Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-07-28


.na pa..ile iato Bi ;la i4lot ogerhuns
| Titi, a,al
Mrs. Warrol 90 VI "l over and laid
one hanaTi:nid = e. tn i'rowi in1scu-
ar one still sra .inA Sio paddle.
People are ncsor cross in ArCadia
she murlnurod
81 wish you'd b. in earnest" he
broke out passionately,, 'and not treat
me as il l were boy. You're too con-
foundedly cold blooded Novel;
chat doem't sound pretty-bnt mean
make believe you're human. You've al
ways kept me Mt arms length-just far
though so you could pull at my heart
strings when it amused you''-he broke
off suddenly-"I'm brute
mo Strephon, you're true hearted,
hot headed boy, flying of on tangent
one day and repenting the next. =" said
Mrs. Warrenton gently.
"As it is, Phyllis, why don't you offer
to be a sister to me?" he suggested
whimsically, smiling Would you
mind if talked to you about myself a
little? Or maybe you won't care to hear.
But this is the last time We'll be i'll
Arcadia together, and though it will do
no good wanted you to understand
''If I'd had a mother, maybe I'd be
better man. don't think you ever
knew how much you have done for me.
boy and man. / loved you when you
were a slip of girl i'll short dresses and
braids, and said to myself: She is good
and pure. ] will try to deserve her, and
then will win her.
"But didn't win you. That was
hard time with me. / was little reck-
less afterward, and | drifted into the
fast set for time, but l had my art
and that kept me from forgetting my
self entirely.
"I have come regularly to you to be
teased and smiled at, and you have
never seemed to realize what your light
est look or word was TO me.
'I have been kept from the follies
and vices that have tempted me chiefly
by the thought I will not deserve to
lose her respect.
II used to dream of a life with you
as its inspiration.
'And so as / find / can never love
any other woman, and that my love for
you might make me forget all things
| else and make you hate me some day,
so have asked nice little girl to mar
ry me- She does not want my love par
| tioularly, but my income and position,
and her family and my family think it
good match. 1t is an experiment, and
! IL am the most unhappy of men,
There was long silence when he had
finished speaking-a monotonous silence
punctuated with the regular plash Of
his paddle and echoes of laughter and
oar strokes from the rowers abroad ON
the river.
He guided the boat about a shadowy
bit of island and then padded slowly
along the homeward stretch of waters.
"You see, am mad fool, Phyllis, +"
he whispered, "but you are SO cold, so
| calm, so far above me, it surely could
not hurt you for mere pity to let me
dream tonight" ="
"Strephon, she sighed and touched
his sleeve lightly with her finger tips,
wouldn't it be happiness if we could
be born again into another sort of world
out Of these social tangles and sordid
limitations--into simpler, honester
world?
We've lived too long in this arti-
fetal world and grown used to the pate
de foie gras and theater parties, and the
symphony, and the society, and Paris
gowns, and English tailors, and summers
at Newport, and autumns at Lenox, and
the rest ever to go back to primeval Ar
cadia.
"But if we could, you and I-if we
could-I think maybe we could have
been old fashioned lovers too. But I'm
a woman of the world, and my heart is
hard maybe, and I'm frivolous maybe,
and flirted with you to pass the time
maybe-but, Strephon, you are a man
Of the world, too and / never thought
you had q heart.
The miles Of water were swept back
slowly by the paddle. The little bark
swept on with the tide; the boathouse
was in view in the shadows.
Suddenly he put down the paddle He
leaned forward and groped for her hands
with his, and as he clasped them the
trembling fingers closed on his with an
impulse of strength seeking.
Bending closely, he saw her face Her
eyes were wet with tears
"Forg3ve me. J." he pleaded hoarsely;
forgive mel"
"There is so little love in this world
that we cannot afford to be thankless
for any that is offered God knows the
heart aches for the lack of it, " she whis-
pered
"Once, dear, once for all the years
that have been, the years that will be-
Kiss me opcer'
She shook her head gently; her hands
slipped from his grasp.
1--WE have dreamed, she said gently
as they reached the shore.
"Yes, we have dreamed, he repeat
ed.-Kate Fields Washington.
The English PserAge.