Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1903-01-30


He jumps out, secures the boat, and gives
her his hand.
Slowly and silently, for very joys sake,
they move together up to the house.
MIS-. Ellesmere is rousing herself from
her slumbers.
'Auntie,' says Dallas, laying a caress-
Ing arm round her shoulder, 1--WE want
you to do something for u.s."
What is it, dear boy" she asks, with
a fond glance at his good-looking young
race, consent already implied by her tone.
won't you come into the hall and play
us one of your delicious waltzes?. We are
dying to have a turn"
"Of course 1 WILL" she smil-
ing, and feeling extremely gratifed at the
course events are taking. A glance at
June's face assures her that her i~rresist-
IDLE nephew has made one more conquest,
one to which he is most heartily welcome.
So, with the kindest grace in the world,
she goes to the piano and plays unwear-
iedly while these two reckless young peo-
pie, heart beating to heart, their souls
drunk with the intoXication of their love
and the rhythm Of their movements, are
weaving, with gossamer threads of rap
ture, the web of future pain.
Let us go for a stroll under the trees"
said Dallas. June rose, and together they
disappeared from the lynx eyes of some
one who was watching them from the
drawing room window.
They sauntered in the grove where Tom
loved to take June as being retired from
prying eyes; but, ali! how different was
1t to-day! The seclusion which had irked
her SO with Tom, from which she had
longed to escape, seemed an enchantment
whose only flaw was that it must have an
end.
They were reaching for the tenth time
the evergreen arch which divided them
from the flower garden. Dallas stopped,
and June stood still beside him.
"How shall I see you tomorrow" he
says, his eyes full Of tenderness and a
touch Of regret in his voice. "Tom will
be here, and then my short day will be
over."4A
June meets his gaze for one moment,
then her eyes droop, and a Pickering color
comes into her cheek.
my darling!" he murmurs, and his
arm takes gentle possession of her slight
form, his handsome face bends down to
hers, his lips touch hers, not with the
eager haste with which they have often
times sought red lips before, but with a
tenderness and reverence new to him, but
most exceeding sweet.
And June! Her heart gives one mighty
throb; i~nvoluntarily her eyes close; for
one moment q trance seems to steal her
soul.
She a q movement to disengage
herself from his arms; he yields to it at
once; and then, before they have time to
recover themselves, each hears a sound
Of hurrying feet and then Toms voice
shouting:
Dali! where are your"
The awakening is horrible. Tom here
already? Both feel like culprits-Dallas
perhaps even more than June.
Dallas shouts in answer, and Toms big
form looms straightway in the opening.
He does not wear that CHEEKY, genial
smile which Is the ordinary garb of his
face; he is evidently Ill pleased; his light
blue eyes express anything but satisfac-
ton. He shakes both by the hand, and
they try to look delighted, and feel secret
ly awkward and a little bit afraid of this
usually good-humored giant He is like
a big Newfoundland-the children's slave
and plaything-who shows temper for the
first time.
II managed to catch the earlier train,'
he says, standing tapping his boot with
his stick. ~ thought there was a chance,
and told the dog cart to meet me-"
Then they ply him with questions about
his journey and the Show, and he an
swers them, but he is not the Tom they
are used to-. Something is wrong with
him. When they all go into the house
together and June finds Agnes drinking
tea with Mrs. Ellesmere she has a terribly
shrewd suspicion who it is that has been
making mischief and putting ideas into
Toms head.