Page:The council of seven.djvu/334

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
LIV

Helen and the American had a sudden craving for fresh air. For both the restriction of four walls had grown intolerable. Endor's wife begged her friend as he was leaving the house to let her walk with him some of the way towards his hotel.

Hierons readily assented.

Devoured by pity for a brave woman, he was also devoured by pity for a brave man. Loyal as he was to the Society which he had sincerely believed to be necessary to the world's governance and which he had done as much as any man to call into being, he saw now that its methods had been pushed too far. But with bitterness of soul he realized that he could do nothing. Like Endor himself he was caught in a tragic coil of Fate's weaving.

The morning was fine, the pavements were dry, and the sky was reasonably clear for December in London. For some time they walked in silence. They had become great friends, these two. There was more between them than the tie of nationality. On vital is-