The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-11-25

ever HdNlnS one anu nope you Will PARDON my
presumption, but 1 could not bear to have you go
away without knowing how long your presence
has been my chief desire and delight"
Anice sat quiet with downcast eyes, and an ex-
preston of pain on her usually cheerful face but
could not find words to express herself at this en-
tirely unexpected avowal.
al fear" said her companion, "that have not
been wise in my selection of time and place. but
you see that the rest of the company are absorbed
in each other, and do not think you need fear
their Overhearing us. If l have panied you, as 1
fear have, will say more now, but beg you
to name a time when / can see you alone, and
hear from your lips whether may hope that you
will grant me your dear presence and COM
panionship for life"
At this Anice found utterance.
"Indeed, Captain Alden, so taken by
prise | could not at first realize what you were
saying. had never dreamed of your thinking of
me. l am sure I have given you no reason to
think that preferred you above others. If you
have so thought, am very sorry"
The look OF pain that had been in Anices face
was instantaneously transferred to that of the
gentleman, with the addition Of an indescribable
hopelessness.
at is as l feared" said he. 'T have utterly
failed to show my appreciation of your worth, or
l am totally unworthy the precious gift of your
love. But l beg you to defer giving me final
answer to some future time, when l can better
plead my cause, and may be the better prepared
to give up, if l must, the brightest dream of my
life"
81 am willing to see you at my home at any
time you may designate, and talk over the matter,
as l wish you to feel assured Of my sincerity"
said Anice. ~ hope you will not blame me if
am unable to reciprocate your feelings"
"Let us finish our game" said the Captain.
al must try to think of other things, or get away
from here. I cannot endure II long in this happy
crowd. / want to get out into the wild, stormy
night that is roaring outside, where can find the
sympathy which is denied me among my fellows"
Roscoe Wills and Florence Campbell were hav-
ing a most delightful time i'm a retired corner
talking over their dreams of future happiness, as
il was now quite well understood that they were
engaged, and Harry Noble and Marie Hollis were
flirting desperately. Fanny Margrave had found
a new beau, who was a. rich, if not so handsome,
as Roscoe Wills, and was apparently satisfied with
his conversation. The remainder OF the little
company was paired off according to their own
preferences, and the evening drew near to the
small hours before the party brought TO
close and the young people sought their respective
homes
Anice to meet her few evenings afterward and
he went TO that appointment with the bearing of
a doomed man going to his punishment The
bright and happy smile, that had formerly been
an ever-present attraction i'm his face was re-
placed by a somber, despairng look of mean-
choly, and his old friends stopped him the
street to inquire If he had lost friend or been out
of luck in his business He invariably answered
yes to either of these questions, until it had come
to be the general opinion about town that Captain
Aidenn's mother was dead, or that his mine, Up
in Idaho, had failed to 'pan out.n
The Captains interview with Anice was a very
sad one for both of them. He had no word of
blame ,or her. He had never waited on her but a
few times, and he was 50 considerate and careful
that he had refrained from expressing in loud ac-
tion his preference for her, though Bertha had
seen and been convinced from almost the first of
his acquaintance with Anice, that he admired her
greatly. Perhaps had not Anice's eyes been un-
der cloves eclipse" she might have seen it, too.
But her eye was filed with the image of another.
The Captain besought her to give him a longer
time in which to win her love. 1t seemed impos-
sible to him to give up hope; and yet he had done
it pretty nearly from the first glance he gave when
he made his declaration to her.
The faces Of these two were as open books. All
who were acquainted with the language of intelli-
gence could read and interpret them with com
parative ease and correctness They We're such
! honest faces. Anice was artless, and had such
a modest opinion of her own attractions, that she
could not see how refusal of love from her could
be such terrible thing to the Captain as seemed
/ to be. She tried to think Of some one who was
! better than herself to whom she could recommend
the Captain and whom he might certainly adj
mire but when she ventured TO hint to him that
there yet possibly "good fish" in the sea, he
gave her such look of intense reproach that she
felt ashamed of her implied cruelty.
Hartly Aidenn was not man to love lightly
He was noble and sincere, and almost as hard tC
move as the "eternal hills" He had received i