Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-28

''TLcn this is tine end?'
The girls owes, dropped beneath the stern
que that dwcIt hunglily on the small sweet
face. AS the color died from cheek and lips
but the curviuE lips set firmly, as she an
swerad. Yes. this is the end. Grandfather
Will never forget that quarrel with your
father 1t is useless To plead with him, as
he regards my love for YOU and the bare
mention OF our marriage as the deepest in
gratitude to him. ! cannot leave him, old
and alone
John D,rwcnt leaned across the bars, ana
taking the wIgtful face between his strong
brown hands. held it there long moment
~ he said. And my claim on you-how
about that? We have argued this case IN
all It's bearings. and we are still at the
same old parting of the ways. Is It fair
that the whim of an old man, too old to re-
member his own youth and love should
stand between us? man should not waste
all his life on forlorn hope, ana am
wasting mine. There is call for all strong
American men at the front and If you deny
me now. for the sake of that old man VINO
has never been anything else but tyrant
to YOU am off for the front tonight Is II
go or stay?"
Dorothy Holmes shivered little as her
eyes were lifted to meet the earnest gray
ones of john Derwent. Then with a mighty
effort sitting the sobs that would come, the
girl answered Go" She stood, with strain
ed eyes half doubling their witness, as the
stalwart figure swung away across the
fields and was lost in the gathering Shad-
ows. Dorothy fell face down amid the tam
gled grasses, fighting out her misery; but
through il all the consciousness of the old
man waiting alone in the twilight drew her
home.
He met her at the door with querulous re-
proaches for her long absence. You have
been meeting that John Derwent; don't you
dare lie to me, girl you have?'
Dorothy stood still and faced him, Yes,
grandfather | have sent him away, per-
haps to his death down there in Cuba"
She fled up the stairs, needless of the storm
of words that the old squire shouted after
her.
The old man complained monotonously
rs Dorothy went silently through the
round of evening duties with feverish haste,
longing for the moment when she could be
alone to face the future that remained 10
her.
She knew 1t so well. Did not the lives of
scores of women that she had known all
her life fOreshadowed her own doom. She
would wait and wait through the dreary
years. and after u while she would be "Old
Miss Dorothy" and people would whisper
of her story. True. she would have the
'Beeches." But what could the empty
rooms, the smiling acres of wheat and corn
bring 10 the heart of whose altar the ashes
Of youth and love lay in perpetual sacri-
fice. AT last she fell into a troubled sleep,
broken by dreams that We're filled with a
yelled horror.
She awoke to find the sun shining in her
face, and the stir of the kitchen and yard
came up through the open windows. She
realized that here was another day to live
through. At the door of the old squire
room she paused. nerv.ng herself to bear
the small torrent of fault-finding and fret
funess that was her daily need.
The window was wide open and Mood
of sunlight poured across something that
lay half in. half out of the bed Dorothy's
wild shrek went pealing through the quiet
house. Squire David Holmes would never
complain of aught again. A bloody razor
lay upon the floor and two gashes across
the skinny throat told the tale. The room
had been fairly torn upsidedown. if an
insane rage had possessed the murderer. A
ladder against the window showed how the
room had been entered
All that dreary day the people came and
went Farmers for twenty miles around,
men who had feared the old squire and
hated him we'll came to look upon him
dead, and at the small slight figure that
sat by the side of the dead man, immova-
bic throughout the long hours.
The coroner and his jury took their places,
and Dorothy listened dumbly to the array
OF evidence. that even the few short hours
had brought forth. The razor was a COM
mon lack-handied one that bore no dis
tnEuishiug marks; but the coat that had