The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1900-10-02

D@Oh( "a 1R0A AA0 -
tions of the pair at this i~uncture with:
Aunt Isabel, don't you think Mr..
~Farquhar's dog was p~rettier than those
are? 1 mean his big dog"
Now an engaged couple are apt to
have certain associations with places
and things. Dicks big dog-certainly
a noble animal-was indeIibly associ-
ated, for instance, with a certain aft
ernoon walk, and that walk. again,
with certain private and personal mat
tiers between the two. Tommy, uncon-
sciously, had done his worst.
.'Mr. Farquhar's dog, Of course, is far
prettier, DEAR" Isabel answered, brave
ly; but she felt a burning flush mount
ing to her cheeks, and hoped, agoniz-
ingly, that Dick didn't remember as
clearly as she did. Men were so tickle
that. perhaps they forgot. AS for her,
she never could forget. She wasn't
sure she wanted to, now that she saw
Dick again She believed in him; she
knew he was good and true and all that,
and she knew they would have been
happy together. She never should care
for anybody else. She never, never
would have broken the engagement by
herself. She wasn't ashamed Of hav-
ing loved him. though she was very.
very angry with him still, and never
wanted to speak to him or see him.
She supposed she would never get over
it, for here, at this moment. though she
had not seen him for six months. she
felt a worse pang than at their parting.
She was even glad that she had seen
him, that she was sitting near him.
though after this half hour she would
never see him again. But this was all
TO speak, to raise a finger, to let him
see any trace of reIcnting from her
firm attitude, would be impossible and
unwomanly. Her life was broken in
pieces and it was his falkland she
loved him still. Well, it was a wom-
ans fatei
Poor Isabel's eyes filed up with tears
here, as she contemplated the tiger rid
ing on his bicycle, and reflected that the
show must be nearly over. Tommy.
meanwhile, having been disappointed
in her reception of his remarks. pratt
tied OF awhile to Dick, and finding him
also strangely unresponsive, subsidized
into silent admiration of the acrobatie
l~ioness.
Dick pulled away at his mustaehe as
was his o when in deep thought.
His mind, too, was back upon the after
noon walks. She was just the sweetest
girl in the world; he couldn't get away
from that. He had met all the prettiest
girls in San Francisco, and tried his
best to fall in love with some of them.
and couldn't rouse himself to care six
pence for the prettiest. a girl ought to
realize. when she threw a man over that
way. that she ruined his life. He never
could love anybody else-and he didn't
want TO. Here he had been trying to
forget all about her. and now every
smallest part of the old overmastering
feeling had come back as he sat near
her and looked at her pretty ~half-avert-
ed face and graceful figure. She had the
prettiest foot in the world. He would
be almost willing tothave it set upon his
neckl But no; that wasn't manly-it
wasn't right to yield. 1t was her fault.
and he couldn't submit TO it-but he
loved her just the same. And now that
that COMPOUNDED lion in a velvet robe
was driving a team of tigers round the
ring, he supposed the show was about
Overland he could go back TO San Frun-
cisco and she would go back to New
York, and they would never see each
other again.
The animals trotted nimbly u of the
! y the frnn Hnnrc a1o-oI ,1Dl, %Lar,-
the crowd lose hurriedly to go forth in
search of more shows. Dick felt that
politeness at least required a farewell
bow; and as Isabel seemed bent upon
freeing her dress from some projection
on the bench. and did not turn. he hesi-
tated before stepping out into the aisle.
Tommy scufied past him. and Isabel re
luctantly left her p~retense of absorp-
ton and followed. In three seconds
these two who loved each other better
than anything else upon earth, and
who were no more fools than the ordi-
nary, would have parted forever. Moth
ing could have induced either of them to
forego their evident stand on the right
of Observation-Disclosures a nail on
the floor, which caught the edge of
Isabels shoe. tripped her violently. and
threw her. in an entirely helpless and
undigniied way, full into Dick'sarms.
No resolution can be blamed for Civ
ing way under a surprise like that. 1t
was all very well for them to sit apart
and argue the matter TO themselves and
come TO irrevocable conclusions. But
when a man finds the one woman in the
world whom he loves flung close into
his arms by fate, and when a woman
feels herself in the embrace of the only
man she ever has loved or can love, ir-
revoeability becomes but a name. 1t
was all over with the resolutions in a
flash. Every feeling of anger and de-
termination that had tormented the
two hearts in that wretched half hour
erystalized at the shock into love. ir-
resistible and overwhelming. The mat
ter was settled then and there. without
a word. The amount of tenderness in
Dicks touch, and the entire yielding of
Isabel's figure, said more than a volume
of explanations. And when. after a
lapse of a second or two more. perhaps.