Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-02-06

did about it. He had no fears on her
score. The integrity and tirmness Of
such a moral course We're never in
question with either of them. So he
had come back from where he had
been staying with his sister, and the
night Kirk called he was busy in his
library arranging the business of the
Hermon property, going over all the
details OF his recent loss and making
what provision he could for the fu-
ture. He was nearly IS, still, as he
supposed, in the prime Of life, and he
manfully determined to begin all over
again. He could leave Dorothy with
her aunt, who was alone much of the
time and needed her at present, and
himself struggle into place again with
honor untarnished and the good name
Of the firm free from commercial stain.
So the honest sturdy publisher
thought as he sat at his desk with his
papers before him. Then suddenly,
just little after Dorothy had ceased
to play, he felt a new and awful pain
seize him, he reeled in his chair, vain
~ tried to call out for help and sank
unconscious to the. floor
The next few days We're days of
great anxiety to Malcolm Kirk. He
could see the doctors carriage before
| the Gilbert house every morning. One
| morning he saw the doctor go up the
steps with another man who entered
with him. The doctors carriage re-
| manned in front of the house that day
| until noon. In the afternoon Kirk call
ed to inquire, and the servant came out
at the back porch and told him Mr.. Gil
bert had been sinking rapidly. A cele-
| brated physician from Boston had been
| in consultation, and he said there was
little hope.
Kirk passed an almost sleepless
night, and next morning as he looked
across the campus he knew that the
woman he loved best was alone with
her grief. He could see the wreath Of
flowers on the door, and it told him at
once that John Gilbert had passed on,
never more to be vexed with the strug-
gle of the life that now is on the
earth.
| The week following was one of the
most trying that Malcolm Kirk ever
knew. The funeral of John Gilbert
was held in the seminary chapel and
attended by the professors and towns
people generally. Dorothy's aunt was
with her. Kirk had no opportunity to
see Dorothy and be to her the comfort
he longed to be. It was agony to him
after the funeral waS over to think
| that there across the campus in the
| great house was the woman be loved
| passing through a great sorrow, and he
| had no right to so to her and share
that sorrow with her. He felt as if he
| could not break in on her grief to speak
even of his love. So the days passed
restlessly for him, and he tried to work
on his report, but made very little real
! progress. He laid the miniature on
his table and tried to write with the
| face looking up at him, but he made
no progress at all then, and the close
of the week found him walking his
room in great uncertainty of heart and
| mind.
On Monday the week following he
was obliged to go down to Boston to
consult some authorities in Settlement
work, and when he came back the
next day the Gilbert house was closed,
and Dorothy and her aunt had gone to
Beverly.
1t was the very next day that Kirk
saw in Boston paper the name of
Francis Raleigh, arrived a few days
before from Liverpool on the Cepha-
lonia. Looking over the columns a
little farther down, he saw in the To-
cal news from Beverly this statement:
"Mr. Francis Raleigh, the Hermon
| artist, recently arrived from years
study abroad, is the guest of Mrs. Ar
thur Penrose, sister Of the late John
Gilbert
That was all, but it reused Malcolm
Kirk to instant action. He knew with
all, the vigor and intensity of his deep,
honest nature that his love for Dorothy
Gilbert was now the largest part Of his
life. He had consecrated his time and
strength to the ministry. He did not
deceive himself. He knew what such
conservation meant He faced, open
eyed, the entire meaning Of minis
ter's career in a home missionary
| church "out west"
But looking at it all through dis
passionate eyes he said as he walked
his study: "She must choose between
him and me. cannot 60 to my work
without speaking to her. Ny love for
| her is honest and true, and If God
| grant that she can love me and share
my life with me-
He left the rest unspoken, and, go
ing back to his desk, he sat down,
trembling little as he put his face in
his hands and prayed that the hunger
Of his heart might be satisfied. He
had made up his mind to act and act
quickly, and once he had decided on
his course he was free from all doubt
as to it's wisdom. ..
He took the afternoon train for Bev-
erly and reached the place before dusk.
Mrs. Penrose lived in one Of the hand
some summer villas near the sea- The
whole place smote Kirk as with q
blow aimed at his poverty, his OBSCURE
ty, his whole future. And yet he said
to himself as he. walked up the steps
that there was something in, his life
which money and all its attendant ele-
gance could not buy, and he believed
that Dorothy Gilbert somehow, II she
ever loved any one enough, would feel
the same way toward all the outward
display OF wealth.
The servant who came IL answer to
his ring said that Miss Gilbert had
gone out for walk and had not yet
returned. He at once asked for Mrs.