The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-07-24


1essness against her brother rover
And her lover! As she looked AZ
him she felt the danger She had
brought upon him with = new poign.
ancy. Why should she let him risl
his life for her? .s.
Randol, meanwhile, stalked up and
down in front Of the stall, growing
restless and impatient. Suddenly. as
if drawn by the intensity Of her long.
ing, he turned and walked straight
toward her. With an instructive cry
of joy she turned to spring toward
him. But the next instant the cry
was stifled. Instead, she flattened
herself against the wall and held her
breath. The white cross She. had
pinned upon her shoulder in such
ecstacy was turned to the shadow
and her rebozo drawn close about
her face. - >"~ t ~. >
Straight on he came. Crouchine
against the wall, she waited. He
brushed so near she almost felt his
breath upon her cheek. She clasped
her hands tight over her heart and
dug her nails so deep into her palms
the blood came to the surface in
tiny crescent-shaped gashes. But she
made no sound. 0
Her life was of no great conse.
quence, she told herself, but Rando]
was dearer to her than a Thousand
lives. She could not let him risk
himself so recklessly for her.
AS Randol, disappointed and BAT.
fed, reached the corner, the lights
fared in his face and she saw the
eagerness in his eyes had given place
to suspicion. He must think her
false! He who had believed SO i'm
plicity in her faith that he had glad
~ risked everything for her, would
now think she had put her family
pride above his love.
The gay holiday throng surged
around her. Girls with glowing eyes
looked up into the faces smiling
above them, happy voices rang in
her ears, passing singers trolled gay
love-songs, while the forlorn little
toy-vendor stood metionless in her
corner.
Would he go? Had he given her
up? She strained her. eyes after him
as he mingled with the crowd. Per
haps he did not care so much after
all!
No, he was coming back! If she
could only tell him she was true, she
thought. If he could know all the
long years that were to follow that
she had failed him only to save him,
then he would think kindly Of the
nun in the Spanish convent.
He was again almost within reach,
peering, searching, wondering. She
could stand it no longer. Dropping
her basket quietly to the ground the
piteous little creature turned and
fed.
When Randol reached the angle of
the wall where the shadows grew
deep and thick he looked carefully,
but found it empty.
Back through the streets the little
peon fled, alone. No one tried to
speak to her, for every eye was filed
with the lights and pleasures in the
plaza beyond. 50. 81, -
She reached the frowning House
she had so lately left forever, and
found it still in darkness.
1t was early yet, but she had lived
out all the joys and sorrows of her
life in this one hour. She slipped
quietly around to the servants en-
trance, then into the great hall. The
door was still half open, and the
bishops voice was still explaining to
the sonora the penance her daughter
would have to go through before she
could enter the sisterhood.
Again the old sonora thought she
heard an unusual sound in the hall.
Was it door creaking on a rusty
hinge, she asked herself, or a rat
scampering through the old adobe
wall?
Again the little figure on the other
side of the partition stopped and held
her breath till the voices took up
their argument.
When at last the unsuspecting
sonora came to Dolores room, and
said, sternly, my daughter, we have
decided" the little senorita meekly
acquiesced like worthy Cardenas.-
San Francisco Argonaut.
waking Francois.