The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1897-09-23

excuse itself for any comment.
Must your" she asked suddenly.
He locked for her meaning.
''I!' he said. I'll 1t is not 10
who then? All, yes. I understand.
They are mortgaged. -
Foreclosure was a word she associat-
ed with poor plays. Such things hap
pened then! She remembered the two
men with the businesslike air and the
note books.
She laid her arm on the stone ledge
Of the balustrade.
There must be way out" she said.
''If I could find it.
An hour or two later, when she took
her candle from his hand, she said:
Look for the way out"
She smiled, and he followed her with
his eyes as she mounted the stairs, her
skirts trailing and the candle held
high. She did not look back at the turn
in the staircase. Aylmer, in the smoking
room, was ruminant.
1t was impossible to mistake her.
Nor did he misunderstood. She said
eyes" when he spoke the next day.
Lady Aylmer said, Diana, Diana,
dear woman, God bless ycu!'
perhaps he will, !" said Diana.
Now, in her drawing room. the
woods saved and his future mortgaged
instead, Aylmer took rapid survey of
his life up to the point it had then
reached and decided that he had pursued
the only course open to him. Neither
did he in calmness repent the step he
had taken. Diana Granton had not her
money alone to recommend her. She
was of the world and admirably fitted
for the position he offered her. That
she was comedy has been said, and she
took sensible view of the situation.
He was not in love with her, and she
was wise enough to conceal from him
the secret that her own heart had been
revealing to her gradually for some
time past.
At dinner that evening she looked at
him and knew that she loved him. He
looked at Diana and thought of forgot
ten Audrey.
1t was the fault of the roses in the
drawing room.
The scent of them haunted him-fol-
lowed him home. Poor little Audrey !
What would she think? But near as he
had come to loving her, he had never
made love to her and had nothing to
reproach himself with, for which now
he was fervenfy thankful Yet he was
not quite happy as his hanson took him
to Charges street. A memory of some
thing that was wistful at times in Au-
drey's eyes stirred him. The thing was
absurd, inconceivable. Her mother,
gentle as she was, was woman of the
world and had known that he ''meant"
nothing. Audrey was child to caress
and pet. 1t was he who had suffered at
the parting. Her tears were the frank
tears of childhood and rolled down her
cheeks unconcealed.
His misgivings told him that he had
done we'll to go.
He thought of the restlessness that
had possessed him during the early days
of his travel. 1t had sent him from
place to place. He had written letter
Trained himself until time and distance
allowed him to write calmly. Presently
the need to write at all ceased and he
knew himself cured.
But tonight Audrey haunted him. He
could be thankful that he had not made
fool of himself. The girl was not of
his world, and he knew the folly of an
i'll assorted marriage, but she had been
very dear to him.
How fair she was! Her face insinu-
ated itself persistently between him
and sleep. She must be grown up now
yes, Audrey must be 10. The curves
of her slender figure would be rounded
and many subtle changes mark the time
that had seen the crossing of the bor-
der line of womanhood, but she would
be the same Audrey that he had known
and had been SO near to loving.
It was late before he slept Then
Audrey came to him in dreams that
had no definite shape. He tried vainly
afterward to remember in what guise
and to what accompanying circum-
stances she had appeared to him. He
only knew that she had been with
him. sleeping as waking, through the
night.
The air and the light Of day, how
ever, cleared his brain. He spent a
morning with Diana, and by the time
she was sitting opposite to him at lunch
he could view the situation calmly and
see that his happiness lay in the direc-
tion he was taking. Nor was he con-
sciously selfish.
He parted with Diana and walked
homeward. 1t was time of roses. The
roses in flower shop caught his atten-
ton. They filed the window.
He found himself in the shop. He
had been attracted by red roses, yet in
the end it was white roses he chose
He believed that he made his choice by
hazard, though now he sometimes won
ders. 1t may be that some thought of
Audrey's nature Influenced him.
He took out a card and paused.
What to sayP His love? He hesitated
and wrote, For auld lang syne. Then
he gave his directions as to the sending
and left the shop.
Three days later a letter reached
him.
He opened it carelessly, not recogniz-
ing the handwriting His fingers tight
ened suddenly upon the sheet.
m hor hoort ~