The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-04-12

children should take holiday.
"They look a little peaked, poor
things, themselves" she said. 81 have
been promising them a picnic all sum-
mer down on Briery Beach. Suppose
you all bundle off together in the
donkey cart and spend the day there.
will have nice lunch put up for
YOU. The road for most of the way
lies through shady lanes. Guu will be
the better for it, my dear, yourself"
They had gone about mile, and
were slowly climbing sandy hill,
Grace driving, and the two little girls
and their brother chattering away in
the highest spirits, when suddenly a
pedestrian came out from the woods
on the right and springing nimble
down the bank, was going in the op-
posite direction when little May called
aloud:
Don't You know me, Mr.-Mr.
Stranger? I'm the little girl who lost
her penny yesterday, in the village, and
you we're the kind gentleman TO find
1t for me"
Grace would have given the world
if the child had not spoken, for she
had recognized again, only too well,
the tall, 1.-THE form and that free,
swinging step. She said to herself:
He saw me; he was hurrying away,
and now this vexatious child has called
him back; he will think whispered to
her to do it, and he and his bride will
Jeer at me all the more"
Stuyvesant Mortimer turned at
Mays call and. coming up to the cart
with quick impulsiveness, cried, hold
ing out his hand to the child:
'Why, so it is, absolutely my little
fairy, but now disconsolate no longer.
We are going on quite an expedition,
too, aren't we? A picnic, or some
thing like it?"
Grace's whole body was quiver of
nerves. She sat with her eyes down
cast and her face half avcrted, APP
parently absorbed in studying her
right hand, which held the rcins.
''Oh, yes" answered May. s'on a
picnic. And we're goingt to have such
a jolly time. Don't you wish YOU were
coming, too?"
''Of course l do" with a hearty
sympathetic laugh. "Jolly times are
not SO frequent with me, | assure you,
that l can afford TO miss a chance of
one. But will Miss-Miss-I beg par
den for not knowing her name-allow
mcleod God! it is Grace herself!"
Up to this moment he had been so
engrosSed with the child that he had
only vague idea that there was
governcss sitting next to her: but who
the goYerness was, or even if she were
pretty, he had no thought. But now,
as he looked mp, rather expecting to
vic
spinSter, he beheld the sweet doHncast
profile of the only woman who had
ever touched his heart, and was look
ing all the more lovely because of her
half-mUurning dress and the traces of
sorrow and suffering on her face.
Hence the broken CALCULATIONS with
which he checked the request he had
been about half sportively to protfer
His hat, too, was off in a moment.
He looked so eager, SO astonished, so
glad, so rapturous, all in succession,
that Grace, who had turned to him
coldly at first. was herself astonished,
and-shall we say it?-stirred also to
her inmost heart.
For what could it mean? Was it
possible there had been some terrible
mistake? Surely that look. the pas
sionate emotion of the voice, were not
counterfeit! Her head swan, aud she
thought she would faint.
''Miss Courtenay," said Mortimer,
observing her agitation, and master
ing his own emotion with great effort,
Il have been seeking you for months
ever since my return from Europe,
indeed. May i" and the pleading
tones of his voice were eloquence itself
lido in earnest what proposed just
now in jest? May 1 join your little
party? | see that you think hardly of
Inc. Perhaps | deserve it. But OH
give me chance at least to explain.
The vilest criminal is allowed that.
Afterward, if you say so, l will go
away-forever-
He did not wait for reply.in words.
He had always been masterful, and
Grace felt the old spell on her She
made no objection, therefore, when he
went to the donkey's head, and, NUT
tering something about ''helping it up
the hill" took it by the bride and led
it to the top of the ascent. Her heart
was in such a fiutter that she could
not have spoken if she had tried. OF
course he found his opportunity. and
that before long. The beach was only
short quarter of a mile off, on the
declivity of the hill below, and when
the children, shoeless and stockingless,
and with many merry shout. were
dadbling in the water, he drew Grace's
arm within his own, and told his
story, as he paced to and fro Oh the
sands. with her by his side.
At first she had been cold, even
naughty. for, after her surprise wa
over, she told herself that there could
have been no mistake, that he was
false to the core-that he was only,
even now seeking TO amuse himself.
But when he drew her arm within his
own, when he looked into her eyes
with his fearless look of innocence,
and when he told his story in his
frank, manly. yet impassionate way,
she broke utterly down, and would
have fallen into his arms if it had not
been for the children playing so near.
As it was, the tears rolled along her
cheeks, and her eyes emphasized the
low whisper in which she begged for
giveness for having wronged him, even
when things seemed so pronounced
against him.
"When your father failed and died."
he said, for we tell his story in his
own words. though less disjointedly by
far, my impulse was to fly at once.
But | was not an accepted lOver-as |
did not know, indeed, whether l ever
would be--your manner now makes
me fear / have, and ever have had,
but little to hope for-I had to wait the
customary conventional period before
calling on you. Meantime | thought
it my duty to tell my father that loved
you and that / intended to tell you So
the first moment L saw you. l had ex-
pected some opposition. My father,
alas! good as he was to me, worthy as
he was in some respects, had that eX-
elusive love of money which SO many
successful bankers acquire. He was
desirous that should marry an heiress.
Rumor had once linked my name with
that of Miss Marlton. but mad never
seriously thought of her. In fact,
after saw you at that first Patriarchs'
-ball-oh, shall [ ever forget it'll
knew that there was but one woman
in the whole world that could ever
love. Stay, do not shake your head.
Hear me out. owed something, even