Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1903-03-05

breast; her eyes half closed. were
filled with the rapture that flooded her
! whole being.
Il am free!"--he whispered next
you know that am tree from that
engagement, or, should not have
dared to come to you. Since wrote
that ietter--ah, could nos help writ
ing 10 youi--even since then / pave
learned of my freedom, and lost not
| one moment in seeking you"
A joy so intense that IL almost gave
her sharp physical pain shot through
Kate as she heard him She was free
to love him-free to take this bound
/ less happiness into her heart. She
did not think then of all the other
troubles that had beset her-that she
had still TO contend against.
You are free?" she repeated, lift
4 ing her head and looking at him,
| meeting in. the darkness the brilliancy
of bis eyes that she could not have
borne in the daylight.
did you not know 1t, since I am
here?" he answered.
And he knew that, though she had
/ yielded thus, had she still found him
/ bound she would have bade him go
/ when reason and conscience resumed
/ the control which love had for the mo-
| rnent gained.
/ He went on hurriedly:
Eyes, / am free by Miss Lauriat's
own act. / saw in this evenings pa
| per an account of the runaway match
Of Miss Laura Lauriat Of Philadelphia
! 1t seems she. also, has found her
l Chains irksome, and. thank God, she
| has broken them. Perhaps the shad-
/ ow Of suspicion under which lie has
/ tened the event At any rate she has
freed me. II was an engagement en-
1 tered into when we were both TOO
/ young. Still, I had supposed, of
course, that / had loved her. l, who
had never known love until had seen
| ycu," pressing his lips TO the hand he
/ held. "Then | knew what love was.
I All! | hope never again to know the
I torments Of despair and bliss that
/ knew when I was i'll here, and longed
so TO see you, and yet dreaded your
/ coming for fear that might betray
/ as snow. You plunged me in despair.
| I, who had no right to wish for your
| love, could not repress my desire to
/ win it. You knew that loved your"
/ bending his face down until he could
see her eyes. "The fire in my cart
must have made itself felt, though
denied 1t all expression. You knew
that loved your"
Eyes. And yet I thought it could
l not be-" she answered.
"And you?" he persisted.
az? / loved you. | have spent
hours praying that might be able to
stifie the love that was at once so
sweet and so bitter Oh, loved youi"
/ She repeated the words with the
abandon of a perfect passion that
4 knows itself responded to--that is not
l ashamed of itself.
1 He pressed her yet closer TO him,
and poured forth incoherent express
sions Of fiery and raptuTous emo
1 ton.
/ As, in the wistful musings of her
| lonely life, Kate Purcell had dreamed
I of being loved. so now she was pene-
/ trated and encircled by a passion that
/ was TO change all her life for her. The
happiness of which she had known
1 herself capable. but which she had
! never expected TO know, was hers.
The silence which surrounded the
/ two was full of the emotion which
ruled them; it seemed as If the night
itself knew their happiness and brood
4 ed with tenderness above them.
After time Kate recalled to her
mind the danger that Rothesay might
!! have brayed liz coming 10 her.
/ She knew nothing of the circum-
i stances. She only knew that he had.
for some reason, concealed himself Of
late. and that officers of the law were
4 looking for him.
/ Thinking of this, she said, in voice
/ that revealed her fear.
"But you should not stay-you may
! be found! Oh. why did allow you TO
/ remain a moment when knew what
search is being made for you'll Go
| now!"
She pushed him from her, and
turned away herself. entirely pos
( sessed now by the thought that some
| one might find him there.
But what lover would not have lin
gered a moment longer? He could not
/ go. He detained her, seizing her hand
| and holding it fast whlss he said:
Il cannot leave you yet. | would
! risk much for a few moments OF hap
piness like this. If fate had not wound
such a web about me would claim
you this moment"
There was an angry rebellion in his
voice, as well as a terrible irnpatience.
/ Kate could not help reiterating her
| fears, and her wish that he should not
linger a moment. The thought that
he might be arrested was unendur-
| able.
Now that she knew that he loved
her, and that she was free to love him,
she felt that she could endure absence