Cañon City record., 1903-12-10
Ing him, abe stepped intO the aieove be
fore hs WAS aware Of her presence.

| q
Brandon as on his feet IN an in
stant and with low bow was back
Ing himself ou: most defercrtially to
leave her in sole possession. II she
wished to resi-.
Master Brandon. yon need not 60
will not hurt you. Besides. II this
place is not large enough for US both.
l will go. l would not disturb you-"
She spoke with a tremulous voice and
I quick. uneasy giance. and started to
move backward out Of the aIcovc.
Lady Mary. bow can you speak So
You know-you must know-oh. ] be-,
you Blu. size interrupted him by
taking his arm and drawing him TO
seat beside her on the cushion. S..r
could have drawn down the Colossus
OF Rhodes " it'll the look she gave Bran
don. NO full was 1t Of command en-
treaty and promise.
"That's It I don't know. but | want
to know. ard | walt you to sit here b"
side me and tell me. am going to be-
reconcIied with you despite the way
you treated me when last we met l
am Going to De friends with you wheth-
er you will or not Now what do you
u
futtering little laugh of uneasy non
assurance. which showed that her
heart was not nearly SO confident nor
so bold as her words would make be
lieve. Poor Brandon. usually so ready.
had nothing Ito say TO that" but sat
in helpless silence.
Was this the sum total of all his
| wise determinations made at the cost
of 50 much pain and enorti Was thi-
the answer to all his prayer Lead
me not into temptationT' He had done
his part. for be had done all he could
Heaven had not helped him. since here
was temptation thrus: upon him wheh
least expected and when the way was
90 narrow he could not escape. but
must meet It face TO face.
Mary soon recovered her self posses
sion-woInen are better skilled in this
art than men-and continued:
II am not intending TO say one word
at-,nt your treatment of me that day
over In the forest although IL was very
bad and you have acted abominably
ever since. Now Is not that kind In
mcf' And she softly laughed as she
pecped up AT the poor fellow from be
meath those sweeping lashes. with the
premeditated purpose Of tantalizing
him, l suppose. She was beginning tn
know her power over him. and II was
never greater than at this moment
Her beauty bad It's sweetest quality.
for the princess was sunk and the
woman was dominant with flushed
face and flashing eyes that caught a
double luster from the glowing love
that made her heart beat so fast.
With the mood that was upon her l
wonder Brandon maintained his self
restraint even for n moment He felt
that his only hope lay In silence. 80 he
sat beside her and said nothing. He
told me long afterward that while sit
ting there In the intervals between her
speech. the oldest widest thoughts ran
through his brain He wondered low
he could escape He thought Of the
window aud tina, possibly he might
break away through II. and then be
thought OF feisnine Illness. and hun
dred other absurd schemes, but they
all came to nothing. and he sat there
to let events take their own course. rs
they seemed determined to do iD spite
OF him.
| After q short silence Mary continued
half banteriagly: Answer me. siri |
| will have no more Of this. You shall
treat me at least with the courtesy you
would show bourgeoise girl"
-Oh. that you were only q burgher's
daugiIter.''
-Yes. I. know all that; but 1 am not
II can't be helped. and you shall an
swer me"
There In no answer. dear lady. l
beg you-oh. do you not see
yes. yes. but answer my question.
Am not kind. more than you de
serveT'
Indeed. yes; a thousand times You
have always been 50 kind. so gracious
and 50 understanding to me that can
only thank you. thank you. thank you"
answered Brandon almost shyly, not
daring TO lift his eyes 10 I'"rs
Mary saw the manner quickly enough
what woman ever missed II. much
less so keen eyed n girl as she-and 1t
gave her confidence and brought back
the easy banter OF her old time man
| ner.
"How modest we have become.
Where is the boldness OF which we
used to have SO much? Kind? Have
always been soY How about the first
time I met You; Was I kind thenr
And as TO condescension. don't-don't
use that word between us
NO." returned Brandon. who In his
turn was recovering himself; no. /
can't say that you were very kind at
drst. How you did fly out at me and
surprise me, 1t was so unexpected 1t
almost took me OF my feet" And they