The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-13

| the clock and think unl1ind things about
its unsympathetic slowness.
| A quarter after 7-half-past land a
| sharp ring at the door bell. She met the
| maid at the library door.
"A boy from the florist, ma am" eX-
planned that parsonage, "and he says
| this card was to have been sent with
the flowers this morning and was for
| got.'
She took the card with unsteady
| fingers and held it unread until the maid
| disappeared with a sickening prescfence
of what name would meet her eyes.
1t seemed to leer up at her from the
| pasteboard-''Mr Frank Biveridge"
After the first blank moment she crush
| ed it savagely in her hand as though
it were living thing she could hurt.
| An ignorant fool, that was what she
| was, she thought unanimously. A fool
: that jumped headlong into conclusions
| and was properly hurt for it. And so
| it was all to begin again, the old tor
| turing unhappiness and WEAKNESS!
| She looked at the .clock--a quarter of
8. He was probably on the way to ner
now, coolly exultant. and half plying
this easy surrender of weaker nature.
She WINGED at the thought It seemed
as if the man she had been thinking of
so tenderly a half hour ago had turned
| from a lover into knocking creature
| eager to witness her humiliation.
There was only one thing. to do, she
thought. She sowed it to herself and
her own self-respect.
When he came she would explain the
matter instantly and dismiss him as she
had done before. He would see that she
was no poor weakling, but a woman who
stood by her pride and gloried even to
herself that the disappointment hurt her
with a pain that was almost physical.
There would be time to realize that aft
erwards
She had told the maid early in the
evening that when Mr. Essington"
! came he was to be admitted to the Ii
| brary at once. She had not thought to
countermand the order. Now, when the
bell rang sharply there seemed only
| moment between the closing of a door
and the sound of his step on the stairs
She put the thought of how she would
have welcomed it an hour ago sternly
aside.
There was only one thing for her to
| do noW-the duty she owed herself. She
realized bitterly as Essington stepped
over the threshold how hard was the
task before her
In the first hurried glance she missed
the fact that there was nothing of tri-
umph in his appearance. On the con-
trary, his manner was constrained and
AJlo L0SS SASW heavier dS IL met ucE OWH
She checked the Involuntary step she
| made towards him. How strangely old
he looked! Suddenly she seemed to hate
her pride as a slave hates the master who
gOads him to an unhOly task EssingtOn
looked at her silently.
Have you nothing to say to me,
Grace?" he said. 1T is easy 10 see that
I am not welcome, but l thought that
perhaps-that you She drew away
from him, proudly. You thought,
naturally, had forgiven you" she said.
81 want you to know--I want to ex-
plain"
Her voice broke. She was conscious
| that she did not want to explain at all
that she only wanted to repeat again
what she had written tina morning and
if necessary, despise herself forever after.
AT any rate said Essington, 'y0u must
let me say what came to say,-and then
L will go away at once if you wish,
Grace, hasn't this wretehed business last
ed long enough? w were both wrong
not in the very quarrel itself perhaps
but in all the rest. Oh, my dear, it's all
very we'll to have a proper amount of
pride and be none the worse for it, but
1t deadly to make a pet Of monster
that devours you, mind and body and
soul. No, don't stop me-let me finish.
My dear, life isn't long enough to let a
petty, foolish thing like this spoil the
oeSL VI IT, We peen TOOL and mad
man, and I've come to tell you so and
ask You to let me stay. Will you,
Grace?"
She turned from him in very bitterness
of spirit. OH she cried, why didn't
you come yesterday. or the day before?
Did you have to wait for that letter?'
THAT letter." he said What letter?
What do You mean? I've been away
with Benson since Monday, and 1 thought
Of you every miserable minute of the
time and of how things were with us
last Easter and-alI we had planned for
this, and it was bit too much for me-
I ran away from Benson and came di-