Evening journal., 1892-11-07

see that, were our love as wide as the
world, it could not hold him back for
moment against that invisible grasp that
is drawing him down as in a quicksand
before our eyes
And this was Gray-dear old JOYOUS
hearted Gray, who had played with her.
and loved her, and shouldered the blame
of many of her small sins when they
had been children together; when death
had seemed an intangible something that
belonged to age, that never by any
chance would touch their happy youth
And now presently the air would be
meeting together IN the little space filled
with his happy life, as if he had never
been, and she would be living on 10 see
how little the world had need of him, or
OF any one Of US. She did not need to
love to feel the pitfulness Of it.
For two Lays 1t had rained, a merci-
less, steady down pouring that mockel
at every tradition Of Colorado's fair
climate; two days Of confinement in the
bare ranch parlor, where, among all the
cane seated denominations, were but two
chairs really comfortable TO tempt the
selhshness Of dozen unhappy people
where every game invented by man
failed TO Offset the torture diabolic i'm
pulses were continually evolcing from
the decrepit piano. For Anita there
was a bit of silver lining showing
through the clouds, In that Mrs. Rogers
was kept shut up within her cabin, a
quarter Of a mile away. That vivacious
little person rather haunted the ranch
hostelry, where she came for her mail
for milk, butter and other necessaries-
most Of all, it was whispered by the OBJ
servers, to carry on sort Of astheti1
Irritation with consumptive young
clergyman, with a side glance to spare
for Gray Van Zandts blase beauty
Had there been hundred men in Eden,
would Eve ever have rested until she
mad beguiled every last one Of them into
c bite of her fatal apple7
In Gray, however, the little coquette
had found one who was fully alive to
the flavor Of the fruit she had 10 offer.
Nothing he could have done would have
won him more favor in Anita's jealous
heart than the cold shoulder he turned
upon this woman whom she counted her
rival BY no means as guileless as tho
dove was this young man; but in the
ways of women he was as wise as the
serpent that won the first weak one TO
evil
lie had come with no thought Of bring
ing about the fall Of another mans para
disc He had thought the old love for
bis cousin well nigh forgotten. For a
year. in his busy pleasure seeking life
he had scarce given her a thought. But
the heart is as a palimpsest, on which an
impression once made can never be
wholly erased. However the OH lines
may be lost with time, OF replaced by
others, when once the proper influences
are brought TO bear what came first IL
restored in all its pristine freshness
| Finding his cousin. as IL seemed. m
happy, the lost love was revived in his
pity, passionately insistent 1t seemed
to Gray his right, as her ldnsman, to
shield her from trouble. to do all that
he might for her happiness And when
he was persuaded that she might have
been his but for conditions outside her
own impulses, it was but a step for his
/ lawless fancy to dream that all obstacles
might yet be overcome-that it was for
him TO chase the sadness from her eyes
and bring back the bright glow Of hap
| piness.
Another Saturday had come, in smiles
and tears, like a mockery of April
weather All the morning the sun had
been coquetting through the meshes O!
I storm clouds, and now in the late after
noon the sky had cleared and the world
seemed steaming itself dry in the food
of mellow sunshine. The common lux
ury Of fair weather was for the time
valued at its worth, and everybody had
come out Of doors to enjoy it to the ut
| most.
Anita, with a small party, was climb
! ing a trail smooth and clean from the
beating Of the rain as if 1t had just been
swept winding up a brook traversed
| gulch. A warm, brooding silence held
the place; not a whisper among the pine
tops nor among the gray green fringes
Of the spruces bending heavily down
from their precarious footing; no faintesi
| rustling among the seed plumes Of the
/ grasses. all with their heads bowed
down together overweighted with jew
eled drops; no chirp Of gossipiug grass
hopper, nor droning chant of the bee
Delicious it was, after two days of con
iinement in that stulfy ranch house, e
drink in that pure air that went to the
lungs like Il tonic.
Tier cheeks softly flushed, her eye'
sparkling. her lips parted in a half smile
as she painted with the exercise in tn,
rare air. Anita led the way, stopping
sometimes to caress the petals Of a latl
flower, sometimes to look back at thu
valley below 10 estimate the height thel
had attained while she recovered hei
spent breath. Turning at length, i
seemed as If the earth had suddenl,
opened to swallow up the little band
leaving only Gray and her
"Why, where is everybody she cried
staring blandy down the deserted trail.
The antique young lady discovered
that the ground was damp. quite a wa,
back. and went down after her rubbers
The elderly gentleman gallantly wen
along, and thus. Of course, her mother
had to go too, 10 chaperon her She j
I eurh "A tender little fhinw awplainef