Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-02-25
AS Il stupefed by surpris-, vera st..as

As IL stupe6ed by surprise, Vera standa
motionless, her hands lying passively in
his. She is aware that he is looking at
her. with a new, wild, strange expression
in his eyes, but horrible sense Of being
powerless to resist him numbs all her
being. And suddenly, as she struggles
with herself, he bends over her, and
without warning lifts her hands and
presses warm, fervent kisses on the
small, cold hands.
Then she is aroused indeed from her
odd lethargy, and by a sharp movement
wrenches herself free.
Don't" she cries, family; sit is In
sufferable! / cannot bear it.! Have you
no sense Of honor left?'
Her tone calms him, but something
within him revolts against the idea of
apology. He loves her-let her know 1t.
He will not go back from that, though
her scorn slay him.
There is nothing dishonorable," he
says, steadily. 81 love you; I am glad
you know It. Despise me IL you can, re-
ject me as know you will, am still the
better for the thought that have laid
bare to you all my heart. And now
you cannot stay here" he goes on quick
ly, as though fearing to wait for her next
words; 'the night is cold and damp.
There is the summer house over there"
pointing in its direction; ''go and rest
there, till / call you"
Vera hastens to the shelter suggested,
and sinking down upon the one seat 1t
contains, a round rustic chair in the last
stage Of decay, gives way to the over
powering fatigue that for the last hour
has been depressing her. Reluctantly
she does this, and quite unconsciously.
Obstinately determined to fight sleep to
the last, she presently succumbs to that
kindly tyrant, and falls into one Of the
most delicious slumbers she has ever yet
enjoyed.
How long it lasts she never knows, but
when next she opens her eyes with a
nervous start, the first flush of rosy dawn
is flooding hill and valley and sea. Some
thing lying at her feet disturbs all her
preconceived fancies. 1t must have slip
ped from her when she rose. Regard
ing 1t more earnestly, she acknowledges
unwillingly that it is Seaton's coat, a
light gray one. When she was asleep,
lost to all knowledge of friend OF foe,
then he had come and placed that coat
across her shoulders.
Her eyes are large and languid with
sleep broken and unsatisfed, her soft
hair lies ruffied on her low, broad brow
She looks timidly, nervously, around her
as one expecting anything but good;
her whole air is shrinking, and her whole
self altogether lovely.
To the young man standing in his shirt
sleeves, half hidden among the laurels
and looking at her, with admiration gen.
erously mixed with melancholy in his
glance, she seems the very incarnation
of all things desirable.
He presses her hand and hurries her
over the short, dewy grass into the
strawberries that form an effectual screen
from all observation Of those in the gar
den beyond, and so on until they come to
the small oaken doorway through which
she had passed last night, and which has
proved more foe than friend.
Once inside the longed-for portal, her
first impulse is a natural one; it is to run
as fast as her feet can carry her to her
own room.
CTo be continued.)