Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1895-01-04

4 places tuil Of water III CS: Turning z
corner, Grace came suddonly On Miss
Marion, sitting in d boat. pretehding
! to fish, but looking up every momomt.
rs il she expected some one,
A pet, dog was III the front of the
boat Hearing Gracc's step tic pam.
peiod playthihg sprang Up and began e
bark furiously nj licr. AT the Same in
slant, Miss Marlton detected cur hero.
! inc, and, opening her large lazy eyes,
stared again, this time even more SUI
perciliously than the day before. Grace
cheeks hot W til modification, and
anger. But her haste was not sufficient
to carry her out of sight and hearing.
before she saw a manly form which
she knew only too well-aud heard n
voice that made every pulse of her body
thrill. II was Stuyvcsant Mort mer,
who had suddenly appealed from a
grove on tile other side of the stream
and to whom Miss Marion called to
como and row her homie. turning her
boat, as she spoke toward HIM.
How Grace got back to the house,
that afternoon. she never knew. She
must have almost flown. for she was
out of breath when she arrived. She
was glad when night enabled her to os-
cape from the children again. She
spent long hours fighting down her
misery. Yes there was no doubt. :"
she said TO herself Only the closest
intimacy. only an approaching mar
rage, could explain her tone and man
| neri it was that of ownership; alid his
was that of only too willing service. y
| And again she said to herself oh
how tlespisc him" And then: '.How
despise myself, for being affected by
it at all.H
| The noxt day broke more sultry than
ever. Mrs. Leigh, who was a kind,
hearted woman in her way. noticed
Graco's exhausted air, and. attributing
| it 10 the heat and the confined school,
room. suggested that the children
should take holiday.
They look n little peaked, poor
things themselves, " she said. Il have
been promising them u picnic all sum-
mer. down on Briers beach. Suppose
you all bundle off together, IN the don
key cart, and spend the day there. l
will have nice lunch put up for you.
The road for most OF the way lies
through shady lanes. You will be the
better for il, my dear. yourself. =
They had gone abont a mile, and
were slowly climbing a sandy hill.
Grace driving. and the two tile girls
and their brother chattering away in
the highest spirits, when suddenly Il
pedestrian came ont from the woods
on the right. and. springing nimbly
down the bank, WAS going in the oppo-
site direction, WHOM Little May called
aloud:
Don't Won know me. Mr.. MIR.
-Slrangerp I'm the little girl who
lost her penny Yesterday n the village,
and you We're the kind gentleman to
find it for me. -
Grace would have given the world
if the CHI Ill had not spoken, for she had
recognized again, only too well. that
tall, 1.-THE form and that free. swinging
step. She said 10 herself: He saw
me-hc was hurrying away. and now
this vcxatious child has called Ii m
back; lie will think | whispered to her
to do it, and he and his bride will jeer
nj me all the more
call, and coming up to the cart, with
quick impnls veness, cried, holding
out his hand to the child:
why, SO it is. absolutely my little
fairy, but now disconsolatc no longer.
We are going on quite an expedition.
too, aren't we? A p cnic, or something
| Ike iii"
Grace's whole body was culver Of
nerves. She sat with her eyes down
cast and her face half averted, appar-
emily absorbed in studying her right
hand. which held the reins.
"Oh, yes" answered May. ION u
picnic. Aud we're going to have such
u jolly time. Don't You wish you
were coming. too?"
"Of course | do. witha hearty SYM
pathetic laugh. Jolly times are not
SO frequent with me- assure you, that
can afford TO miss a chance of one
But will Mjss-Miss-I beg pardon for
not knowing lier name allow ne
Good God! il is Grace herself''
Up to this moment he had been 50
engrossed with the child that he had
only vague idea that there was =
governcss sitting next to her; but who
the govcrncss was or even if she were
pretty. he had no thought But now
as he looked up, rather expecting to
see some sour-visaged. middlc-aged
spinster he belleld the sweet doWncast
profile Of the only woman who had
ever touched his heart, and who was
now looking all the more lovely be-
cause of her half-mourring dress and
Al. 6 s.,,4 p,.
her face Hence the broken ejacula
tons with which he checked the re-
quest he had been about half sportively
to proffcr.
His hat, too, was off in a moment.
He looked SO eager, SO astonisled, SO
glad, so rap,urous, all in succession,
that Grace who had turned 10 h IN
coldly at first, was herself astonishcd,
and-shall VIC say it?-stirred also to
her inmost heart.
For what could it mean? Was it
possible there had been some terrible
mistake? Surely that look, the
pass :onate emotion OF the voice, wele
not counterfeit! Her head swan, and
she though she would faint.
Miss Courtenay,' said Mortimer,
observing her agitation, and mastering
his own emotion with great effort, Il
have been seeking you for months
ever since my return from Europe, in.
decd May II and the pleading
tones of his voice were cloquencc it
self-''lo in earnest what proposed
just now in jest? May join your ! tile
party9 see that you think hardly of
me. Perhaps | deserve it. But oil!