The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-08-16

toward Spain"
Graham heard no more; but he felt
something like resentment mixed with
his wonder that Eleanor could posi-.
bly,, without his knowledge and con
sent, count among her acquaintance
so commanding and attractive person
as this unexplained Lieut.. Thorne.
His mind was so busy with the prob.
lem that at first he did not hear Miss
Celia's laughing comment:
You little friend seems to have
found desiderdtum in brass buttonsr
He shrugged his shoulders with an
answering laugh that was not wholly
mirthful. They'll hear you," he re-
turned, shortly, by way of warning for
Eleanor and the blue uniform were but
a step ahead.
But Miss Celia was not to be warned.
II will console you If / can" she said.
gayly, though you have not honored
me with an account of your little ro-
nance" and then, more softly: Il have
only waited for your condolences be-
fere burdening you with my own. You
remember Mr.. Burnap, whom you met
at the house last week? He is the for
tunate man, and he thought an expla-
nation rather due you before now; but
l was hardly so egotistical as to ac-
knowledge the necessity"
She was looking at him squarely.
and it rather amused her that his face
grew white. Another little face. few
PAGES ahead, turned shade paler for
an instant, too; but in another the
color had come pulsing back to it as
swiftly as had sprung a strange, new
emotion to her heart. Was it relief at
the revelation just heard? Then must
relief masquerade in fine scorn to so
curve mobile lips and to fash with
such contempt from violet eyes.
Lieut.. Thorn saw none of it, nor had
he heard the mocking laugh behind
He was conscious of but one fact in all
the glowing universe, and that fact
walked beside him in a modest gray
gown.
To think that all mans aspira-
tions, his very life and strength, should
be bound up in little parcel five feet
two!" he suddenly exclaimed; and,
though the voice was playful, when
Eleanor looked up there was a strange
mistiness about the kindly eyes.
A sudden glow and warmth suffused
her face. How tall and powerful he
looked, towering above her, and yet
how kind and good! And she had been
so blind to it all before, blind because
but she would not think of that.
There should be no more blindness,
she decided. though cye-openings weIA
not always the pleasantest things in the
world. He saw the fare of color on
her rounded cheek and the slight pale
ness that followed.
II have annoyed you" he said, ''and
promised to be good. But the DAYS
have been long since you left. and how
am l to remember promises or any
other things, when all my energies
have been used of late in trying to
forget? There! | will not spoil your
visit. I'm in mortal terror lest you
may be spirited off as mysteriously as
you came" He was laughing lightly
now, with the evident desire to set her
at her ease, and he launched swiftly
into a description of the various provi-
Dental happenings that had gained
him his furlough, and of the further
good fortune of his meeting with Mrs
Carter at Cleveland, of her invitation,
and his half-indifferent acceptance.
His voice, slow and sweet. and always
with that undertone of kindly feeling,
caused Eleanor to think that, after all,
it might not be so irksome to assume
a happiness she had thought she could
not feel In truth, day had just begun
to dawn for Eleanor, though by the
calendar that event had transpired
some hours before.
1t was really beautiful day for so
tardy a dawning; and Eleanor, feeling
the cordial gladness in her hostess
welcome, smiled the more gladly when
that astute. soul remarked, with a tap
of her fan upon his shoulder:
You, Lieut.. Thorne, are to take Miss
Field to dinner. Ny dear. l send you
out with the only lion have captured
for this happy occasion"
Eleanor laughed gayly. Somehow it
began to be natural to laugh.
I'm afraid of lions" she said. some
what shyly, as she took his arm.
You needn't be- was his mischiev-
Gus reply, they never eat sweets"
He, too, had forgotten that only last
night he had paced the walk in the
white starlight and fancied himself a
worn old man, so tired and lifeless he
had grown. There were threads of
white in his hair, that he knew: but
to-day he felt boy-like, exuberant.
What a merry dinner it was.
Eleanor never had seemed so bright
Girls are funny things" Tom Chand-
Ter thought. only last week that
child was looking the picture of de-
spair; and now she's like sunshine it.
self"
Harlowe Graham was thinking so,
too. The sunshine had not fallen on
him with any very brilliant effect.
The world looked rather gray, indeed,
and life a good deal of a bore. He
took himself off after dinner, and
walked along the river bank, sullenly
throwing in stones and watching the
water as it broke into fiuttering rip
pies The reflections thus shivered
and married were no more disturbed
than his OVID. One thing he knew;
Celia Chichester should never guess
what chagrin she had caused him. He
would impress it upon her that his
devoirs to herself were the merest
Willing away of a weary tedium, and
that the little romance" TO which she
had so ironically referred was the very
light of his life. And Eleanor? Well,
Eleanor was a soft. sweet, yielding
little thing. not so large sor imposing
banleop,o