The Irish standard., 1894-09-08

not given merely to be scornfully
trampled under FOOT
II do not treat your-you scornfully.
am only sorry # what you say is
true"
why do you say If it Is true? Don't
| you know it is true?.
Then I am very sorry-very, very
sorry, and ! hope it is through no fault
When you return to New York"
Margaret" said the young man, Bit
terly, IT shall never forget you. Think
what you are doing before it IS too
late. Think how much this means to
me. If you finally refuse me you will
wreck my life. am the sort of man
| that woman can make or mar. Do
| not, beg Of you, ruin the life Of the
man who loves you"
| II am not missionary" cried Mar
garet, with sudden anger. IF your
| life is to be wrecked it will be through
your own foolishness, and not from any
act of mine. I think 1t cowardly Of
You to say that I am to be held respon-
sible. have no wish to influence your
future one way or another"
Not for good, Margaret" asked
Yates, with tender reproach.
mo. a man whose good or bad con-
duct depends on anyone else but him
self is not my ideal Of q man"
'Tell me what your ideal is, SO that
! may try to attain it."
| Margaret was silent
| 'You think II will be useless for me
to try?'
''As far as am concerned, yes"
/ Margaret, want to ask you one
more question. have no right to, but
beg you to answer me. Are you IN
love with anyone else?'
! MOI cried Margaret, hotly. "How
dare you ask me such question:"
| "Oh, it Is not crime-that Is, being
in love with some one else is not. Ill
tell you why I dare ask. / swear by
| all the gods that shall win you, Il not
this year then next, and II not next,
then the year after. was coward
to talk rs / did, but love you more
| now than ] did even then. All want
to know IS that you are not in love with
another man"
| II think you are very cruel In per-
II "
your answer. say no. Never! neverl
never!--this year nor any other year.
Is not that enough?"
! Not for me. A woman's mo- may
ultimately mean yes"
THAT Is true, Mr.. Yates replied
Margaret, drawing herself up as ono
who makes final plunge. You re-
| member the question you asked me just
now?-whether cared for anyone
else? said no. That no meant yes"
He was standing between her and
the window, so she could not escape by
the way she came. He saw she medi-
tated fight, and made as though he
would intercept her, but she was too
house, and he heard door open and
| shut.
He knew he was defeated. Detected
ly he turned to the fence, climbing
slowly. over where he had leaped 50
/ lightly a few minutes before, and
walked down the road, cursing his
! fate. Although he admitted he was o
| coward in talking to her as he did
about his wrecked life, yet he knew
now that every word he had spoken
was true. What did the future hold
out to him? Not even the incentive to
| live. He found himself walking to-
wards the tent, but, not wishing to
/ meet Remark in his present frame of
| mind, he turned and came out on the
| Ridge road. He was tired and broken,
| and resolved to stay in camp until they
arrested him. Then perhaps she might
have some pity on him. Who was the
other man she loved? or had she merely
said that to give fHality to her refusal?
In his present mood he pictured the
worst, and imagined her the wife of
some neighboring farmer perhaps
even Of Stoliker. These country girls,
he said to himself, never believed q
man was worth looking at unless he
owned a farm. He would save his
money and buy up the whole neigh
borhood; then she would realize what
she had missed. He climbed up on the
fence beside the road, and sat on the
top rail, with his heels resting on
8 lower one, SO that he might
enjoy his misery without the
fatigue Of walking. His vivid
imagination pictured himself as in a
few years time the owner Of large
section Of that part Of the country, with
mortgages on a good deal Of the re-
mainder, including the farm owned by
Margaret's husband. He saw her now
q farmers faded wife coming to him
and begging for further time in which
to pay the seven per cent. due. He
knew he would act magnanimously on
such an occasion and grandly give her
husband all the time he required. Per
haps then she would realize the mis-
take she had made4 Or perhaps fame
rather than riches would be his line.
His name would ring throughout the
land. He might become great poll
tician and bankrupt Canada with
rigid tariff law. The unfairness of
making the whole innocent people suf-
| fer for the inconsiderate act OF one OF
them did not occur to him at the mo-
ment, for he was humiliated and hurt.
/ There is no bitterness like that which
assails the man who has been rejected
u