The Press., 1896-07-02
CContinued from last weekly A MAID OF THE MINE.
By J. MONK FOSTER.
rCnnvripht. 1SOG. by the Author.1

Copyright 1896, by the Author.1
 "Gocd afternoon, Miss Holland. How glad I am to meet youl Splendid day, isn t it? And what a delightful old lane this isv'
 Sho muEmurcd something and lifted ner eyes to his for all instant, but the look of deep admiration on his face drove her glance earthward again and increased her confusion. He, noticing her discontinue, chattered away in his lightest mood.
 They were standing thus when knot of villagers lounged by. Among them was Jack Kendall, whose face was white and grim. The moment Peg saw her lover her heart leaped 10 her throat and the color fled from her countenaDce. The look Jack gave her checked the words of greeting on her tongue, and she stood there mute until the pitmen had passed out of earshOt
 "You will excuse lie, Mr. Marston, " she glspcd out. II must go"
 "May I walk with you a little?' he pleaded, his warm eyes fixed on her avcrted face.
 "No; have some one to see.
 "A lover?'
 "No!'
 "I'm glad to hear that. Do let me come with you.
 "Look here, MT. Marston," she cried suddenly, aud she faced him bravely "What did you mean last night?''
 "When asked you to meet me?' "Yes. "
 ''I meant nothing-at least nothing wrong.
 "You did not mean-you did not think because you are a manager and l am only pit brow lassie that you were at liberty to play with and insult mo?" "God knows I had no such bought" he burst forth hotly. "Surely you do not think had?"
 II dent know" she said soberly. "If not that, What''- She paused.
 ''1 liked you from the first. like you much more now. l lOvo you, Mar garrett Holland. May hope that Stay !! | Hear me out. Como back, won't yOu?" He spoke to flying heels. his impas- stoned words had driven her away She fled fearing that if she staid she would prove faithless to Jack Kendall.
 Some weeks slipped away after this, and the estranged lovers were still un- reconciIed. Peg had divined that Jack had heard of her dancing so frequently with Marston at the Blue Bell, and that when he saw her and the manager to- gether oD the Sunday he had never gone near her since and showed no desire to approach her.
 She felt that she ought to explain, Io,,S,, h. fC1f &0 l Nay, as the days went by she began to feel pleased that her old lover had been got rid of so easily. She was free now 60 accept MarstOn' attentions and had | half resolved to repulse the manager no more. Day after day Peg and Harry saw each other on the pit bank, and he never missed chance of showing that he was devotedly attached to her. That his love was honest and his intentions honorable she had every reason to be- lieve, seeing that he had asked her one afternoon to be his wife.
 She had put him off with an evasive answer, promising to let him know when her mind was made up. And he had waited patiently. Weeks had drift ed past, and still she could not compel herself to accept Marston or refuse him. One part of her nature clung to her old sweetheart the other urged her to pos sess herself of the man whose position would make her life easy, whose love would pander to the qualification of Ill her small ambitions and social desires.
 For months the girl hung thus sus- pended between the duty to her old love and the wish to resign herself to the new one. She blamed herself daily for her irresolution, made up her mind nightly to say "Yes" to Harry Marston on the mr rrow, and when the morrow came her heart failed her.
 A word from Jack Kendall would have decided her in his favor and brought her back to him, but the word was not spoken, and she constantly gravitated toward the handsome wooer whose lov- ing words and admiring glancos were given her each day without stint.
 One afternoon Marston came to Peg as she stood against the fence rails at the edge of the elevated pit bank. There was slight Hull ill the winding opera tiCls, and tI4e surface hands were enjoy ing brief rest. It was midway in Mo- vember, and snow had fallen heavily all the day. It had ceased now, and the pit top and tie surrounding country were one apparently endless waste of snow.
 He leaned on the wooden rail beside her, and for some moments they spoke on unimportant matters only. The girls face was pale beneath the coal dust up on it, and her heart was beating quick ly beneath her print gown. She had made up her mind at last and was seek ing courage to speak.
 "Do you know, Peg" he said pres