The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-04-22

side world. and if they say horrid things
of me I shall go back to my own dear
land, where / can do exactly as l please.
There's no one there who will consider
me odd and eccentric If 1 spend the
long summer days riding on man S
saddle through the rough bush tracks,
or stretched full length on a hillside,
watching the wind sweeping up through
the grass in the afternoon sunlight, and
seeing the purple shadows gathering in
the ranges. But why should it so sud
denly become imperative that [ should
marry? Why is my position 50 much
more impossible today than it has ever
been before %
Perhaps it is because I've been con-
ceited enough to feel UP till now that
L might help you if you were in any
difficulty" he said slowly And when
I'm away I shan't be able to feel that.
When you're away2"
yes; I'm going away in a few weeks
time Do you know of any nice place IN
New Zealand where broken-down sol
der could live on small income
LOrrimer made an effort to speak light
~. You see this right arm of mine
won't be much use again and I've been
advised to send in my papers. There
are dozens of better and filter men
waiting to fill my place and-buE l
didn't bring you here to growl about my
own bad luck / want you to make up
your mind to marry the man VINO S
supposed to be the match of the season.
and who's so palpably in love with you
THAT he's making rather an ass Of him
self in consequence. He's a decent chap,
although I don't think he wastes much
affection on me
There was no reply from the girl, and
Lorrimer did not trust himself to look
at her.
so my one true friend is going to de-
I sert me" she said at last, in d cur1ousiy
level tone. The mans hands closed
with q. painful grip on his stick
Joan. don't make it harder -,
] he began. and then checked himself
suddenly and steadied his voice When
YOU are Lady Brooklyn you won't need
my poor frinedship."
so you fancy I ought to accept Lord
I Brooklyn2' said Joan quietly There
was a moments silence, and then the
girl went on ''Will it bore you if I tell
I YOU something more of my life on the
1 sheep station in New Zealand before
Daddy and [ met you? 1t was while
we were still noor before the
coal had been discovered on the prop
I erty and / was seventeen and
( had just left school. AS you know
Daddy and [ We're all alone, and al
though we were so much to one another
and 7 loved the old home and the WILD
( life, it was sometimes very lonely uI
1 there among the great pushed hills. Al
/ last there was a change A young Eng
/ lishman came to the station as cadei
and and my days were NJ
/ longer dull Life grew fuller, and
/ seemed suddenly conscious of thu
beauty Of things about me; there was {
romance in the hot, dusty sheep yard:
at shearing time. poetry in musterinE
on the fern hills when the smell of th'
bush fires was heavy in the air, ans
when he told me that he careC
for me. I was almost afraid Of my owl
happiness. One day he received mes
sage from the township twenty mile
away, asking him to go in on business
and we arranged that I should NEE
him on his return in the evening a
the store which served as postofiice fiv
miles from the homestead. and that W
should ride home together
Joan stopped for a moment. and thel
went on again more hurriedly: 9TH
mail man arrived while I was waiting
at the store. and there was a letter 70
me from him. 1t said that a cablegran
from England had brought great news
news Of his unexpected inheritance o
large estates. and he must leave a
once to take up the importan