Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-01-14

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"He viii have good time Of course"
she added, with sweet air of innocent
cordiality, I'VE shall keep him with us
ut the Park"
"By no meansI cried Mrs. Bartels
sharply He must not think of impos'
ing on you to such an extent as that.
Imposing! An old chum like him! r
Nonsense, Mrs. Bartels! We could en-
joy nothing more than having him with
us; and as to any trouble on his account,
nobody knows anything about trouble at
the park. We all rough it and have a
good time. Indeed, we shall insist on
his staying with u.s."
Mrs. Bartels' pale lips parted as if for
further protest, but suddenly she turned
away without a word ''Goodby," she
called back over her shoulder. with an
afterthought of courtesy and pleasant
trip to you"
Back again in her own darkened home,
she felt her way slowly to the nearest
chair, sinking down heavily, her elbows
on her knees, her chin resting on her
upturned palms, and the little clock on
the mantel had struck the hour, the half
hour, and licked its way round to the
point of ringing out the time again, while
she sat there motionless in the shadows,
hat and gloves still on. modify lost in
thought.
So this was the outcome of her devo-
ton and self sacrifce-to give Mrs. Rog-
ers opportunity to complete half won
conquest And had Donald stopped to
such contemplate planning as this?
Mrs. Rogers was to visit on a ranch, he
had said, had he deliberately lied? Had
he, bent on going with these people
whom he liked; thought it the easiest
and smoothest course to deceive the
jealous wife into compliment consent?
She rose at last, YEARLY moving from
room to room, lighting the lamps and
drawing the curtains How pretty it all
was under the warm, rose shaded lights!
What boyish delight Donald had shown
in gratifying all her modest whilns in
the matter of furnishing! Not another
home in all the place waB kIlf 50 artistic
and charming And how happy they
had been together all those blessed
months in the new nest! How tenderlv
kind Donald had been to her always!
All, it was impossible; he could not
poison their happy love life with such
puerile deception as this, and suddenly
she broke into happy laugh. Why,
surely; Mrs. Rogers had said that hc1
going had not been arranged until the
last moment. Naturally, Donald had
known nothing about it when he rode
away from the house that morning. He
had been innocent of any thought OF
concealment. II that odious woman had
not worried her into such temper she
must have understood and eXonerateC
him at once.
But the fact remained that he would
lunch with Mrs. Rogers on the morrow
that he would journey on to Lake parl
in her company, and that for the mex
week or two he would be thrown more
or less continually in the society of tina
too fascinating little coquette. AMT;
could not have dreamed that her i'm
pulsive generosity was to cost her so dea
as this.
But Donald must not be trapped int
staying with these people, and she seatet
herself at her desk 1t was a long lette
she wrote, designed with tender art t
appeal to all his love for her, and finall,
in an inccnsequential little POSTSCRIPT
came the real gist of the matter: Mrs
: Rogers told me that she should insis
upon your stay ing Will lneln 1T III
park Apparently she is Indifferent t
: the possibility-indeed, in that event
the certainty-of reviving the silly oil
gossip that bracketed your name wit
hers once on time 1t is comfort il
expressible to me to know that you
dearest, have more discretion-that 20
3 will not let yourself be drawn into an
foolishness of that sort, for my sake, if fc
no other reason. know that | nee
not beg you not to, for when have eve
had to ask you to be thoughtful and cor
| siderate of me?'