The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-07-31
A HEROINE BY PROXY

"You foolr' he said aloud, ''you
utter fool, and threw himself face
downward on the turf
A girl rose quickly and quietly,
gathered her soft draperies, and pick
ing her steps noiselessly over the
turf reached the path some 90 yards
above the spot where he lay. Then
treading rather heavily on the loose
stones she marched down the path
toward him. At the sound of her
footsteps he satup, twisted hurriedly
bis handkerchief around his hand,
which was covered with dust and
blood, and turned toward her with a
face which he tried hard to render
as unconcerned as her own.
ooh, how doyou do, Mr.. PercivalT
she said. "Who would have thought
of seeing you of all people in this
of all places9 And what have you
done to your handp
He had risen while she spoke and
held out his left hand to her.
Twas clumsy enough to knock it, !"
he said, awkwardly enough. But
it's nothing much. Which way are
you goingl"
II was going to sit here" she said.
81 often do. Don't let me disturb
you"
She sank lazily on the turf within
a yard or two of him, aud the young
man had nothing left but to follow
her example. He was a tall, well
knit young fellow of 81 or there
about, with dark, curling hair and a
light mustache.
His eyes were of good blue, but
they were small and i'll set, and his
face was so heavily cut that nine
people out of ten who met him said
to themselves or to their friends,
"'What an ugly fellow that Percival
is" But the tenth person found Per-
cival by no means so ugly, for wit
showed in the sparkling blue eyes,
intellect marked the broad brow and
delicacy and tenderness had mel
lowed the corners of the rather thin
lips. His face was very pale now.
Il didn't know your Sunday walks
ever led you this way, Miss Hell
ston," he said, with an evident desire
to make conversation.
II come here sometimes when /
want to be quiet and think things
over" she said.
There was silence. His difficulty
in finding suitable small talk was now
so obvious that Miss Helston sudden
ly abandoned her half formed deter
mination to act as though things
were exactly as they ought to be.
She looked steadily at him for min
ute, and then she said,
do you mind telling me why you
called yourself an utter fool and why
you banged your hand against the
rock just MOVIE"
He flushed a dull red and fpowned
aangrily.
''It's no use, your being angry with
me-" she said, because l happen to
have seen you. If you Behave that
way in a public quarry you must ex-
pect an audience"
II don't see he began stif1y.
mo, you don't see what business
it is of mine, and you think it would
have been more delicate and more
'ladyike' for me not to have seen
anything, OF, at any rate, to pretend
that / haven't. And that's because
Im a woman. If it had been a man
whom you like as well as you do me
who had seen you this afternoon, you
would probably have told him'what
was the matter, And perhaps he
could have helped you. Perhaps /
can if you tell me-"
The truth of what she said came
upon him for the first time. He real
lied that if she had been a man and
one whom he liked as well as he
liked this black haired, athletic, tri-
cycling, tennis playing girl he would
have told everything. His voice had
a note of apology in 1t as he said:
Its very kind of you If you care
80 be bothered with my condolences,
though / am not much by way of
making them to anybody, will tell
you what ] should certainly tell to
any man alive-that / totally disap-
prove of your cousins conduct, while
at the same time can't help loving
her, like the fool am"
"Of course" said Miss Helston, on
looking at Him calmly II know
that You love my cousin. know it
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