The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1892-03-24

with Ughtred BY this time, II she thought
d.; and a. they returned down the hang
ing path through the combe where the
wild orchids grow, she used that right
at last, ont Of pure, unauthorized fem
mime peryersity. The ways Of women ara
wonderful; no mere man can fathom
them. Something that Ughtred said
gave her the chance 10 make q hall
petulant answer. Ughtred very naturally
defended himself from the imputation n
rudeness, and Meta retorted. At the
end Of ten minutes the trihe had grown
apace into rs pretty a lovers quarrel As
any lady novelist could wish 20 describe
/ in FIVE chapters.
! Meta had burst into perfectly ortho-
dox tears, refused to be comforted IN
the most approved fashion, declined 70
accept Ughtred's escort home and bid
den farewell TO him excitedly forever
and ever.
I II was all about nothing, to be sure,
and II the two older or wiser heads had
only stood BY unseen to view the little
comedy, they would sagely have re.
marked to each other, with shake, that
before twenty-four hours were out the
pair would be rushing into each others
arms with mutual apologies and mutual
forgiveness. But Meta Mayne and
Ughtred Carnegie were still at the age
when one takes love seriously--one does
before thirty-and so they turned away
along different paths at the bottom Of
the combe. in the firm belief that loves
young dream was shattered, and that
henceforth they two were nothing more
than the merest acquaintance to each
other.
"GoOdby, Mr. Carnegie" Meta fall
tered out, as in obedience to her wishes
though much against his own viii Ugh
tired turned slowly and remorsefully
down the footpath to the right, in the
direction Of the railway.
"Goodby, Netta," Ughtred answered,
half choking. Even to that moment Of
parting Qorever-or day. he couldn't
ind 1t in his heart to call her Miss
Wayne" who had so long been Meta"
10 him.
He waved his hand and turned along
the fOotpath, looking back many times
to see Meta still sitting inconsolable
where he had left her, on the stile that
led from the combe into the Four
acre meadow. Both paths, to right and
left, led back to Holmbury over the open
field, but they diverged rapidly and
crossed the railway track by separate
gates and Eve hundred yards from each
other.
A turn in the path, at which Ughtred
fingered long, hid Meta at last from his
sight. He paused and hesitated. Il was
growing late, though an hour Of summer
twilight still remained. He couldn't
bear to leave Meta thus alone in the
field. She wouldn't allow him to see
her home, to be sure. and that being so
he was too much Of a gentleman to force
himself upon her. But he was too much
man, too, to let her find her way back
80 late entirely by herself. Unseen him
self, he must still watch over her..
Against her will, he must still protect
her. He would go on TO the railway,
and there sit by the side Of the line,
under cover Of the hedge, till Meta
crossed by the other path. Then he'd
walk quietly along the six foot way TO
the gate she had passed through, and
follow her, unperceived at distance
along the lane, till he saw her back to
Holmbury. Whether she wished it or
not, he could never leave her.
He looked about for q seat. One lay
most handy. BY the side Of the line the
government engineers had been at work
that day, repairing the telegraph sys-
tenn. They had taken down half q
dozen moldering old posts, and set up
new ones In their place-tal, clean and
shiny. One Of the old posts still lay az
full length on the ground by the gate,
just as the men had left 1t Mt the end Of
their days work. At the point where
the footpath cut the line was a level
crossing, and there Ughtred sat down
on the fallen post by the side. half con-
eealed from view by tall clump Of will
low herb. waiting natiently for Metals
coming. How he listened for that hghi
football. His heart was full. indeed. OF
gall and bitterness. he loved her so dear
ly, aud she had treated him so i'll. Who
would ever have believed that Meta,
HIS Meta, would have thrown him over
like that for such a ridiculous trihel
Who. indeed? Aud least Of all Meta
herself, sitting alone on the stile with
her pretty face bowed deep in her hands,
and her poor heart wondering how Ugh
tired, her Ughtred, could 80 easily de-
sert her.
In such strange ways is the feminine
variety Of the human heart constructed.
To be sure, she had Of course dismissed
him in the most peremptory fashion, de
Claring with all the vows propriety per-
mits to the British maiden that she
needed no escort Of any sort home, and
that she would ten thousand times rather
60 alone than have him accompany her.
But Of course, also, she didn't mean
It. What woman does She counted
upon a prompt and unconditional sur
render. URhtred would 60 to the cor
uer, as in duty bound, and then come
back to her with profuse expressions Of
penitence for the wrong he had never
done, tomake It all up again in the ortho-
dox fashion. She never intended the real
tragedy that was 90 soon TO follow. She
was only playing with her yictim-only
trying, wonAnlike, her power over
Ughtred.
So she sat there still, and cried and
cried on, minute after minute, in an
ecstacy Of misery, tin the sunset began
10 glow deeper red in the western sky,
and the bell 70 ring the curfew In Holm
bury tower. Then II dawned upon her