The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1900-02-03
MONICA.
4 LOVE STORY OF MODERN DAYS.

SGiSitAoiieS, Aiiu uullS StACS uciScli ais.
DO not add even 4 touch to your toilet.
time presses" (another loved quotation
from one Of her mo'dy volumes).
but this" says Monica. plucking at her
pretty loose gown, that hangs In limp artist
ic folds round her slight figure and isprank-
ed out with costly laces.
ut is perfect! Have you no eyes for the
beautiful? There, go, you silly child: Nat
ure has been SO good to yOl, vol, now de
ride her prodigality, and make little of the
gifts she has bestowed upon you. CO. and
then Monica steps out lightly, fearfully, up
on the corridor outside, and so, with her
heart dying within her, creeps past her
nunts' doors, and down the wide staircase,
and through the hall and at last into the sill
yer moonlight!
CHAPTER MI.
Whata noise the tiny gravel makes be-
meath her feet, as she hurries rapidly to-
ward the garden! How her heart beats! Oh
that she were back again in her pretty safe
room, with the naughty Kitto scold! Obi if
Aunt Priscilla were TO rise, and, looking out
of her bedroom window, catch a glimpse of
her, as she hastes to meet the man she has
been forbidden to know! A thousand ter
rors possess her. The soft beauty of the
night Is unseen, the rushing of sweet brooks
in the distance is unheard. She hurries OH,
a little, 1.-THE, frightened figure, with wide
eyes and parted lips, to the rendezvous she
has not sought. And what a little way it
had seemed in the glad daylight, yet what a
journey in the silent, fearsome night There
are real tears, born of sheer nervousness, in
her beautiful eyes as she runs along the gar.
den path, and at last-dt lnst-fnds herself
face to face with Desmond.
"Ah, you have c0me!' cries he, gladly,
going to meet her while yet she is a long
way off.
hours 1t is madness!' says Monica, hastily.
"a very blessed madness, then, and with
method in it; 1t has enabled me to see uou,'
"Oh, do not talk like that. You ought not
to see ma at all. And, now, what is it? Kit
said you wanted me sadly
"And so l do, and not only now but al
ways"
'sIf,n rcproachfully, sit is nothing press
Ing. would not tomorrow have done?.'
"To-morrow never comes. There Is moth
ing like to-day: and how could l have lived
till tomorrow? l could not sleen. 1 could
not rest, until ! had seen you. My heart
seemed on fir. Monica, how couli you
have treated NE as you did today
WHY must You choose me to love,-1ne,
of all the world?' says Monica, TREMENDOUSLY;
'it is vida, there are others-and-"
Because l must. 1t is my fate, and l an
glad of it. Whom worthier could I Iove"!
says the lover, with fond, passionate rever-
ence. z
MANY, no doubt. And why loveat all? Let
us be friends, then, if it is indeed decreed
that our lives meet"
There could never be mere friendshipbe-
tween you and life. IT your heart sleeps, at
least your sense must tell YOU that.
''Tl,en l could wish myself without sense
l want to know nothing about it. Alas!
how sad a thing is lover
"And how joyous! 1t is the one emotion
to be fed and fostered. All others are but
vanity l will persist in loving you until l
die"
"That is n foolish saying and, even If you
do, what will come of it all?" says Monica,
with Il sigh.
Marriage, l trust" returns he, right
cheerfully. "Oh, Monica, if you could only
love me!''
II dare not Then, as though sorry for
these words, she holds out her hand to him,
and says with a quick smile, 'Oh, Romeo,
Romeo! wherefore art thou. Romeo"
Il wish l knew" returns he sadly. Yet
If | were sure of one thing, Ishould not des-
pair. Monica, tell me you don'tlike Ryde."
Il can't say.' says Monica. "He is very
kind to nj always. l am sure | ought to
like him.
'Iiow has he been kind to yonT
"Oh, III many ways
'lIe has brought you a cup of somebody
else's tea, l suppose, and has probably trot-
ted after YOU with a %camp-stool; is that
kindness:?'
IF one is hot or tired, yes.'
"You are the most grateful specimen Of
your sex. l wish there was anything for
which you might be grateful to me. But l
am not great at the pctits SONS business
Il shouldn't have thought so this after
nOon," says Monica. maliciously, when
you were so happy with Olga Bohun. But
see, the moon has risen quite above the
elms. ! must CO."
Not yet. There is something else. When
am | to see you again?-when?9"
THAT is rs fate wills it."
you are my fate. Will it, then, and say
Tomorrow
mo, nor' exclaims she's releasing her
hands from his, II cannot indeed. l must
not. In being here with you now ! am do
ing wrong, and am betraying the two peo-
pie i'll the world who are the most kind to
me. How shall Hook into their eyes to-
morrow! No; will not promise to meet
you anywhcre-crcr."
'l1ow tender you are with them, and with
me how cruel! Monica, you like mc"!'
Yes. l like you," says Miss Beresford, as
she might have answered had she been ques-
toned as to her opinion Of an aromatic rus
set.
depressing a gesture of impotence, Des-
mond goes or calmly
Better than Ryder
.sThan Mr.. Ryde?' She stops, and glances
at the gravel at her feet in a would-be
thoughtful fashion, and pushes it to and fro
with her pretty Louis Quinze shoe. She
pauscs purposcly, and makes quite an affair
of her hesitation.
Yes. Ryde," says he, impatiently.
"l1Ow can l answer that?' she says, at
length, witt, studied elaboration, when l
know so little of either him-or you??'
Knowing us both at least equally well,
yon must have formed by this lime some
opinion of u.s.
II should indeed" says tho young girl,
slowly, always with her eyes upon the gray
Ell; "but unfortunately it never occurred to
me,-the vital necessity of doing so, 1
mear.''
Though her head is still bent. he can de-
tect the little amused smile that is curviny
her mobile lips. There can be small doubt
but that she is enjoying his discontinue I'M
mensely.
You are a co1nette," he says quietly.
There is contempt both i'll his look andtone.
As she hears it, she suddenly lifts her head,
and, without betraying chagrin, regards him
steadfastly.
rs that so" she says. Sometimes l have