San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-18

Happy, huOW, ny uOlUS IL. lO ul6 IL
seems very much as if the experiment
had been failure. There may be some
virtue in it that haven't apprehended,
put if there is don't appreciate it
yet. l have been very lonely-that L
have known; lonely and hopeless and
heart-broken for want of you. think
you would have come back to me, Es-
ther, if you could have come in spirit
first, and have seen how desolate / was
in that melancholy room that you used
to make so bright TO me. You wouldn't
have had the heart to stay away. /
should have looked up some day and
have seen my darling at my side again.
like this, he said suddenly, clasping
her hand closer;-'Only nearer than
this"
But he did not draw her nearer to
him as he spoke; he only held her hand.
How could you bear to think of that
homecoming of mine when should
come back and find you gomez" he
went on again alter little while. "You
mlstrusted me, you know, or you never
awaiting for mel" She repeated this
looking at him hurriedly, with an al
most frightened look in her eyes again.
"Yes-I have been waiting for you
since before nine O'clock"
"Who told you that l was here?" She
asked this family, but yet in quick,
eager way.
He did not answer her question i'm
mediately. He was perhaps little
afraid to answer it: but still. after two
or three moments silence, Cn0ugn Tnere
was a culver about the corners of his
mouth suspiciously like laughter-the
unvarnished truth came out. George
Gilbert told me" he said.
''Oh, how could he!"
He was prepared for the flush that
sprang at these words into her facial
most prepared too for her cry of anger
and pain.
swered. If he hadn't done it | should
never have forgiven him on this side Of
eternity. He had to choose between
pleasing you and pleasing me, you see,
and as I've known him all his life, he
naturally chose to please me first. lie
broke no promise to you, you know: l
don't see what you have to complain of.
At the same time," he added after a
moment,'I allow that he told me to
ask you to forgive him-and you must
forgive him. You must do it because
ask you" he said.
He had kept his great-coat on, for the
day was cold, and the room, as | said,
was tireless. He gave a look in the
direction of the CRATE few moments
after he had completed his last speech,
and said abruptly
You seem defective here in the mat
ter of warmth too, as well as of arm
chairs-are you not?"
"Oh, you are cold, am afraid" she
exclaimed quickly. "Yes-there ought
to be fire. II didn't seem to need it
before went OUTPUT L will light it
now and it will hurn up in a few min
utes."
Light it, then, by all means. Ifyou
have fallen into the habit of sitting
here in cold March day without any
fire to warm YOU" he said, II can only
say that am glad that have come to
put stop to it. 1t seems oddly laid
but, nevertheless, take your things off,
and set light to it, and let us see If it
will burn"
She threw off her bonnet and shawl,
and set about her task; but Mr.. Dun
stan had some reason for his assertion
that the fire seemed oddly laid 1t was
laid so oddly that the laying appeared
to have been done expressly for the
purpose Of preventing it from burning:
for ten minutes Esther knelt before it,
coaxing the unwilling flame, before at
last the ill-erected structure of damp
wood and slaty coal was got into state
that made it safe to leave.
''Do you remember how | watched
you at your fire-making once before?"
he suddenly said. And then, when she
did not answer him, for she was afraid
to trust her voice-"It seems natural to
In;r I
forgotten how you looked that day lit
was our last day, you know);-but the
fire doesn't seem to have the same pow
er now that it had then of bringing the
color into your cheeks"
Perhaps the fire did not bring the
color into her cheeks, but something
else did as he said that.
The obstinate Goals caught light at
last, and then. when she could linger
over them no longer, she rose up, his
extended hand touching hers as she did
so for a moment The respite that he
had given her had enabled her to regain
some lf-possession,-yet it was so UNI
steady a self-pOSseSSion that word
from him could still put it to flight.
What are we to do neXt?" she was
thinking passiOnately. She knew that
it was nOtpoSsible that he should have
come merely to talk to her as they
might have talked together six months
ago; this was but the beginning, she
knew,-the pause and breathing-time
before the rest came; and how was she
to bear the rest? If she were to yield
herself up to the infinite Joy of being
once more near him, that joy, she said
to herself, would break down all the
strength she had.
She rose from the fire, and in silence
took her work up, and sat down, She
bent her face over it, because she would
not look at him. Once it had seemed