The Yale expositor., 1899-12-08

the only way out of my difficulty which
| could think of was"-and here
quizzical CLEAN of amusement came
into the majors eyes-"by that birth
day-book."
Eyes. indeed-that horrible birth
day-bool1" Evelyn stopped short and
regarded him as If words absolutely
failed her.
"Ah, Miss Luttrell, you will forgive
mel You are not very angry with me-
hope?"
The major suddenly put his whip
aside, and, leaving the old gray mare
to her own devices, bent forward, anx-
iously surveying the flushed, pretty
face at his side.
"Well, no-I am not exactly angry.
Considering that that wonderful book
had so much to do with the discovery
of the forgery, 1t would perhaps be
rather unreasonable if l were. At the
same time" she added, wrinkling up
her forehead into perplexed little
frown, though it might have been
quite necessary for you to start
birthday-book for the occasion, hard
ly think that there was any real need
for you to have invented the endless
stories that you did. l believe you
thoroughly enjoyed taking me in"
well, at any rate, spoke the truth
when 1 told you that not another per-
son should enter his or her name in
that one particular book"
"Yes-you spoke the truth them
"And when declared that l should
value your autograph more than any
other that 1 possessed" he added
quickly. Miss Luttrell, there wa:
truth in every word of that. You may
think that l valued it merely because
thought it would meet my
own ends; but you are quite
mistaken. From the very frs
hour l saw you I have been in low
with you, over head and ears in love
and for the past fortnight | have beei
longing for the day to come when
, might throw off my disguise and
with sudden recklessness-"a ask you t
! be my wife. Miss Luttrell-Evelyn-
, tell me, is it possible you can ever Civ
me any hope?"
"You must surely have known tina
I l admired you-you must have seen a.
along that each day l was fallin
> deeper and deeper in love with you,
I he went on, absolute despair in hi
nf EnHnpGf
, iety on his face. Dearest, know tha
o I am not worthy of you, that have n
I right to ask you; but, if only you wi
v marry me, it shall be my one aim an
n object in life to make you happy.
n will do anything on earth for you!
There was a long pause, and then
: major Brown" came slowly, hes
tatingly from Evelyn.
"Ah, that Major Brown" he lntei
rupted ruefully. Il know that yot
answer to him can never be satisfa
tory. Please"-entreatingly-"do M
call me that again Try to forget tn;
you ever knew me by such name, an
for the future try to think OF me
Adrian Beauchamp."
"I all afraid that that is imposs
ble;" and Evelyn gave a lugubrio'
little shake of her head. II could I
more call you Sir Adrian Beauchan
than l could our worthy landlord, NJ
Gillibrand himself"
"Then let me suggest a way out
the difficulty" he answered with
covert smile. Suppose you drop bo
Sir and 'Beauchamp', and call
Adrian.
How soon the baronet prevailed upt
Miss Luttrell to consent to his
rangement remains a profound my
terry; but three weeks later two par
graphs appeared in the mornil
papers, one announcing the forthcol
ing trial for forgery of Samuel Cripl
alias John Barton, Gilbert Falklar
etc, the other the marriage shortly
be solemnlzed between Major Sir A
rian Beauchamp, Bart, late of t
Hussars, of Beauchamp Manor, Wit
and Belgrave square, W., and Evely
only daughter of the late William IL
trell of Luttrell court, Devonshire.
TLJE END