The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-06-13


neon wsts dom
Kind believe tl,Es ~ t1iir
Z was svo a.th sconsis but
such pleasing diversions III
an hour Some lines i paused "a csll.1sN
slider how completely the girl wasd ona NJ
mating my thoughts Even when ls|
glimpse of Hiram Jones going stolidis
-abouts his business remind ttlne of thu
uncertainty of my position, foundS1s;
myself specializing more about WHIST
she might thinl1,gif the worst came
pass, than about the extent Of the nais-SS
fortune over Lanar's head, and possi-sssS
bly, over mine as well. On shipboar1
we had been very good friends, she, and
I. We were very good friends now,
but with difference. What dull
ride had if she declined to accom-
pany, me! how the evening dragged III IS
she keptsout of sight! what,aswretched
substitute for. her. presence was even
the. best pipe in my growing collec--E
toni. How was it that when we were
together, even, if our talk lnnguished,
the time never passed heavily? How
had it come about that l no longer de-
bated the question of her beauty, no
longer compared her with this girl or
that? Such questions I asked myself
now and then, puzzling my: brain with
endcavors to answer them in any other
way than the one in which they could
be answered. The simple truth OF ne 4
matter was, of course, that I had fallen
in love; but for difficulty of compre-s3
4 o1> II thin
to so-called simple truth. Anybody,
if he will take the trouble, can follow
out long and logical deduction, but to
very few men is It given to perceive at
once the meaning ttdaff the thing which,
once understood, wecall self-evident. II
From the vantagetpoint OF later years
I have figured out, to my own Satisfies
ton at least, that I passed from the
comparatively placid state of friend
ship about two weeks after Dorothy
Gray's arrival in Rpdneytown. The
realization of, the, Change came nearly
a fortnight later, not through any tri7
1lmph of reason, but through an acci-
dent in which my part was that OF =
mere spectator, and which required less
time in action thansit does in telling.
Returning one morning from the house
on the knoll, I sought the young lady,5
as Isnsually sought: her. at thai hour
DR.. Banks had asked me to look out
for two or three Of his more distant
patients-l1e had sprained his right
: arm badly and was keeping as quiet as
possible-and that day had planned q
long drive, which it was probable sha
would enjoy. She was not in the house,
Mrs. Clark said, and was gazing ABOUT
rather disconsolate]y, when / caught
sight Of parasol showing above che I
walls of a lane leading to an orchard!
in the shade of which Miss Gray some-
times passed q morning. Setting out
in pursuit, gained upon her so rapidly
that when 1 turned into the lane she
was not. more than 2 hundred yards
in the lead. To my surprise, she halted,
then turned with cry, and, picking up
her skirts, began to1scud toward me,
in full fight, as lsRg So instant later,
from an old and esA-ten'pered boar,
usually safely penned :, behind Mira.
Clark's barn, but evidently very much
at liberty at that Particular moment
The brute was close to her. His tusks
looked as long and sharp as knives; as
he galloped on, they came nearer and
nearer to hisprey. / gave shout and
sprang forward, buthad she been forced
to depend upon my aid her danger
would have been great indeed, for long
before I could have reached her the
boar would have overtaken her. He
was right at her heels, when, armed