The Lighted WayOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
General
The Lighted Way
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
Detective and mystery stories
She resigned herself with a sigh of content. After all, it was so
delightful to drift like this with some one infinitely stronger to
take the responsibility for everything. They drove to a large and
popular restaurant close at hand, where Arnold ordered the dinner,
with frequent corrections from Ruth, who sat with a menu-card in her
hand. A band was playing the music of the moment. It was all very
commonplace, but to Ruth it was like a living chapter out of her
book of dreams. Even there, though, the shadow pursued. She could
bear the silence no longer. She dropped her voice a little. The
place was crowded and there were people at the next table.
"Before I touch anything, Arnold, tell me this. Is there any news of
Isaac?"
"None at all," he replied. "It all seemed very alarming to us, but
it seems to be fizzling out. There is only quite a small paragraph
in the evening paper. You can read it, if you like."
He drew the _Evening News_ from his pocket and passed it to her. The
paragraph to which he pointed was headed--
ESCAPE OF AN ANARCHIST FROM ADAM STREET.
Up to the time of going to press, the man Isaac Lalonde,
whom the police failed to arrest last night on a charge
not at present precisely stated, has not been
apprehended. The police are reticent about the matter,
but it is believed that the missing man was connected
with a dangerous band of anarchists who have lately come
to this country.
"Poor Isaac!" she murmured, with a little shiver. "Do you know, I
remember him years ago, when he was the kindest-hearted man
breathing. He went to Russia to visit some of his mother's
relatives, and when he came back everything was changed. He saw
injustice everywhere, and it seemed almost to unbalance his mind.
The very sight of the west-end, the crowds coming out of the
theatres, the shops in Bond Street, seemed to send him half mad. And
it all started, Arnold, with real pity for the poor. It isn't a
personal matter with him at any time."
Arnold nodded thoughtfully.
"Poor chap!" he remarked. "Just at first I really used to like
talking to him. He was so earnest, and so many of his arguments were
absolutely sound."
"It is only lately," Ruth said, "that he has changed so much."
"I think it is quite time that you and he were separated," Arnold
declared. "It is evident, nowadays, that he isn't responsible for
his actions."
"Separated!" she repeated bitterly. "You talk as though I had a
choice of homes."
"You have," he assured her. "However, we won't say anything about
that just now. I want to talk about myself."
"And I want to listen, dear!" she exclaimed. "You must tell me what
has happened, Arnie. Has Mr. Weatherley taken you into partnership,
or has some one of your disagreeable relatives found you out and
been pouring money into your pockets?"
"Neither," he replied. "As a matter of fact, there is no Mr.
Weatherley just at present."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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