Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1903-05-28

7
I Il would be TO be the wife OF a man like
/ Enrol Hastings. aud the mistress OF Z
! place Hike Haxeli Court. He wes speak
ing to her In low. earnest tones; ant
as he passed the Farm did not turn Il
look for Winifred. And Winifred. sittinl
under her fayorlte clump OF beeches
, book In hand, looked with wistfui eyes
I after them: and when he had passed ouI
OF sight. without once turning TO looh
for her. she hid her face In her hands
and cried bitterly.
CHAPTER III.
Poor Winifred! II was only the day
before that Errol Hastings had sat with
her under those very beeches. aud talked
! 10 her In the low, fascinating tones pc
culiar to him when addressing women
And she had fancled she read love In his
deep blue eyes. They had met more than
once since the adventure In the wood
! aud he had always stopped TO speak "a
/ her. And the previous day. as she had
! been sitting reading In the garden, she
/ had heard the prancing hoofs, and, look
Ing up, had seen him pull up his hery
chestnuts. which had frightened her 10
an hour before In the lane, and, throwing
the rclns to the groom, jump down and
enter the little gate.
Winifred's heart beat fast as she saw
Mr.. Hastings coming up the garden to-
ward her.
II have come to call on Mr.. Eyre-is
he at homer" Errol asked.
mo" replied Winifred; che has been
out since two o'clock. and | do not ex-
pect him until the evening"
II am sorry" Errol had answered, look
ing in her face. as he always did now;
"but II you will allow me to make his
absence to-day an excuse for calling
again shall not regret II too much"
"Can sny anything to him for you?''
asked Winifred.
81 am afraid not" Mr.. Hastings said,
| smiling: "it IL on n question OF a new
method Of farming, which fear Is toe
abstruse for me TO discuss with you. But
l am Interrupting your reading-is your
book very engrossingf'
And as he spoke he glanced at the
cover OF the book and observed with
some surprise that II was an old French
Romance.
win You let me send you some books
to readT Errol asked. gently Il make
point Of collecting all the best works,
both foreign and English. and il would
he such q pleasure TO me to think some
one besides myself would take an in
terest In reading them"
"0h, how kind you arew exclaimed
Winfred. eagerly, blushing with delight;
"it would be such treat to have some
thing new to~read."
"What shall It be?" asked Mr.. Hast
ings-"history, novels, poetry, or theol-
ogy? When you read Tennyson, look for
my favorite poem, '0enone;' am sure
you will agree with me in admiring that.
Do you sometimes indulge in romance,
Miss Eyre2"
Sometimes" laughed winifred. "DO
your
"Yes," said Enrol. II must plead gull
ty, although am long past the age when
that youthful foible Is permissible. But
when | am alone l like to sit and look
at beautiful landscape. until my very
power Of vision Is absorbed in thought
and | like to go back centuries, and live
In the past ages, that from their wide
distance from us seem golden. Do you
ever fancy you would like to have been
one Of the celebrities of the olden times
should like to have been Alexander, and
conquered the world; or I.eonldas, dy-
ing glorlously in battle; an undaunted
hero, like Alcibiades; an emperor like
Caesar; a Mark Antony, beloved by
Cleopatra; or Launcelot, II you might
have been Gulnevere."
His voice had dropped while he was
speaking, and as he uttered the last sen,
tence In low, thrilling whisper, his
eyes sought hers with a passionate ex-
preston Of admiration.
Winifred colored deeply, and the tone
of her voice was naughty as she made
answer, looking far away into the woods;
"I would not have been Guinevere to
the noblest Launcelot who ever breathed
Had been chosen by such godlike
knight as King Arthur. l think I could
have appreciated him too we'll to requite
his love with falseness."
81 beg your pardon, ought to have
remembered; but for the moment did
not think OF her falseness, only recol
lected that she was beautiful and charm,
ing"
Enrol had never once taken his eyes OF
Winifreds face while he had been speak,
ing. And as he watched her, he thought
that of all the women he had ever known
none had such a sweet grace Of womanli.
ness as this one. He rose suddenly tc
fee the temptation.
Pardon my intrusion, Miss Eyre;
have detained you already too long"
And Enrol Hastings held out his hand
to her. She put her own timidly into 1t
and he clasped 1t for moment with
strong, passionate clasp, looking int
her eyes the while with look that
brought the blood rushing to her face
Then he turned slowly, and went back
to his phaeton, her eyes looking dreamily
into the distance. Her reverie, was d.
verted by seeing young farmer, Mr.
Tom Fenner, sauntering leisurely dowr
the road, hitting off the tops Of the grass
vlclously with his stick. She had seer
him pass before, when she was talking
with Mr.. Hastings, and his presence an
noyed her. He eSeame deliberately in al
the garden gate, and walked up to where
she sat.
"Good afternoon, Miss Eyre" he said
putting out his great coarse hand to her
II suppose may come in now YOU are
disengagedT
Winifred was compelled to give him hei
hand, sorely as 1t chafed her that his
coarse, heavy touch should brush off this
tender clasp of Mr.. Hastings 1.-THE fin
/ rara