The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-04-20

, TO be her right, had rendered It necessar,
for her to make her own dresses. had beer
the cause of her bending over that horrit
blue crepe de Chine all afternoon.
Unconscious of any anti-climax. She
would walk on, breathing fresh drafts o.
hatred and wondering II the time woult
ever come when she could be reyenged or
him.
She was not literary In her tastes. knew
practically nothing OF books. but she had
one day come across a quotation in a news
paper:
And II We do but watch the hour.
There never yet was human power
Which could evade. II unforgiver.
/ The patient search and vigil long
OF him who treasures up q wrong.
She cut this out and treasured 1t. and
often told herself that she would like to
meet the author. Yet. il any one had as
serted that she admired Byron, she would
have Indignantly denied any acquaintance
with his works and have protested that she
had no desire to read disgusting books.
As her diversions were usually Of the ma
ture OF church fairs or subscription dances
It oftened happened that Mrs. Coles could
not conveniently spare the money for Eliz-
aheth's share in them. or perhaps could not
supply the new dress necessary for the
function. And these little disappointments
doomed large in the young girls horizon.
"& "'AS sAs -H- acaS'
tributabie TO Reading Payne.
Sometimes on one OF those evenings her
more fortunate friends passed in dancing
or at the theater. she would fret herself
into a headache. and even after going TO
bed would stare wide-eyed into the dark
ness, spending the force OF her young soul
IN hatred. And not until she had imagined
that the rich politician had a son who
would beg TO be introduced to her and up
on whom she would turn her back. or some
other similarly soothing melodrama. would
she go to slee1.
II he had only had a daughter over
whom her beauty might have triumphed!
She had once been present at an lat home"
where Mrs. Payne had helped receive. and
several times during the afternoon had
caught the eyes of the childless woman
fixed upon her with a certain wistfulness
which. strangely enough. she had under
stood. and she had met the gaze Of the
plain. overdressed little body with 8
cool stare OF her hard brown eyes. and
then had surprised her own mother by a
strange. assiduous sweetness. playing the
role of model daughter with now and then
a surreptitious glance at her sadly obser-
want enemy.
Miss Coles knew that some time or other
Professor Leyburn would make UP his mind
to propose to her. and in imagination she
had refused him a score of times, sor she
knew that as the wife OF q poor man she
could never hope to square the family ac-
counts with Payne. Yet she felt at noine
an unconscious pressure toward marriage in
her mothers frequently repeated You
know. Lizzie. when you are settled IN life
Jack and l will do very we'll" and she felt.
too, that with the burden of her support off
her brothers. shoulders her place would
soon be filed by another.
So she wavered, fearing any marked adj
vance from the massive. easily checked pro-
fessor. but still keeping him in line. 1t was
not until one evening late in the third win
ter of their acquaintance that he finally
ov~erstepped the bounds set for him and
brought matters to a crisis. 1t was at a