Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-07-26
A BARGAIN OF LOVE.
ny Ausrrx MAITLAND.


US out to everyone and make me feel horribly
unco- 5fortabIe." She threw her head back
in annoyance. "Tbe sense Of duty about ii
all is so odious," she added.
II can quite understand it, he said, sym.
pathetically, and then amusement crept into
his eyes again as he remarked And what
viii You do?"
She clasped her hands about her knees
and looked out between the curtains that
protected the alcove ia which they were sit
ting from the hall Through them she could
see into the ballroom, where gay waltz was
in riotous progress. Everybody seemed SO
careless and happy there. There was no
one condemned as she had been. Ii there
had been no binding in the arrangement it
might all have been so different, she might
have felt even her curiosity awakened to
such a pitch that it would certainly have
been interesting But to be compelled by
| cireumstances-sh who, until the calamity
had come to her fathers financial affairs,
I had been accustomed to every wish being
! gratiheG-to be compelled to marry man,
! whom she had only heard Of from very vague
4 and indefinite sources, merely because it
was a family understanding-it was quite a
i different matter.
! And lastly--to make it all harder still
/ Cyril Foster had been staying with them
i for the Easter holidays. and for the ball
! which, for the last few days, she had learned
to look upon as a fatality. She had never
! heard Of him before az a friend OF her
fathers. 1t would have made very little
/ difference if she had, for ne nad already won
higher place in her estimation than any
man had ever occupied before.
In a moment OF regret, as she looked at
/ g. \ = 3 y.
that was hanging over her, and unlike other
men, whose sympataies would lave Jared
upon her, he had tried to laugh it into for
getfulness.
you'll marry in If he eomes" he said
81 suppose so" sac said, as indifferently
as she could
He looked at Ii. watch critically, but said
nothing.
''You don't help me in the least" she
said. "Why don't you suggest something"
What time is he supposed to Gomez" ne
asked, after a pause.
"Oh, no special time" she replied Most
men turn up teand | don't suppose his
anxiety is so very great
"Are you fond OF making bargains?" he
ssked-~it seemed little irrelevantly. Most
women are"
"How do you mean ?" she asked, looking a,
him in surprise.
''He took up her programme, where it was
hanging from her fan, and toyed with the
pencil attached to it, "Well, F" he said, I've
got proposition to make to you
She felt almost an exaggerated curiosity
about what he was going to say.
What is it?" she asked.
He held his watch in front of him so that
both of them could see it
cts now a quarter to eleven" he said.
She nodded.
''The possibilities are that he will come
any time between this and u; there's not
train after that, is there?"
NO." she replied.
"Now | make this suggestion" he said,
still holding the watch in front Of him, in
all earpestness, not thinking that | am help
ing you out Of difficulty, and probably only
throwing you into another one, but because
he took her hand-"because | love you,
Connie--and it is bargain. Now, the man
who proposes bargain is always the one
who is going to gain BY it, and | Shall gain
everything"
She was leaning back in the wicker chair
and her breath was coming faster with each
word that he said
What do you propose?" she asked, all
most in isper.
when hour gets round to there" he
said, pointing vita his finger to the face
OF the wa en-. "Wlat viii the hour be-"
"A quarter to twelve" she replied, won.
dering.
just an hour from now"
Sac nodded and smiled sadly.
"Wen. ii when that hour is over, and he
has net come then, will you marry me in.
saad -
- said that he might come at any time
till twelve" she said, smiling in spite of her
Sc .
Il know you die, and that quarter of an
hour is my interest on the bargain, | am
quite fair with you. | offer you all the hap.
piness of my love--against the comfort that
You will gain with his money-not that you
will be a pauper with me. And the advan.
tage that have over him lies in that quar-.
ter of an hour. win you consent?'
She looked at him questioningy.
"What do you think you will gain if he
does not Gomez" she asked.
"All the happiness in life, he answered
care you sure that you are thinking only
of me?"
"No-nearly all for myself. You win
think of yourself when you give me the an
swer."
"Then / will consent" she said, and
she placed her hand in his-'I hope that he
will not come!"
II was twenty minutes to twelve, and she
= CT heart beating with each stroke of the
"a. that stood in the hall He had not
yet, and all her newly-found love was
ing that he might not come at all, or
be late in coming.
She was sitting in the same aleove, but
with another partner, whose conversation
she could barely pay attention to. And then
n one moment all life seemed suspended in
her body-a cold chill penetrated her very
bones. The bell at the front door had
pealed across the music that was throbbing
in the ballroom, 1t could be no one but he
at such an hour She wat ehed the door mar.
rowly, in the fear Of anxiety as the butler
went to open it. There was a rush OF cold
air, and she shivered-partly it seemed with
anticipation.
Then she turned away as figure that
she dared not look at came into the warmth