The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-09-28

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a belle, and may allow himself to be
fattered by her marked favors.
He could honestly, then and for
several weeks afterward, give Dorothy
the comfort she sorely needed, and say
that no did not even think Miss Leeds
beautiful. "She has style and charm, p"
he passed Judgment, "but not beauty.
And she is firt." He meant that
Miss Terrence should understand how
entirely he abhorred that.
"Did she try to hirt when you called
upon her?"
He had made point of confessing
the call directly it was made, and he
thought it tactless of Dorothy to insist
upon it. He shrugged his shoulders.
"She does that with every man"
1t was truth which he 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 filed his heart with
anticipation. ''Do you know that this
is risky game we are playing, and
that we have been playing it for all 1t
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 L mean. But 1 want to
be sure we both know that it is only o
game. 1 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. l am hopeless hirt, you
know. 1 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
fell to watching the passers-by upon
the street and to biting at a cube Of
smear meditatiyely
"If you will accept matters that
way, we can have very good time; if
you don't, 1 have warned you; and the
consequences-if there are aDy-must
be on your own head.
Lancaster laughed rather weakly.
81 accept the terms" he said. "It
is understood that this is only firta-
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
aud rather more deeply relieved. But
it made one fact plain to him: that he
was seriously in love with 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 he 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. 'Iwarned you," Miss
Leeds repeated, "and nobody has suf-
fered but yourself, unless"
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. "Are you abso-
lutely heartless? Have you no pity
for her?"
"Not a great deal. If you were the
sort to desert her in fortnight for q
girl who made not the slightest effort
to win you, and who told you that she
didn't love you, 1 think, upon the
whole, that she is rather well 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 me?"
81 do; for you are doing the thing
cold-bloodedly, and IL" he said,
despondently, "haye lost my head. u
She smiled into his eyes. "You
don't want to do that 1t is such q
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