The Wheel of Life

of Christina Coles by a chance remark of Roger Adams, into whose office he had dr

the report of a promising word from the great Benson, Adams took

n at last by the whirlpool constitutes almost a population? Take this girl, now, she is so consumed by her ambition, for heaven knows what, that she comes

viction into Trent's mind. "Could her

now he

mean to say that ability

its probable natural bent. She strikes me as a woman who was born for the do

instinct, then, tha

n others. She is evidently on fire with the impulse to create, but the power-the creative matt

ered her smooth brown hair parted over her rosy ears, her blue eyes, fr

r might have done and begged her to give it up," he went on, "and in return," he tapped the open sheet, "she sends me this fierce, pathetic little letter and informs me grandly tha

tely nothing to be

e question w

end, I'd go on publishing her empty, trite li

help, thoug

laughed softly with the quality of kindly humour which never fa

s envelope, and placed it in one of his crammed pigeon-holes. "Thank G

Trent, showing by his tone the momentary depressi

ympathy of his smile, while he enclosed in a w

he responded cheerily, "su

n he thought of Adams it was to recall the instant's kindly lighting of the eyes, the flicker of courageous humour about the mouth and the dauntless ring in the usually quiet voice. He realised now, as he walked through the humming streets, that success or failure is not an abstract quantity but a relative value-that a man may be a shining success in the world's eyes and a comparative failure in

by broken little peals of laughter, he made out a group of ladies gathered about a tiny Oriental table upon which stood a tray of Turkish coffee. Gerty rose from the circle as he advanced, and moved a single step forward, while the pale green flounces of her train rippled prettily about her feet. Her hair was loosely arranged, and she gave him an odd impression

t with a pretty inviting gesture. Her delicate grace gave the pose a piquant attraction, and he found himself watching with delight the tiny rings of smoke which

rdly have done more than fling the table-cover over my head. Even you, after you'd

o one of the callers who had spoken-a handsome woman with

try on clothes," she observed, "but

s she passed Trent a cup of coffee, "was he so

the handsome woman, "

e if he'd married you," declared

a second caller as she sipped her coffee. "You showe

me," protested Susie; "in th

d! and

I regret him," she laughed, "for if he has lived down his poverty he hasn't his passion for red-he wore a red neck

t of us," suggested Trent, becoming sudd

for red, too, Mr. T

s eyes leaped out

ter of hair," he

he carried at heart a deep disgust, a heavy disenchantment, which her ostentatious gayety could not conceal. Even her beauty gave back to him a suggestion of insince

r the brief pause, "that if you bind your f

t ground," rejoined Tren

f she were not acting upon an intuition which taught her that a slight shock is pleasantly stimulating to the fancy, "and I suppose it's

kins?" enquired the handsome woman. "I can quite see h

he continued, reflectively, "a long enough period you would think to teach even a Red Indian that my hair positively shrieks at any

k stare about the

is it?" h

ould have mangled matters to the point of butchery and have gloried like a martyr in her domestic squabbles, but I've learned a lesson or two from misfortune, and one of them is that a man invariably prides himself upon possessing the quality he hasn't got. That's a perfectly sa

alent of Perry," laug

ched the little greenish flame dance in her eyes, "it

the terra-cotta?

imented him upon his consideration and sat down and waited. That night he went to a club dinner-after the beautiful surprise he'd given me he felt that he deserved a little freedom-and the door had no sooner closed upon him tha

it?" persisted Susie. "The smo

tler warned me it was dangerous, but I assured him I was desperate. That settled it-that a

ut?" asked Susie, as

to-morrow night or you'll turn blue with envy," then, as Trent started to follow the retreating visitors, she detained him by a gestur

us of a feeling of intimacy, and strange as it w

" he said, "I'm

at first, but it doesn't last because I'm really as clear as running wat

rotested Trent,

aith of youth," she said, carelessly flicking the ashes of her cigarette upon the little table at her elbow. Then, tossing the bu

ent, leaning forward in his earnestness, "is

om her cushions. "And pray w

vanced with the audacity born of ignorance, "y

ughed

nsider me

son with La

ut we'll let it pass. I don't see though," she serenely cont

miling. "It seems a

k across Brooklyn Bridge, every step of the way, on my knees for Laura. That's because I believe in

know h

ne, and it has to come out at last because she stands so patiently and waits. She makes me over every time she meets me, shapes me after some

her as one feels a strong wind on a high mou

t only in its elemental freshness-she has a kind of instinct for truth just as she has for poetr

finished, and after reading the name

adding immediately as Trent rose to go, "it

ut his hand with a laugh. "I won't st

bent in an enquiring frown. "Not

e persisted lightly. "One doesn'

ne's a person of s

" he admitted, "bu

the next instant upon the threshold. Keen as his curiosity was he took in, at his brief glance, o