The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-07-21
Sara ! or, Terribly Decided.

cnoOSe! DON'T OelleVe you at ALL"
"Believe or not, Grace, just as you
please" is the soft seriOus-vOiced an
swer.
Those wonderful deep, hazel eyes of
Sara Prescott's turn all their subdued
richness of color toward erfriend whilst
she speaks, and every feature of her
beautiful oval face wears an impress of
earnest meaning.
at is true, Grace" she whispered;
"true, true, true! There are moments
when feel confident that Ralph Curtis,
with his dark, southern-loOkingb beauty,
and his impulsive, reckless ways, is by
far the dearer to me. But visit from
blonde-haired, blue-eyed Walter Crosbie
changes everything. 1 am just tossed
about in spirit from one to the other.
Each seems to touch, with me, a sepa-
rate chord of congeniality. l don't
know how it will end. Here they have
both been lingering along at the hotel,
Grace, paying me daily visits since the
mrst of july"
"Perhaps," suggests Grace, after a
little silence, whilst they walk along
through the twilit paths Of the great
lawn, which compasses the luxurious
summer-hOuse where Sara Prescott lives
perhaps you will end by hating them
both, Sara"
81 cannot tell. And yet that seems
impossible"
"Very well" answers Grace; az must
ask you to have my carriage ordered
round now, Sara, Notwithstanding that
l should like to remain and help to
counsel you in your troubles; but please
remember that I have seven miles to
drive, and that mamma makes perfect
Rachel of herself if l stay out after
dark"
So Grace presently takes her depart
ure, and Sara is left to hold converse
with her own thoughts, whilst she be-
gins a second, and this time a wholly
solitary, stroll among the stately, shrub
beried lawns.
Very gloomy and miserable those
thoughts are. She recalls, with a sense
of shrinking fear, how intense a passion
for her has recently grown to possess
both Ralph Curtis ond Walter Crosbie-
how each has become almost aggressive,
of late, in his fierce request for some
final answer to his eager hopes, and how
the more that either pleads the more
absolute and complete has been her in
decision, her doubt, her perplexity.
No, she cannot make up her mind.
Allow that she is mentally monstros-
ity Of womanhood; allow that nobody
has ever been precisely in her unsettled
conditions the fact exists, all the same,
that she loves two men at once, and has
no power TO choose between them.
Suppose they should have some deadly
quarrel on her account! Nothing is
more possible. They have grown cor.
daily to hate each other; of that fact
Sara feels right sure. They are living
at the same hotel, and are constantly
thrown together. Sara shudders wher
she remembers what evidences she has
had of how fierce a temper each pos
sesses. Oh, why cannot she be like
other women? Why must she suffer 81
keenly from what seems nothing excep
her own gross stupidity and silly irreso
luton?
Just at this stage of Sara's Thoughts
the sound of footstep directly behinC
her meets the young girls ear. Sh,
turns and in the vague dark sees Waite
Crosbie's tall commanding figure, ant
fair, Saxon face. He begins speaking
with brusque suddenness "Sara-Mis
PRESCOTT have come to bid you good
bye"
She clasps both hands together in al
abrupt burst of surprise.
"YOu cannot possibly mean it ?"
81 do. 1 am tired of being played fas
and loose with, from day to day"
"You are not going" she answered
calmly, after little silence, and willis
they were walking on. az know b,
your tones and your manner that it i
only TuSe. You are not going until
Il give you a final answer"
"And for Gods sake" Walter burst
forth, "when is that final answer com
ingf There are times, Sara Prescott
when feel like believing that no NOR
heartless cOquette than yourself eve
drew breath, and that you care no NOR
for me than you care for Ralph Curtis.
Pardon me. think that heard M
name mentioned"
None other than Ralph Curtis himsel
spoke these words.
The vague half-light has now yielde
to the brightining glimmer of full 81
perb moon, whose silver globe hang
midway between horizon and zenith
beautifully. pendent in the still, blue
breezeless dusk.
Ralph Curtis, having just emerge
from behind a dark barrier of tai
heavy shrubbery, round which the roa
winds, stands facing Walter Crosbie an
sara, his black eyes and olive-brow
countenance fully visible to them bott
Under his dark moustache there PLAYS
bitter, cynical smile.
Sara utters little scream of dismay
"How unexpected" she falters; an
then there is a silence among the trio
which lasts until Walter Crosbie harshl
breaks it.
"Very unexpected" he exclaims
'and yet, after all, scarcely inopportunt
I, for one, am glad that it has occurred
1t gives me, at least, the opportunity {
asking you, in Mr.. Curtis presencC
Miss Sara, how much longer you desir
that this absurd masquerade shall cor
tinue. With whom-to make a sort {
epigram out of the situation" while b
laughs a low, discordant laugh)-"d
you wish to walk home with, Mr.. CuI
tbs or myself?"
And then Ralph Curtis speak
promptly:
II echo Mr.. Crosbie's question:
Whereupon poor, weak Sara burst
into tears.