The daily morning Alaskan., 1902-03-06
A B0Y'S vow


 Never; on my honor" loilC.
 "Oh!"
 DeMy dear Mrs Kingston, this | scarcely reasonable. Of course l hat a great deal of-respect for your daugh ter. and so on. but she threw me ovel for that other fellow. and l went t' the Cape. I tried not only to forget m, trouble. but to forget her as well. Tha' was the only thing to do. Wasn't itr'
 'Dld you succeedY'
 No answer.
 "Have you quite forgotten. Air. Win grover" .I
 "Well-of course-that ls-yes!"
 "Then why have you come to seq mey" tal VI v
 Surely we are old friends. Remem per how kind you were to me when was student at Heidelberg. Youi house was home to me at time when | most needed good Influences and when she joined you and began to love her l don't know whether you saw how things were going. but you were SO kind and helpful that my time there was the best and happiest l have ever known. And then, when it all turned out wrong and everything seem ed going round. your gentle sympathy steadled me. and I got through some how"
 q was SO sorry for you. poor boyP
 You have always been good to me and. though goodness knows I'm noth' Ing to boast of. if 1t hadn't been for you don't know where l should have landed. A fellow doesn't forget these things. Mrs. Kingston. though at the time he may not Qnite understand them"
 By tho way. Mir. wingrove. do you still care for ClalreT
 Mrs. Kingston. what question"
 Do youT
 "Really-but. hang It all-you must not ask me that. It Isn't rlght-in' Iced it isn't"
 Don't you know? Didn't they ever ;el you? She's widow, Mir Win. ,.eve."
 Claire widow. But how? WhenT'
 He died more than year ago; In ,ucnza-Qul,e unexpected. lt was SO .rd."
 And | have been away all this time without knowing word about itl Heavens. don't care who hears ii low. may speak. love her just as much as ever, and. by love. she must aarry me. Claire frce"-
 Hush. Mir Wlngrove. 1 am very iorry spoke about lt. but l thought { hoped-you had really forgotten her. Oh. why did you come back just at hls moment? Claire k not free"
 understand"
 ''She Is going to marry John Mears dale He was one of your rivals, you aiU remember. and. though l don't think she ever liked him in the way ,hc did you. he pleaded so hard and Was SO devoted that at last she took l.m. You know what an extraordinary .a ciuation sue has over men. Ever siuce can remember. even when she Nas the mereSt schoolgirl, they have ,ome round her and liked to look ai l,r and hear her talk There Is some thug magnetic about her. I suppose out where she gets lt from
 Who knows better than how hope lrss,y irresistible she is? But never mind that now. What want 10 kno" Is why didn't you or somebody let me kuow what had happened and give me another chance. know she liked me better than Mcarsdale. She often told me so. After all that there was be tween us. was lt fair or kind to leave me sticking out there while be had ev erythlng his own way hereT
 But. my dear boy, how could we write to you after that VOW you tookr "Vow. In heavens name, what yowT
 "Cau you have forgottenT
 "opens an escritolre and produces s LipvuscriptJ
 II you are true. no love more true
 Than mine shall be bestowed on you.
 But if you're false. then go your way
 And trouble not goodby to say.
 For this VOW. by an most dear
 will not give you one poor tear,
 One moments thought. one slight regret,
 But hasten 10 unlesrn-iorget
 "Mrs. Kingston. you don't mean to say that that absurd jingle prevented vou from writing to mer'
 You signed lt. Mir. Wingrove."
 Signed 1t! I've signed a thousand ldlotlc things that ought never 10 be n,adr binding On me. Wly. was u..i nineteen when | wrote li-a merr irresponsible boy Look oi it wrctchcd stun. such as all boys write when they're lE love for the first time. which ought to be swept together nnd burnt Il by the common hangman She cant have believed lt."
 "Shc did. though. aud so did |. You were always so earnest in what you said and did. [ remember her telling me after you had given It her that she fell quite certain that If. after all. she dld not marry you. you would never cone near he. or think kindly or her again"
 "Oh. but women are impossible When you tell them all day long thst you iove them tney won't Deneve you. md then they go and put all their faith in a miserable bit of paper Ike this. CThrows lt savagely into the fro