The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1896-06-28


dctiritH
can answer. You must rest satisfied
with Gods assurance that he loves all
men, and that he is justice incarnate.
do not myself pretend 20 have solved all
the riddles of creation, but my conf
dence i'm Gods justice and love makes
me content to wait patiently until the
day when all that is hidden shah be re
voalcd
As the weeks went by without any
approach ON Mr. Falck's part, Hulda
found that there was no reason what
ever for maintaining such strictly de
fensive attitude toward him. Nay, Sc
curious is the feminine heart. she began
even TO cherish dim resentment to
ward him for not offering her the
chance TO vindicate her independence
She had expected TO fight battle and
10 display "a truly heroic spirit in repel.
ling his advances. And here he was,
bowling to her three times day-at
breakfast. dinner and supper-with dis
tmt courtesy ana being apparently ne
more aware of her presence than he was
of that of the l4yearol MALTA. The
few remarks which ne volunteered were
addressed 10 her father and mother, and
when one day she asked him for the
salt he handed it TO her with a blunt
directnoss which was almost insulting
1t was just the way he would have
handed it to Fritz TO say that her self
respect suffered under this treatment is
TO put it mildly. With every day that
went by she felt more and more out.
ragged at what she styled Mr. Falck' 5
ungontlemanliness and his utter want
in the regard due TO her sex. The more
it became obvious that he was not occu.
pying himself with her the more she oc.
cupiod herself with him. If he had beer
the subtlest of fiirts, instead of a rather
innocent cleric, wary, on general priu.
ciples, of the reputed wiles Of the guile.
full gender he could not have devised a
more infallble method Of cnlisting her
interest Her speculation took q wide
range in regard TO his temperament, his
circumstances and his hypothetical ex
porience. Had he had some desperate
love affair? Had he been Tilted anC
grown cynical2 Was he carrying in Iii,
heart the image of some beloved one,
possibly dead to whom he had vowed
eternal fealtyq That one Of these three
hypothesis hit the truth she had nc
doubt But which? That was the ques
tion. For that "A man Of 30 could under
any conditions look back upon pas,
so uncheckered by romantic incident q,
that Of Mr. Falck no woman can eVei
be made TO below. Tragic despair, ST.
lent, though hopeless, devotion, soured
misOgyny in consequence of blighteC
affections, We're all comprehensive,
states Of mind, but tho kind OF indiffer
ence which MIR f'alck chose 20 affect
was simply a mask which IN becam,
him.
1t was for the purpose OF Furnishing
him that liulda resolved 10 abandon hel
habiual reserve and deliberately sci
out to capture him. She would show
him that no man could with impunib
behave linus toward her What mus
her mother think, after having propha
sled with such solemn certainty tha
Mr.. Falck would, as q matter OF course
fall i'm love with her-after having fan
oied that all she had 10 do was 20 securl
from her daughter a favorable reception
Of his suit? And tho pastor, too, la,
he not begun TO marvel in his innocen
way why the relation between the Gu
rate and his eldest daughter was so cole
and formal? He was himself a trihe dis
appointed in Mr.. Falck, TO be sure, no
so much on account Of the dryuess AN,
utter bloodlessness Of his sermons, as be
cause Of a certain mechanical precise
ness and wooden quality in his music
/ He did not play wildly out of tune Ike
I the sheriff, nor did he have the hardi
! hood 90 improyise when he lost li
I place, but he sat tiddling away with {
rigid correctness and a patient. spiritles
conscielltiousness which nearly droy,
/ hemUsical nastor distracted
TO BE CONTINUED.