The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-07-31


your own"-she said it with burning
cheeks, but with steady eyes-'T have
cared for some one else this long
time. That is why am sorry for
you and willing to help YOU"
Her voice had in it the first soft
note he bad ever heard there. He
sprang up and held out his hand to
help her to her feet.
THANK you," he said, ''for telling
me that. You give me back my self
respect Now we are on even ground
friends, comrades, who trust each
other. And however it turns out,
shall bless you all pny life for your
help and your goodness.
Don't let's be sentimental, she
said, laughing; lat any rate, when
we are by ourselves Remember we
shall have quite enough of playing
that part when other people are
about"
John Percival was sitting on a
stone in the old quarry making holes
in the soaked ground with the fer
rule of his stick and waiting for
Edith Helston. All the glory of Au-
gust and September had faded from
the world, washed away by long
days of steady, constant rain.
Now, at the sun setting, the rain
had ceased, but pail of gray cloud
dropped above the distant hills. The
sky overhead, the ground under foot,
everything green, the very rocks
themselves seemed soaked through
and through.
A chill wind was rising, and the
ground was dank and slippery, but
Percival's face was brighter, serener
than it had been on that golden Au-
gust afternoon when he met Edith
Helston for the first time in that
place. He turned as her footstep an
nounced her and went to meet her up
the narrow path.
II asked you TO meet me, " she said
hurriedly, because / have got lot
of things to say to you"
Lets sit down." he said. ''See, I
brought this plaid to wrap round
you. The wind is rising, and these
October evenings"---
She shivered acquiescently, and he
wrapped the plaid around her, took
his seat at her side and said, Nov. "
II made up my mind last week
when asked you to meet me-" she
said, "that this comedy Of ours ought
not to go on any longer. 1t was a
piece of folly, but meant it to end
well. was wrong. I hoped that it
would move her. And SO it has, " she
added half to herself.
"You have something more to tell
meg"
"Yes, have. have this to tell
you-that have played our comedy
as well as could. Have I played it
well?"
you have played it wonderfully, "
he answered. .
Until last night" she went on, II
hoped it would succeed. Last night
I saw Lola's real heart, and am glad
that it has failed"
1T has failed, then" he asked
gloomily.
"It succeeded, and have made it
fail. l will tell you how, if you like,
if it is not enough for you to know
that Lola never cared for you; that
she is incapable of caring for any
one." ....
mo" he said quickly, that is not
enough for NO."
The rising wind drove few be-
lated raindrops against their faces,
and the forlorn cry of the plover
rang drearily over the moor behind
them.
Last night" she said, Lola came
into my room. She came to ask my
advice, she said. She was in diff
ficulty, and this was what the diff
ficulty came to: Young Rogers, had
offered to marry her, and she liked
his mills, and she>liked his fortune,
and she liked his horses, but.she said
she liked you better, and wouldn't I
give you up to her because you had
been fond of her before, and she was
sure you would be again if I would
only let you" Miss Helston had set
her little teeth together hard and
spoke through them.
''That was pleasant for you" he
said gently, but so far it worked as
you wished, didn't it,"
$50 far" she answered, lit worked
as wished. Then she said that you
were the only person she had ever
cared for andv the only person who
had ever Left her after caring for
her"
"And you, what did you say7"
"What you or any one would have
said. l told her that you loved her;
that you had only made a confdante
of me, and that was why we have
been so much together"
..;And shel"
''She stood making a hairpin red
hot in the fame OF the candle and
running it through the wax, and
when l told her-dh, indeed l plead