Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1889-12-19

in moment by the rush and patter OF
q summer rain.
She was very pale, and her sweet face
had look of pain on 1t as again he
asked
Whose promised wlfe?'
Clarence Aram's; | thought you
knew
knew Would l have laid my soul
at your feet if | knew p he cried fierce
ly. Would | have allowed Your face
to steal into my heart until it could not
beat without a thought of you: Would
/ have called him friend and trusted
him as brother if | knew? But now
-now-'
His hoarse voice broke, his eyes
burned luridly, through the stiffness OF
the room, which only rainftlls against
the windows broke, she heard the meet
ing of his strong, white teeth and, tim
id as she was by nature, fear for her
lover made her for the moment bold.
"Now,' she said gently, ''you will
be my friend as we'll as his; you will
forget that you cared for me and find
some other face in this land of the
stranger fair enough to win your wor-
ship.
He flung out his hands in tempes-
tuous anger.
"Frlend--his friend y he cried
wrathfulIy. SIS my love but robe, to
be flung aside after days wearing
and am I dog enough to call him friend
who has left me desolate p"
He walked the length Of the room,
then returned His face was full Of an
evil passion as she saw it.
"Anl | am to forget you ?' he said
bitterly. "What if | bid HIM forget
you instead ~
A transparent color burned hotly in
her face rs she turned on him with
girlish impAtience and somewhat of
womanly pride.
"Listen to me a moment before you
threaten the man | love, Cola Alyerez,
she said, every word ringing clear
through the storm. 'Carence and |
have known each other since We We're
children. Our loye has grown as We
have grown. In all the world there IS
nobody like him-nv Clarence, Do
You not remember how it Was that you
and first met He brought YOU here
and SAID that you We're his dearest
friend. He bade me so regard you. If
| have been kind to you-if | have
never treated you rs a stranger-that
was my reason-CIarence called you
friend. Now, let this interview end
here and | will promise that Clarence
shall never know of it-shaIl never
imagine thai you have dreamed of be :
coming his rival
Shall he not % muttered the Span
lard in his teeth--"shall he not, my
star-eyed senorita -
She looked at him timldly, ftarfuIly,
as with down bent head and hands
clenched as in convulslon he stood
there, his whole undisciplined soul
seeming in harmony with the tempest
that crashed and shrieked and tore
abroad.
Clarence, she knew, was some place
in the house, for it was his home more
than hers, she being but ward Of his
father, and she trembled lest he and
Alverez should meet ere the latter had
somewha curbed the demon that look
ell ont from his dark eyes.
As the fear smote her a clear musical
whistle in the hall without pierced
through the fury of the tempest, and
in another moment the door opened,
the whistle ceased and Clarence Aram
entered.
He, perhaps, was not 50 handsome
as the Spaniard. but there was that in
his frank, mirthful face which has won
love from women since Time was vonng
"a touch of poetry which did not mar
its strength, a strength which did not
scorn the fairer. finer dreams Of life, Il
sunny temper under which slept force
and power, the lightning IN the sum-
mer cloud.
He and Cola Alverez had met first a
year before in distant city. They had
grown into friends, aud when Cola,
whose land had disowned him as too
turbulent Il son after he had implicated
himself in a plot against the Crown,
appeared IN the neighborhood of CIar-
ence's home that home had opened It's
doors to him and for mouth he had
been an honored guest there.
Yet as the heavy rains fell on the