Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1903-07-16

tenderly. 81 thought you sleeping"
NO. I cannot sleep! cannot even
die till my boy comes! Is IL not time
for him to be here?"
The vessels arrival has been teie-
graphed. papa, and Travis may be here
at any moment Try and be patient
My darling-my own little Avlcei
| must place you In your brothers care
until he may transfer his trust 20 sn-
other, who viii guard it yet more sa-
credly. DO not blush. my child. bus
promise me to fulfil your childish
pledge to Milton Lennox, should he
claim IL. Nay. more, I would rather
these years of waiting were dispensed
with, and that you should at once be-
come his wife. You are too beautiful
to be exposed to the world without o
fathers or mothers shielding love.
Your heart viii be safe in this mans
true nobility of character viii soon
win your confidence and respect
Promise me, Avice. that you wiz be-
come his wife without delay"
'Oh, papa, do not force me Tpon
him, For myself. | care notl III God
takes you from me there is nothing LETT
to live for; but do not thrust me INTO
the arms of a man who perhaps opens
them unwillingly 10 receive me. Do
not forget | have your blood in my
veins. papa, which could not turn sup
plant for a forced affection"
What was there in her words which
made the sick mans face blanch 10 an
awful pallor as he turned away from
her clear, searching gaze?
Travis! Travis, Why does he not
come? | must see him-mast arrange
this matter. No, darling-noi" recov-
ering himself. you are right but you
do Milton Lennox wrong. He viii love
you, he will seek you. Promise me il
shall not be in vain!"
Papa, I promise" the girl answered
solemnly. falling on her knees by the
bed, while the thin, wasted hands rest.
ed on the sunny hair in silent blessing.
It was this picture which met the
gaze of the young man who impetu-
ously burst open the door OF the room
where his father lay dying.
Father"
"Travisi" burst simultaneously from
both lips, as the young man sprang
forward, and with a deep Thank
Cod" bent ten3sr,,y over the dying
man.
Ten years seemed to have passed
" e that young head since the night
On which his eyes had rested on Bar
bara Bretton's pictured face.
The ten days of his voyage had to
him no measurement by hours, shut
up as he was in the cabin. one moment
overmastefed by love for a who
so cruelty had deceived him, the next
outraged and hopeless by the pangs OF
memory, while now and again his
fathers white dead face would float be-
fore his senses, a look Of reproach in
the sightless eyes, until madness
would threaten him.
But this last agony had been spared
him. His father lived, though one
glance into the worn and suffering
face convinced him that life was ebb-
ing fast, that death had only so long
been kept at bay by the fevered hope
OF MS coming.
The kneeling figure he had sur
prised, now kneeIing beside him, had
been forgotten in that first moment Of
mingled pain and happiness, until a
low cry of "Brother," burst from her
lips, and in another moment the sob
bing girl was clasped close to his heart.
Yet. as he held her there, q pang
shot through him. What was there in
this fresh young loneliness to recall
the fatal beauty of the woman whose
head so lately had been pillowed
there? Was her image hereafter to
haunt him until he fancied her eyes,
her features even, In those OF the little
sister who had been his plaything In
all these years?
Travis, / must speak with you alone
-at once There is not time to lose.
Thank God. you have come. You might
have been-too-late-"
fTn 1A Continuedl