The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-06-13

hahd softly stroking the dark head.
81 have loved you ever since we played
together as little children, and our
good aunt looks upon you ~ her
and you--
Thought OF the shameful thing that
she was doing surged ove Barbara,
enchanting her senses, and she fed,
quivering with grief and modification,
to her w room, pressing two cold
hands TO her burning cheeks.
The next two days being Saturday
and Sunday, Barbara was free TO re-
main in her room, nursing her aching
head.
On Monday she sat listlessly by her
front window waiting for the break
fast bell, when q carriage drove up
and stopped, and "a young nan leaped
out and, dashiug up to the door, rang
the bell violently. She had barely
time to notice he was blonde. hag-
gard and travcl-stained. 1t passed
out. of her mind, and an extra COM
motion below did not attract her at
tention.
A few moments later the bell rang,
downstairs. Coming up we're two men,
Harry Randall and the stranger, n
mar pale and thin, with blue eyes
almost black with excitement. Harry
raped at the sitting Don door OPP
posite, and flung 1t open. Gertrude
stood within, her lace showing chalk
white against her black gown. The
stranger started forward, open-armed,
and, in response to his hoarse, hushed
cry of Gertrude! Gertrude she
rushed to him and the door swung
shut.
Harry turned to the girl beside him
nn6 tool rNnconoofNn NJ hn, hn~ln To- IN
o forcible amer
"There," he declared, 81 have been
instrumental in settling the happiness
OF n couple, and after l have one
more affair of the kind off my mind,
| will be the happiest man alive.
Barbara, why have you treated me
SOP"
The pink and white h~uctuated in the
girls face as she faltered, 81 thought
that you and Miss Palmer-I thought
Mrs. Paxton said that her father had
just died and-and the other day
heard you tell her that you had loved
her all your life, and"
Here her voice broke down utterly,
and, after striving vainly to free her
hands, she was forced to hide her
eyes on the manly shoulder toward
which she was drawn.
"Why, my dear little girl" and the
voice was certainly earnest enough to
please any one, sis this the trouble
that has come between us? Didn't you
know that Gertrude vas mourning for
her lover, Gerald Northrop, whom we
thought dead, but who has so happily
returned? He went South two months
ago, and was reported us having per-
ished in a burning hotel. Gertrude
was alone, her father having lately
died, and l went to bring her here to
SanU. II turns out that Gerald, in
stead of dying, was in southwestern
Texas at the time of the fire, and was
taken sick, SO he was not heard from
for several weeks.
eyes, 1 do love Gertrude, but not as
l love you. Tell me, dear, what you
thought when you heard me say that
to her."
81 thought that she could not love
you as I could that if you came to Inc
with such words, | would hear them
above any sorrow"
A most joyous affair was the double
wedding at the Paxton residence in the
early spring, at which time Gertrude
Palmer and Barbara Bennett became
members of the rising young law firm
Of Randall & Northrop.
The only dissatisfied parties are
the pupils in the high school, who,
with n voice, mourn their beloved
teacher.