The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-16
what do 1 live forr" he said. and why

nat UO 4 i've luI ! ut Sdlu. Anu WHY
doesn't my world end t~o-night?"
Meanwhile. in IN upper chamber OF the
quaint old inn, which Frank Lowell basely
slandered when he called 1t a public house.
a tall, heavy-looking, gray-bearded man
with rugged features and beetling eye
brows, stood straight in the middle Of the
room and surveyed Mrs. Balfray's niece
with a mixture of amusement and surprise.
There was a CLINT of humor in the shrewd
old face, some kindliness of expression also
in the deep-set eyes; but. except to those
who knew him well. old Matthew Senda
was somewhat f%orbidding in appearance.
His daughter, who had Drawn one of his
arms round her and now stood looking up
into his face with a pretty persistence. did
not, however, seem to be in the least afraid
Of him.
Daddy" she said, you know very well
that you are quite ready to like him If you
find that auntie and 1 like him, too"
I'm not sure said the big man, rather
grumpily, that I should ever like a fellow
that leans his head on his hand and calls
out, May, May!' as If he wanted the moon
to hear"
I'm very glad that he did," said May,
with a touch of sauciness in her tone. 1T
shows that he thinks of me sometimes.
But we are only friends-good friends, dad
dy; you need not think we are anything
else. 1t is just that I want you. to be a
friend to him, too"
"well, amt 1 going to be a friend?''
grumbled Matthew Sendall. Isn't it a
friends part TO enable him to pay his
debts?'
EYD,,sra -of~o 20 10 ~ fhnn x-A,r door
good, delightful daddy! Oh, ! am so glad!''
~ generally end by doing what you ask,
don't 1? All the same, May, 1 don't think
you are wise, child"-andt the fathers voice
suddenly took a tenderer tone. "You are
going to tie yourself down to a locality
that we always intended to cut ourselves
free from; you will be saddled all your life
with the old associations"
well. you aren't ashamed of them, are
you, daddy?"
Heaven forbid" said her father. hastily,
bending to kiss her brow-perhaps because
he did not want, at that moment, to look
too keenly into the clear depths of her
eyes. "rve never been ashamed of them,
and I never will be. But you yourself,
May, n those. perhaps, that may com
after you
IF / am ever ashamed Of my fathers
history, or If any one belonging to me is
ever ashamed of it," said May, with great
distinctness. II trust that we shall lose
every atom Of the prosperity that you have
made for us. daddy, dear"
well, well, welli" said Sendall, giving
his daughter a little squeeze with his arm
1--WE don't anticipate misfortune, my pet.
We've done very well so far, and We'll
stick together to the end. But as for this
young interloper'-and his voice took a
surlier tone, as though he were inclined to
growl, like a dog. at any one who tried to
take from him a precious possession-"I
hope 1 shall find him worthy of better
things than to bay the moon at midnight
with a cry for my May!"
Perhaps 1t was some other May" said
the girl. with her eyes cast down.
mot very likely, 1 think. But 1 say, my
darling, / wanted to tell you of a house 1
saw last week in Surrey-a fine, red-brick
house. with a background of fir-woods,
lots of glass; as they call it. conserva-
tories, wineries. pineries, and all the rest
of it; perfectly brand new. Eh?"
81 hate a brand-new house, daddy. And
you know as we'll as / do that you have
never in all your life seen a place that you
thought equal to Selsby Hail."
'Bless you, my girl. perhaps you're
right" said her father, kissing her fondly.
eff only that young man knows his luck!"
he added. piously. to himself, as he said
goodnight to his daughter and went to
bed.
Frank was a little startled next morning
by the appearance of the rough-looking,
elderly man with rugged features and griz-
zled hair who claimed to be Mays father.
He could not possibly dislike the man,
whose shrewd, slow speech was as far re-
moved from vulgarity as from mere out
ward refinement, and yet he was disturbed
by the incongruity between him and his
beautiful daughter. He was even more
perturbed when, in the course of the day,
he received a cautiously wcrded letter from
his lawyer in the next parish, who in
formed him that a client was found for the
purchase of Selsby Hall-an admirable and
unexceptionable client who had made a
fortune in the colonies and wished to spend
it at home, a client who not only proposed
to give more than the sum originally asked,
but who suggested that il he made any
alteration or Improvement in the old house
VIII lam v 49, NAase IA YIN
original owners family, should always be
consulted before they were carried out
The client preferred, for the present, to
withhold his name.
Frank took the letter to May in the
orchard that afternoon.
cit is the oldest proposal I ever heard
1t is just as though it came out of that
talk 1 had with you! Are you a witch
May?"
ST have no magic" she answered, gently
but she blushed when he called her by
name.
Have you not? Indeed you have, May,
What can i call you but May? Why dc
YOU look at me? ] do not use 1t out of dis.
respect, but because 1 m think of you
as Miss Balfray-'
you need not think of me as Miss Bal.
fray, certainly"
.'Then give me permission to call you
May. oh, May, you don't know how 1 love
you! Darling, can't you give me a little
hopper"
She took a step backward. and her eyes
grew bright-but the brightness was keer
and hard as steel.
"Hope-of what?"
Hope that you will some day be ny
wife, May, although, heaven knows. ]
t--- -..-,, - ~ oxun D,t n cLor