The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1902-11-07

you to q ~cenvict's CELL could not
l have given your weapon to you ana
I have not reported your condition!
It is true that / was not X Tor IT.,
yet l have practiced a passive decep-
ton. l am willing to stand response
BILE for it. l believe that / have done
right. Should l hear that you have
failed me in any single particular,
should knowledge come to me that you
have relapsed toward your old reck-
less courses l should know that ! had
lone wrong"
She spoke gravely, earnestly and,
though she did not know it, there was
a certain note of tenderness underly-
ing her voice. Unconsciously she was
expressing her trust in him and her
grief for his near departure. Perhaps
his quick ear caught the meaning OF
the %intonation. Perhaps some subtle
wave of sympathy flowed from her to
him and gave him half-knowledge or
the truth. At any rate, his pale face
flushed and he rose restlessly from
his chair, only to sink back with a
slight sigh. why should l hesitate?'
he muttered between his teeth. Il
shall never see her again." She heard
the murmur, though not its import,
and looked at him questioningly.
His eyes met hers fairly and held
them. For a half-minute they looked
at each other. Then a wave Of Grim
son rushed to her cheeks, her bosom
heaved and her W eyes fell. Beat
ing in her temples was the old wild
blood of sunny southern France and
she clenched her hands in her lap to
keep down all evidences of the telltale
emotion which almost mastered her.
He saw and was by her side in an in
slant, standing respectfully apart and
looking down upon her. His own
heart was beating fercely and his
voice was thick and low as he said,
slowly and wonderingly:
What was it that l saw in your
eyes? It was something new and dear,
but I do not dare to name 1t. Think
what l am, Miss English-a discred-
tied gentleman, a companion Of con-
tr~abandistas, a wounded lawbreaker
who owes more than his life to you.
a man even now preparing to fee from
the disgrace of a criminal trial and
certain conviction. Back in the old
South state where I was born my peo-
Pile think of me as one dead, for though
l have never robbed or stolen or slain,
r l-xv1 ho.0 - nm a0rofOr% nm arodt%
to them. A wild youth and a wilder
manhood are all that there is behind
me. With such a past, what future
would the cold and sensible woman
predict for me? Think Of these things,
do not attempt to soften them, and
then tell mi what it was that I saw
in your eyes,"
It had come. She recognized the
coming and joyed in it. Every mar
row tradition, every prejudice, every
rigid precept OF her CONSTRUCTED girl
hood fell from her as a garment. Her
Unborn high courage sprang to front
the new condition as resolutely as any
long forgotten ancestor had fronted
Saracen or northern invader. She rose
and placed her hand upon his arm
and the strength of her love was In
her deep voice as she said:
"You saw that which you would
have seen days ago.. Weston, If you had
known less of men and more of wom-
en-"
He caught her to him with his I'M
injured arm and strained her to his
broad breast showering kisses upon
her glorious hair, drunk with the won
der and splendor of this most unex
pected gift. She leaned against him
plant, submissive, wondering, too, at
the change in herself and thrilled
from head to foot by this, her first
and only passion. She could feel his
kisses in every fibre Of her being;
though as yet his lips had not touched
her, and she knew that whatever he
might have been and whatever he still
might be, she was his as utterly as
though she had been devoted to him
since her earliest infancy. Through
devious ways they had come together
and henceforward it was inevitable
that their lives should be i~ndissoluble.
Ito be c~ontinued.)