The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-12-14

.why didn't be come here, at once,
then, "'snarled the bronzed grizzly.
| "Ah, ha! and that's the reason you
send our cousin away with your awful
bluntness. Now please understand,
Da,'-she called him ..Da''-..that
shall permit no such high-handed act
ing. Come here, cousin, and notice
how meekly he shakes hands,"
BY this time both men were laugh
ing, and Agnes smiled complacently
| and left the room The second cousin
masculine shook hands and the elder
soon became interested in news from
his old home When Miss Earle re-
entered the room, an hour later. she
| saw that the cotHins were on the best
of terms with each Other, and judicious-
ly invited the young man to go out on
the porch with her and watch one OF
their show sunsets. ''JudiciOusly
means that the wise young woman did
not intend that the other should have a
chance to become bored with each
other. Ha
| From being a mere lOoker-on in vi
emma, Vandor became enamored of
sour glorious climate" and resolved,
with the calm, far-seeing discretion of
twenty-six, to invest the major portion
of his fortune in California securities.
Fortunately Richard Earle was wise
mentor. No one knew the ins and outs
! of San Francisco trade better than he;
and Vandor managed to steer clear of
| Pine street, and locked most of his
money into the walls of big bonded
warehouse. From being enamorcd of
our State and our climate. it was easy
enough to fall in love with one of our
lovliest girls; and before their knowl-
edge of each other had lasted a year,
Agnes made herself believe that she
loved him well enough to become his
wife; and all this with the full consent
of gruff Richard Earle. f
At a point on the lowest shelf of the
Berkeley foothills, about midway be-
tween the South Hall of the University
and the grounds of the State Institute
for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind is COW
cred cistern, in which is gathered the
outflow of a dozen mountain springs.
This point is the vantage ground of a
superb outlook. To the south, the far
thest visible horizon is marked by the
rounded shoulders of Iona Prieta, ten
miles southwest of San Jose. To the
north, in the farthest discernible dis
lance, are the low hills between Peta-
luna and Santa Rosa, waving line of
deepest indigo at the base of the blue
sky. There are three evenings in Oc-
tober and three in April, when,p looking
from Berkeley, the sun sets directly be-
Nd -I
aggerated and distorted disk the curious
clusters of black rocks stand out like
silhouettes.
1t lacked less than an hour of sunset
when Agnes climbed to the little knoll
and stood beside the queer. cOne-shaped
cistern roof. The fair scape of land
aud sea and sky unrolled like scroll
from her very feet, west and south and
north. r.n
A little path meandered at an up
ward angle around a southerly curve in
the broad hillside. Along this path
came a young man, with dog at his
heels and gun under his arm. 1t was
John Vandor, trudging home from a
contraband sally after unlawful wing
shots. Agnes did not heed his APP
proach, and he leaned against the fence
scarcely a rod away, with the dog at
his feet and cigar in his mouth.
1t is idle to try and attain the impos-
sible-to put into accurate thinking and
tangible words the lovliness of that even
ing scene. Looking due south. over the
apparently perfectly level of Oakland
and Alameda, the southern arm of the
bay. which CLEANS under the morning
sun like narrow silver ribbon that a
boy might jump across, was river of
indigo, with scarcely visible ripple on
all its surface. A wall of smoke arose
above the houses of the city; its base in
gloom, its coping lighted with yellow
flame.
81 like it, Agnes; do your p
Agnes turned at the sound of his
voice, and there was trace of dissatis-
fed surprise in her tones of welcome.
The young man would have been dull,
indeed, if he had not noticed, and spirit
less if he had not been piqued. "You
surely don't wish to keep the picture
quite to yourself, do you?"
"No, it was the immediate foreground
only that cared to monopolize."
Cared is past tense, Agnes"
.'Care, then
"'Care then isn't grammar
She looked at him disdainful!y for an
instant, and then looked another way.
-s'You will be sorry for this some time,r
the young man said, quietly but very
gravely. LII have offended you, let
me know how; I'm always ready
enough to apologize. am 1 not?'
Too ready"
"Too ready?" l'
YES lam as tired of this intermin-
able scene-making as you can possibly
be-this kiss and make up condition
of affairs. We are engaged; we have
exchanged vows and rings and sophis-
tries" -
Eyes; have we not declared over
and over again that we love each other
above all else? 1t is a-en error. Each
OF us. loves his own way better than
sweetheart or lover. Is it not sop
For you, possibly; not for me.''
Ii she had looked more closely at him
as she spoke, she would have noticed
that his face wore an expression she had
never before seen. John Vandor's fore
head carried a frown as black as tie
shadows of the forest hillsides above
San Pablo, and there was the precise
sort of glitter in his brown eyes that
the usual fietionist describes as sbale-
full" But she did not notice; and when
he said. slowly and painfully,as if every
word cost him moment of physical
pain: ..Do you want your freedom
back again, iAgnes?" she answered him
with the defiant ring of assured pro-
prietorship in her lark-like voice:
"Why, yes, for awhile, if you
please.'' Ft'.