The citizen., 1896-06-26

she glanced at him, cur1ousIy ana ap-
prehensively, from under her lashes.
He caught the glance, and, moving
toward her, said:
.Well?"
"Oh, DON'T" she exclaimed, starting
away, her eyes still fixed upon ribbon
with which she was working.
"Why, Katherine-er, Miss Moore"
"Oh, you mustn't"
He walked to the edge of the circle
protected by the leaves and looked out
over the clay wall of the fort, down
which tiny red rivers ran. She, hav-
Ing dried her hat, placed it again on
her head and began brushing her skirt
where, here and there, rain had spotted
1T. She glanced several times at his
back, stubbornly turned toward her
He evinced no intention of moving, nor
of speaking again, and she became nerv-
GUS. The situation was unbearable,
and she exclaimed:
"We must get back to the othersl"
eve can't very well go through this
rain," he said, without turning around.
Another prolonged silence, broken
only by the monotonous fall of the
rain. Finally, when she had almost
made up her mind to gather up her
skirts and run to the hotel, quarter of
a mile away, he turned and came
quickly toward her. He put out his
hand as though to take hers, but she
quickly put her hands behind her and
stepped back. He folded his arms and
I stood before her, looking earnestly into
the eyes that she raised to his, almost
appealingly.
Katherine" he said, ''I love you.
Will you be my wife?"
A beautiful color stole slowly from
the ribbon at her throat, up, up, until
it tinted the edges of her small, perfect
ly formed ears. His gaze held hers for
moment; then her eyelids fell, and
their long lashes swept her cheeks.
"Mr. Pearce," she said, slowly and
hesitatingly, 81 am sorry, but II
can't!"
Because you do not love me?"
She looked up quickly into his face;
then down again; but she did not reply.
katherine, tell me-" he said. ''Why
is it that you cannot marry me?"
because" she was very busy dis
lodging a half-buried stone with the toe
of her Observation-Disclosures you are
Yanl<ee!" Another swift glance met
his steady look. Then she moved q
little further away, and stood half
turned from him. His first impulse was
to laugh. But that passed almost as
it came. The gray, brass-buttoned rid
ing habit, the flushed cheeks and bright
eyes with which she had listened to
Dixie flashed acrosss his mental
vision. The Yankee" might be an OBJ
stacle not to be laughed away.
"But l am not Yankee" he said,
with emphasis. 81 am from Illinois"
1t seemed a long time to both that
they stood in silence. Again she was
the first to speak.
"This is an awful rain," she said.
eyes, a very wet rain," he replied.
"Oh, you are going to jest about it"
"But am not jesting," he answered,
walking rapidly to where she stood.
"What / mean is that you will get wet
The water is beginning to drip from the
leaves. Here stripping off his coat,
"let me put this around you"
ooh, no." she said, stepping back.
''But you must. The air is chill, and
If you get wet you will catch cold"
'But you-you-"
''It won't hurt me bit. Come"
He assumed a commanding tone, and
that, or something else, accomplished
his end, for she made no effort to free
herself when he placed the big coat
about her shoulders. 1t took long
time to get it fixed just right, and his
arm was still around her when he
looked into her face and saw that she
was looking up into his. Something In
hereycs prompted him to draw her close
TO him and to say, very tenderly:
Sweetheart. I come from the north.
but love a southern girl. Don't you
think that she can love northern man
just little-if he is not a Yankee.?'"
She studied the arrangement of his
necktie closely, and then transferred
her scrutiny to his watch chain. But
evidently she was not thinking of
either, for when she spoke she asked:
"Illinois people aren't Yankees"
Certainly not" he replied, with
conviction. "They are a long way from
Yankeedom. More than a thousand
miles,
She examined the necktie again.
looked into his eyes for moment, then
over his shoulder off into the rain.
katherine" he said. softly, "do you
love me?"
She turned her head slowly until
their eyes met. A wave of color rushed
into her cheeks, and she murmured
family: Eyes"
"And you will be my wife?"
With perhaps a sudden thought of
ner surroundings, and of stormy day
thirty years before. she replied: Ell
surrender!'
The rain, as il to hide from the scene
any possible observer. fell more heavily
for a moment. Then it ceased alto
gether, and soon the sun shone through
from blue sky where the gray clouds
had parted.-St. Louis Republic.
If Ignorance is bliss"
There's reason in my rhyme