The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-08-20

Shall I have the pleasure of calling your
carriage and seeing you homer"
Thanks, Mr.. Gaines; Z shall be greatly
obliged if you will"
And Frank vanished.
"Confound his impudence. I had
hoped for the pleasure of seeing you
home," exclaimed Kenneth, almost saw
agely.
She laughed low, silvery laugh.
ssWell, Mr.. Kenneth, at least we have
had a charming evening; have we not?"
She half arose, and extended her hand
rs she spoke. Kenneth clasped it in both
of his, and said, with intense earnest
ness:
ST have to thank you for the happiest
evening of my whole life."
Few women could resist Will Kenneth, !,
even in his light, careless moods, and
now, when he was more intensely in
earnest than he had ever been in all his
life before.
Well, the purple pansy'' eyes sank
slowly beneath his, and the imprisoned
hand trembled as it was hastily with
drawn.
"When and where shall I have the
pleasure of seeing you again?" he de-
manded earnestly.
She hesitated as if she fonnd the ques-
ton hard one to answer. Then she
laughed lightly, and turned away.
Goodbye, Mr.. Kenneth; 1t may be
softly, but the words died away on her
lips. For she suddenly found herself
clasped close in Kenneth's arms.
9sForgive me-but you must not leave
me thus. Tell me-"
Che H,,po off bic o1inoin0 arms and
stepped back like queen; but her face
was deathly white, and her voice trem-
bled when she spoke.
'sMr. Kenneth, we shall meet again
very soon, and when we do I think you
will despise me utterly-and the worst
of it is, I will deserve your contempt. !"
''Come, Mrs. Winnie, the carriage is
waiting" cried Frank, from the door
way. And then he added: Remember,
Will, you have promised to come to us
tomorrow. We have got just the suite
of rooms that you want, and you shall
not leave until you get married. You'll
like my wife immensely, when you know
her.
And jolly, blundering Frank led his
charge to the carriage, followed by a
gloomy, disappointed pair of eyes on the
balcony.
Winnie, what on earth have you been
doing to Kenneth? He looks as solemn
as tombstone"
s'Oh, let me alone, Frank, I'm tired
and sleepy, and that was stupid joke of
yours, anyway"
''Not much it wasn't, my dear. It was
brilliant, and I'll have the laugh on Will
tomorrow, when he finds that his mag
nifcent blonde is Mrs. Gaines. think
it is the first time Wills taste ever agreed
with mine"
..Please keep still, Frank; my head
aches"
s'Al1 right, pet, go to sleep"
Sleep! All! for the first time in her
Life Winnie Gaines found she could not
sleep. Even when she was at home, dis
robed and resting on her luxurious
couch, she pressed her hands to her ach-
ing eyes hour after hour, and could not
sleep. And why? Because Will Ken
neth's dark, pleading. magnetic eyes
kept coming before her, his tones were
sounding in her ears and the clasp of his
arms was lingering round her.
''Great Heavens! am I mad, or what
has come over me?" she exclaimed at last,
springing up. The light of early dawn
was creeping in at the window, and she
saw herself in the mirror, pale and hol-
low eyed. Looking herself straight in the
eyes, she said aloud:
You are Mrs. Gaines; you are aoife,
and don't you ever dare to forget it"
"Vin, what on earth are you primping
at this time of night for? You must be
crazy
And poor, drowzy Frank turned over
for another nap.
n
s.Just in time for dinner, Will. My
wife will be down in a moment Ah,
here she comes now. Mr.. Kenneth,
take great pleasure in making you ae-
quainted with Mrs. Gaines. Ha, ha, ha,
magnificent blonde, eh Will? I guess
I'm even with you now for some of the
heartless tricks you used to play on me
in 'Auld Lang Syne, my boy.
Ali, Frank, you great, honest bungler,
where were your eyes and the rest of your
senses, that you could not see what you
had done?
Winnie lifted her eyes just for an in
slant, imploringly to Kenneth's face, but
the awful look she met was too much for
her. She held out trembling hand to
him, and he took it for brief instant
and bowed, but neither of them uttered
q word. Winnie quietly seated herself in
an armchair, Kenneth walked to the
window, and Frank stared after him in
amazement.
ssWell, by George! If you two aren't
the queerest couple I ever met. Here
I've worked half the night to get up
something for you to laugh over, and
you both look as if you'd seen ghost or
been to funeral Well, well; it takes
all sorts to make world. Come, dinner
is waiting. Let's see if you can appre
ciate that. !"
That evening, when the sun had sunk
beneath the horizon, and twilight
shadows were creeping into the cozy lit
tie parlor, Frank led Winnie to the piano,
set her to playing his fayorite piece, and
then with his usual brilliant tact, whis-
pered to Kenneth:
ssTm going to the post Office for just
five minutes; Will, take good care OF
Winnie"
Now, Frank Gaines was an excellent
fellow, but you see he was man, and
who ever saw man thai could sgo to
the post Office in less than two hours?
For some time after he was gone Ken
meth sat still, stern and silent. while the
white fingers dashed over the piano keys
as industriously as though they were not
alone. But at last, with little tremu-
lous sigh, she dropped from the noisy,
l. ,,sono che r1lauiupr into the