Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-09-10

''She does that With every man."
1t was truth which lie fully appre-
ciated, but its feeble light no longer
fell upon the path of duty when the
time came that the sun OF Miss Leeds s
countenance shed its glow upon the
highway of inclination. And yet she
did her best to make it clear to him.
"NOw, listen to something 1 mean
to tell you," she said to him. She set
down her tea-cup and leaned toward
him, with her elbows upon her knees
and her chin between her soft, pink
palms. Her eyes were looking straight
into his, and they filled his heart with
anticipation. "Do you know that this
is risky game we are playing, and
that we have been playing it for all it
is worth this last fortnight or so?"
Lancaster knit his brows.
"It is not worth while to pretend
you don't understand. We both know
exactly what 1 mean. But want to
be sure we both know that it is only n
game. am not in earnest, and you
must not be"
He gazed at her, speechless.
II suppose you are thinking that
the suggestion OF serious intentions
might come first from you," she said
"that may be your way Of looking at
it, but it is not mine. I don't care to
let you have anything to reproach me
with. I have had enough Of that in
the past. am hopeless firt, you
know. go into the thing for the fun
there is in it, and it is only fair to
warn you"
She leaned back in her chair and
fel. to watching the passers-by upon
the street and to biting at cube of
sugar, meditatively.
eff you will accept matters that
way, we can have very good time; if
you don't, have warned you; and the
onsequences-if there are any-must
be on your own head"
Lancaster laughed rather weakly.
ct accept the terms" he said. "It
is understood that this is only flirta-
tiOn."
Which he explained to Dorothy at
much length, but which she would
not understand and was so unreason-
able about as to break her engage.
ment. Lancaster was deeply aggrieved
and rather more deeply relieved. But
it made one fact plain to him: that he
was seriously in love with a girl who
frankly told him that he was no more
to her than score had been before.
than scores might be thereafter. And
it was all in vain that lie tried to
change her.
81 warned you quite fairly" she
reminded him, bending forward to
stroke the glossy neck of his black
mare. 1t was the mare that, of old,
Dorothy had considered almost her
own property, and on which she had
lavished the overflow of her affection
for Lancaster. warned you," Miss
Leeds repeated, "and nobody has suf-
fered but yourself, unless"-she
glanced at him with a quizzical little
smile-"unless there was another
girl?"
"There was another GIRL" he an.
swered.
She shrugged her shoulders toler.
antly. THAT was to have been ex-
pected. Most problems of the heart
are in the rule of three"
He frowned angrily and his lips
curved in contempt. care you abso-
lutely heartless? Have you no pity
for her?"
"Not a great deal. II You we're the
sort to desert her in a fortnight for a
girl who made not the slightest effort
to win you, and who told you that she
didn't love you, I think, upon the
whole, that she is rather we'll rid Of
you."
Lancaster was biting his lips, and
he was very angry. ''She is better
woman than you," he said.
"That may be. But STILL" she
laughed, good naturedly, "do you
think am bad enough for you to be
passing Judgment upon meS"
II do; for you are doing the thing
cold-bloodedly, and H." lie said,
despondently, "have lost my head" "
She smiled into his eyes. "You
don't want to do that. It is such a
handsome head. Lose your heart -
it is not worth nearly so much"
He turned in his saddle and faced
her. 81 am likely to lose more than
that" he burst out. suddenly; II am
likely to lose my life."
ooh! come" she said. "you are not
contemplating falling on the point of
your sabre. or drowning yourself in
the bay, or superinducing galloping
consumption, are you? I have had
men do number of things for me, but
never quite that"
II am not contemplating doing any
of those. I may be good deal of o
fool, but not enough of q one to put
an end to myself for a woman who
cares nothing for me-"
"Yet that has been DONE" she sug-
gested.
"What I meant was-and what 1
intended to tell you when asked you
to come to-day, was that 1 am going
to the war;"
''That was to have been expected. of
course. Is your regiment ordered?"
mot yet, I am especially favored. !"
"When do you leave?"
'"The day after tomorrow. And now
I am going to ask you to promise me
something"
They had refined in their horses by
the dynamite-guns, and sat looking
ont over the white.capped blue sea.
$50 that it is not something can
not promise"
"Not that. l shall leave that until
I come back-it do come back. II I