The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1897-11-06

among the summer contingent whom
she found congenial or likely to be-
come so.
The summer had dragged YEARLY
for her, filled with embroidery which
she loathed and idleness which always
disagreed with her. Sally was a de-
voice Of athletic sports, but just be-
fore her departure for No-Man's Land,
badly-sprained ankle had forced her
to summer Of laziness and lounging,
instead Of tho exercise which she
loved.
Moreover, Thacher YVES not much Of
a letter writer, and his epistles had
been poor substitute for his own
breezy and magnetic presence. Their
acquaintance had been short, their en-
gagement following hard upon their
first meeting and Glove at sight"
Thacher had exerted powerful infu-
ence over her from the first. But
now, less than year after their first
meeting, three months Of which had
been spent away from him, Sally
looked upon their engagement with
very different feelings. She was lone
ly, bored, tired and miserable; piqued
at Thacher's apparent carelessness.
She hardly knew what she did want,
but sha WAS very sure that it was not
he. -
Sitting there on the shelf above the
breakers, with the fog rolling in thick
around her so that she could barely
see the rocks wet with spray, twenty
feet below, she felt utterly dissatisfied
with herself and her engagement. For
the fve-hundreth time she rehearsed
the arguments against breaking off an
engagement which she was now sure
had been mistake. She knew that
she would be blamed-the girl always
IS in such cases. She dreaded her
mothers disapproval and Thacher's
anger and grief-though, perhaps,
after all, she thought, that would not
be so keen. She tore a spray of the
harebells with the joint Of the umbrella
as she meditated.
The date for the wedding was indeed
fixed, but known only to the two fam
lilies. After all, the reasons against
the step seemed weak and trivial in
deed when set over against the utter
wretchedness Of the past three months
the doubt, the worry and self-distrust.
Tt was certainly not fair to Thatcher.
It was most unfair to her, who could
be 50 happy with the right man, and
who could make him, too, so happy.
A large tear fell from Sally's eyes, but
she brushed it impatiently away, and,
jumping up, strobe hastily along the
path toward home. Her mind was
made up. The engagement should be
broken. She would speak to Thacher
about it that very night.
The afternoon wore slowly away,
the fog lowering heavier and heavier,
and finally settling down with dense
mist to render the blackness more
gloomy, But Sally's heart seemed
easier now that she had resolved on
the proper course; though she inward
ly trembled at the thought Of the in
terview with Thatcher, and the appa-
rently capricious reason she must
assign for her action.
She was sitting in the cottage par
lor after tea, reading a novel, and
vaguely wondering why Thacher had
not come before dark as he had prom
ised, when her mother came in bur-
riedly.
"Sally, dear-I am quite worried
about Thacher's boat. It hasn't come
yet, and Captain Winters says that he
wouldn't sail from Rockland tonight
for thousand dollars
Sally made no reply. Her heart
was strangely hard this evening. In
any case she was not one easily to be
worried over triAe. Mrs. Belmont,
however, was very anxious, and bus
tied neryously about the little room,
until heavy step on the piazza made
her gasp with relief, and run hastily
to meet her prospective son-in- law.
It was not Thacher's CHEEKY young
face that greeted her in the doorway,
but old Captain Winters anxious
weather-beaten one. He beckoned
her outside tlumsily.
"Bad news for ye, Mis- Belmont"
he muttered hoarsely, with warning
gesture toward Sally, who, however,
heard every word. "Cap'n Seaworth
has JUS got in through the fog from
Castine. N he's towed long the ten
der of the Nautilus-found her empty
an knockin' on the rocks off Cape
Roster. He says he callates the
Nautilus must have got on the rocks
and been broke up. We can't do
nothin' bout it tonight, an I reckon
it amt no use anyhow"
Sallie heard no more. Dazed and
still she sat by the table, her fingers
still marking the place in her book.
Thatcher was not coming then, after
all. He would never come any more.
Her engagement was ''off" definitely,
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