The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-09-27

in his grasp before she reached it.
AS Priscilla raised her head and look
ed at him the color rushed in an I'M
controllable flood to her face, investing
it with vivid beauty which made
Stornmouth draw his breath with lit
tie kissing sound in between his teeth
''Let me keep it, - he said collectedly
-"the rose, mean''
"What for??" demanded Priscilla.
cit reminds me-" remarked Storm
mouth, with assumed nonchalance, "of
girl knew once who was faithful to
herself, to her womanhood, to her fu-
ture; who spurned with horror any
thing less than her birthright of prin-
ciple and integrity.
Priscilla trembled visibly.
GA paragon, no doubt, your friend, -
she replied in choked sort of voice.
"No," returned Stornmouth coolly,
"only that best and sweetest of Gods
creations-a true woman"
Since when," demanded Priscilla,
her vivid color fading to delicious
pink and her lips pouting rebelliously
-"since when have you constituted
yourself a judge of the opposite sex?"
Her eyes met Stornmouth's steadily.
Hers were cold and hard.
ssince I loved-a woman, % announc-
ed Stornmouth unfinchingly.
Then, before she could retaliate, be-
fore she could turn to leave him as she
had intended doing, he stepped forward
and laid two gentle albeit powerful
hands upon her shoulders. 1t seemed an
age that they stood there in bitter 81.
lence, his forbidding, stern eyes steadi-
ly endeavoring to force her obstinate
lids to lift. Her lips quivered helpless
ly, like the lips of a grieved child.
"Let CO." she finally managed to
burst forth, but her strangled voice,
which she was endeavoring to make
natural, came only in hoarse whisper,
to her intense surprise and shame. cit
is unmanly of you to hold me thus. Let
me gol'' q
"No," said Stornlnouth' voice, very
gently-it seemed very far away to poor
Priscilla, whose pulse was beating in
incomprehensible wild thuds against
her ears-''no, will not let you go,
my beloved, until you lift your eyes to
mine and tell me that you do not love
me and that you do love the count -
There was a long pause. Then Priscil-
Ia whispered something very low, to
attain cognizance of which Stornmouth
was obliged to stoop his head very near
to hers
Cruel, said the little voice.
No, !" asserted Stornmouth. "Only
just. +"
There was another silence. Priscilla
miserably remembered years afterward
street cry she heard just then which
rang against her unduly sharpened fac
ulties like the pendulum of Joy clock
striking out the hours of novel bliss
unspeakable and accentuating the nu-
cleus of the sweetest, strangest pain she
mad ever felt. Then helplessly, as
though governed by an unseen and ire
sistible force, her little face a mask of
pain and frightened pride, she raised
her eyes to those stern compelling ones
above
They held the righteous force of a
When souls meet and greet one an
other, acknowledging conviction across
the almost insuperable gulf of conserva-
tlsm and custom, laying bare vital
truth which storms order out of chaos
and sublime peace out of past turmoil,
the recording angels fold their wings
and steal away appeased.
4.
though out of mist.
What folly is that other craving?"
it asked peremptorily. Whereas before
the tone had been harsh and almost
cruel, it was now rich and full.
Only little helpless gesture, as
sweet as a bird S song in thicket
And you would struggle against our
inevitable, my beloved, such a sweet
and rich inevitable?"
Still silence.
Stornmouth's hand crept strongly un-
der the mutinous chin. "My little girl, %
he said, "never mind how or why you
have chosen to almost break my heart.
will forgive everything You have not
said or done in the past few miserable
weeks IT you will lift those arms and
lay them about my neck, and in the do
ing trust me as a child trusts it's
mother. !"
81 cannot" said Priscilla's voice,
broken and trembling, but very firm in
the settled resolve it contained
"Why so?"
There was another pregnant silence.
Then, very positively, she lifted her
soft palms. and, quite steadily, pushed
Stornmouth' hands off from her shout
ders. She raised her head and confront
ed their owner.
There are reasons" she said enig-
matically. Her eyes, to stornmouth' IS
intense CONSERVATION, were filled with
binding tears Quite unaffectedly she
wiped them away.
"Reasons?" quoted Stornmouth, with
extraordinary emphasis his sternly con-
trolled wrath and jealousy suddenly
springing to life and quenching his
sense of justice. "What reasons?"
"Never mind" she WHISPERED miser-