Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-11-14

is a taste of in her voice.
When you first glanced toward me
you started as though I were the sher-
if you dreaded"
"Youa are" he blurted out, desperate
ly. The conductor stops at their seat
and he hands him the tickets. After
they are punched and returned he con-
| tinues, in a low voice: 81 have felt like
a criminal all the morning, but it
seemed the only way. You know why
1 am leaving?"
"No." A delicate flush is stealing
into her face, but she looks at him
inquiringly.
"You are very rich. and I am very
poor"
SIS that ala" The flush deepens, but
the look of uncertainty vanishes from
the brown eyes. They look straight
into his now. SIS that all?" she re-
peats. "What a coward"
Besides, I think there is a mistake"
she continues, hurriedly. "I am not so
very rich. The Miss Stanton who is
reputed to be enormously wealthy is
the one at the Imperial. And, on the
other hand, it does not seem to me
that an artist who receives a thousand
dollars apiece for his pictures is de-
serving of much sympathy on account
of poverty"
"Such sales are very rare. But how
did you know? never told"
mo; but your Uncle Henry paid that
for the Trout Brook and Sunrise
through his agent in Paris"
Uncle Henry-who?"
"Your Aunt Helen's husband. Didn't
you know his name?"
He shakes his head and leans toward
her with a sudden understanding COM
ing into his yes. But at this moment
there is a slowing of the train and a
s%tentorian voice called put "Wake-
field!" Under cover of the confusion
he touches her hand.
"And you are-Cousin Clara ?" with
eager inquiry in his voice.
Eyes, by courtesy. Mr.. Willard was
my guardian, and after Aunt Helen
came I grew to regard her family al
most as my own. She often spoke of
you, and wanted me to call her Aunt
Helen and you cousin Robert. She was
very good to me-"
"And you have known me all these
weeks and didn't speak? Strange hat
I should have Keen such an ardent
hunter of Claras and not ever learn
your first namei How did you obtain
my address?"
by the merest accident. You had
changed places so often that we lost
all trace of you. Even the dealer in
Paris could give no information. When
[ started for Narragansett Pier you
and your bequest had about slipped
from my thoughts. You can judge of
my surprise when I picked up a piece
of ~pasteboard from the car seat and
found it was your address. I could
only imagine at the time that some &C
quaintauce of yours had thrown it
it when you raised the car window"
And you wrote to me as soo as you
reached the hotel. 1t is very curious,
all of it. But why didn't you explain
things after you met me?"
ST had nothing to explain. I had
met several Mr.. Leightons before, and
did not connect you in any way with
Cousin Robert. l nev thought of him
as being in this country. 1t was only
when you began to talk about Paris
the other day that 1 suspected your
identity; but I was not sure until you
brought me that little picture yester-
day with the initials the same as those
the two Mr.. Willard had bought. 1
did not speak then because-because
1 was waiting for you to discover me-"
His hand is inclosing hers now, and
there is a rapt, eXultant look on his
The train rumbles across a
bridge and around a curve between two
banks. She is looking from the
window, with a Pickering, tremulous
smile on her lips; and after vainly
seeking the brown eyes his own gaze
goes to the window and wanders out
across the fields. Long rows of houses
glide out from among the trees in the
distance; two or three pretty cottages
appear on the green slope; then a
freight house and platform shut out
the view, and the train comes to a
slow stop.
1t is only when they glide away from
he station that the brown eyes come
back to his.
"And so you are going away?" she
asks, softly.
only as far as Providence. I will re-
urn tonight"