01 nee a better,status for women. He had no patience with
PM innan who was a willing; parasite, and if she read him she
ess 'i that most distinctly. He believed in the financial in-
lencfl women in order that marriages might be free from any
it’ ba and sale, of any suspicion of a mercenary motive on their
I: sb d no Income of her own, lie (hough! she ought to gain one
rlttng it. She should be free to exercise her moral right of free
of a rand, or of choice to have no husband at all. He often said
nds, ell as wrote in different terms in his stories:
: isn’ ir because she has stirred a little transient sentiment in
at a lan should have to be supported for life by
s spt aversion among women
i. H dared her to be a preva
i ins 1 by nothing more than
a man.'
the “degenerate'’ fashionable
type in American society, a
animal love of comfort and
olved her of the charge of sensuality, however—would not
excuse for her parasite existence.
isciouslv, through the force of his innate genius for seizing
home the lesson which was
y devices invented by Rus-
ely unfamiliar—at least un-
lernyshevsky, for example, he frequently ad-
at the beginnings and ends of his chapters,
tal points thus far made. He was familiar,
firings of Tolstoi and Dostoyevsky, studying
their marvellous illusions of reality in char-
and holding reader’s attention and driving
the main p: se of his labors, he used literar
sian novr-fti
til long aftt
dressed Ms
discus sing
however. ¥
them a vidl;
acters and
All till d the immediate fruits of it, v
hardly moi in the necessary preparation
great then er present in the back of h
magnifiren eveloped and given to the x<
novel. "Sus ,enox; Her Fall and Rise."
The fo eg brief scenes from thai r><
here by cc ly of HEARST'S MAGAZINE,
work are printed
the serial is now
can e out into the street. He was a tallish, athletic
cuth dark and pleasing enough of features to be
alt' p .ndsome.
“My, but you’re looking fine, Susie,” exclaimed ne.
■| haven't seen anyone that could hold a candle
e- in the hast.” . *
Susan laughed and blushed with pleasure. “Go on,"
«& .• i. with raillery. “I love it.”
“Co • and sit under the trees, and I’ll fill all the
time you’ll give me.”
This reminded her. “I must hurry uptown,” she
said. ‘'Goodbye.”
’’Hold on!” cried he. "What have you got to do?”
lie happened to glance down the street. “Isn’t that
Ruth coming?”
Ruth was all sweetness and smiles. She and her
mother—quite privately and with nothing open said
on either side- had canvassed Sam as a “possibility."
There had been keen disappointment at the news
that he was not coming home for the long vacation.
“How are you, Sam?” said she, as they shook hands.
“Mv. Susie, doesn't he look New York?”
“Well, so long.” said Susan.
“Come on to Vandermark's with me and T'll stroll
back with you,” offered Ruth. Sam was still gazing
into the store where, far to the rear, Susan could be
seen; the graceful head, the gently swelling bust, the
soft lines of the white dress, the pretty ankles
revealed by the short skirt—there was indeed a profile
worth a man's looking at on a fine June day. Ruth’s
eyes were upon Sam, handsome, dressed in the Eastern
fashion, an ideal lover. “Come on, Sam,” urged Ruth.
“No, thanks," he replied absently. ‘TU go back.
Good luck!" And not glancing at her he lifted his
straw hat with its band of Yale blue and set out.
ig as tb» cousins went
n gave herself over to
d of the flowering gar
des they were passing;
rk for her, all its joy
latred of her cousin so
that bright June mi
tin street together,
“light of sun and al
tefore the attractive
with the day quite
was fighting against
s that it made her a
i squares, and she t
therland, the home
ig on when she sav
in striped flannel,
er.
r they had shaken t
almost to their sliou
am kept pace with I
rimmed boxwood bat
mt two weeks,” saic
Yale. I just blew
yet.”
his time they were
im?*
* *
“fey !
‘‘Good night—Susie.” Sam held out his hand.' She
took it with a queer reluctance. She felt nervous,
afraid—as if there were something uncanny lurking
somewhere in those moonlight shadows. She gently
tried to draw her hand away, but he would not let her.
She made a faint struggle, then yielded. It was so
wonderful the sense of the touch of his hand. “Susie!”
he said hoarsely. And she knew he felt as ehe did.
Before she realized it his arms were round her, and
his lips had met hers. “You drive me crazy,” he
whispered.
Both were trembling: she had become quite cold—
her cheeks, her hand, her body even. “You mustn't,"
she murmured, drawing gently away.
“You set me crazy,” he repeated. “Do you—love me
—a little?”
“Oh, I must go!" Bhe pleaded. Tears were glisten
ing In her long dark lashes. The sight of them mad
dened him. “Do you—Susie?" he pleaded.
“I’m—I’m—very young,” she stammered.
••y es —yes—I know,” he assented eagerly. “But not
too young to love, Susie? No. Because you do—
don't you?”
The moonlight world seemed a fairyland. ‘Tea,”
she said softly. “I guess so. I must go. I must.”
And, moved beyond her power to control herself,
she broke from his detaining hand and fled into the
house. She darted up to her room, paused in the
middle of the floor, her hands clasped over her wildly
beating heart. When she could move she threw open
the shutters and went out on the balcony. She
leaned against the window frame and gazed up at the
stars, instinctively seeking the companionship of the
infinite.
Her lips were moving. She was amazed to And she
was repeating the one prayer she knew, the one Aunt
Fannys had taught her In babyhood. Why should she
find herself praying? Dove—love—love! She was a
woman and she loved! So, this was what it meant to
be a woman; It meant to love!
passing the show place
he Wrights. She was
long the trees a young
the same Instant he
Igr ’« - *8§
He opened
“Be careful, Susan, how you let 8am Wright hang
around you,” cried Ruth, with blazing eyes and
trembling lips. “You be careful—that’s ail I’ve got
to say.”
"Why, what do you mean?” asked Busan wonder-
lngly.
“Be careful! He’d never think for a mlnnte of
marrying you.”
The words meant nothing to Susan, hut the tone
stabbed into her heart. “Why not?" she said.
Ruth looked at her cousin, hung her head In shame.
“Go—go!” she begged. "Please go. I’m a bad girl—
Pad pad! Go!” And, crying hysterically, she pushed
amazed Susan through the connecting door, closed
and bolted 4t.
The first instalment of “The Story of Susan
Lenox” will be found in full in the June number
of HEARST’S MAGAZINE.
ie small