The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-28

her sitting on a fallen log near the
lower ford. The shadows of the hills
were lying across the landscape, even
out on the brown prairie. A bird or
so sang in the thicket. A light wind
breathed up the gulch. Altogether, it
was so peaceful; and the girl sitting
there idly, her hands cFasped over her
knees, gazing abstractedly into the
waters of the brook, was so pensive
and contemplative and sad, that Ora
ham had to spur his resolution hard
to induce it to take the leap. But he
succeeded in making himself angry by
thinking of Cheyenne Harry.
She saw him coming and shrank
vaguely. She felt herself in some sub
tie way, which she could not define,
quite in the wrong. What wrong she
could not have told. When, however,
she saw that plainly his intention was
to speak to her. she smiled at him
brilliantly with no trace of embarrass-
ment.
such a meeting.
why are you so solemn" she broke
in finally. You look as if you'd lost
your FAST friend"
He looked at her. THAT is the way
1 feel"
oh" said she.
They fell silent She did not like at
1t made her nervous. She felt creep
ing on her heart that mysterious heav-
mess, the weight of something I'M
movable, which she had lately been
at such pains to forget. She did not
like it. With an effort, she shook it
off and laughed.
Whats the nratter?" she cried with
forced gayety. Didn't he sleep we'll?
Don't he like my looks, or the freckle
on my nose, or the way l wear my
cap?"-she tossed the latter rakishly
on her curls, and tilted her head side
ways.
What is the NATTER" she asked,
with a sudden return to gravity.
You are the matter" he answered.
briefly.
"Oh, dear" she cried with petulance.
'Ras it come to that?"
mo, it has not come to that, not
what you mean. But it has come to
this; that your conduct has made every
true friend of yours feel just as I
do"
She stared at him a moment, gasp
ing.
"Heavens you frighten me! What
have l done? Come over here on this
log and tell me about it,"
Graham's vehement little speech had
vented the more explosive portion of
his emotion. Whatever he should say
viction than impulse; and the lovers
natural unwillingness deliberately to
antagonize his mistress made it ex-
ceedingly difficult to continue. He
hesitated.
''You must tell me now" she COM
manded; II insist. Now, what have I
done?"
TT isn't so much what you have
DONE" began Graham, lamely, "as
what you might do You see, you are
very young, and you don't know the
world; and so you might walk right
into something very wrong without
realizing in the least what you are
doing, and without meaning to do
wrong at all. Everybody owes it to
himself to make the best out of him
self, and you must know that you have
great possibilities. But it isn't that
so much. l wish I knew how to tell
you exactly. You ought to have a
mother But if you'd only let us adj
wise you, because we know more about
it than you
The girl had watched him with
cleaning eyes. THAT doesn't mean
anything" she interrupted. What is
it, now? Out with it,"
tits Cheyenne Harry" blurted Gra-
ham desperately; you oughtn't to go
around with him so much"
Now we have it," said the girl with
dangerous calm; Pm not to go around
with Harry. Will you tell me why?"
well" replied Graham, fioundering
this side of the main fact; lit isn't
healthy thing for anybody to see any
one person to the exclusion of others"
Yourself, for instance" stabbed the
girl. wickedly. GO on"
Graham flushed mo, it isn't that"
he asserted earnestly. 1T isn't for the
benefit of the others that I speak, but
because of the effect on yourself 1t
isn't healthy. You are wasting time
that might be very much better en-
ployed; you get into an abnormal at
titude toward other people; you are
laying stress on a means to which
there is no end, and that is abnor-
NAL 1 don't know that you under
stand what L mean; it's philosophy"
he concluded, smiling in an attempt
to end lightly.
''No, I do not understand in the least.
All l understand is that you object to
my seeing q certain man, without CIV
ing any particular reason for your OBJ
jections."
ut isn't especially elevating for you
to sit every evening in a barroom
crowded with swearing and drinking
men who are not at all of your class"
suggested Graham. THE language
they use ought to teach you that"
Iney are my people, crle0 molly,
with a sudden flash of indignation,
land they are honest and brave and
true-hearted. They do not speak as
dramatically as you or /; but you
have been to college, and l have been
blessed with a chance to read. And
whatever language they speak, they
do not use it to talk of other people
behind their backs!" She reflected a
| moment. But that isn't tie question"
she went on, with a touch of her ma
tive shrewdness. 81 understood you to
make request of me-
Graham had not so understood him
self, but he had a request ready, new
ertheless. THAT you be a little more
| careful in the way you go about with
Mortimer, then" he begged
And Why" she asked again.
| Because-because he means to do
you harm!" cried Jack Graham, diven
to the point at last
She rose from the log. "Ah, that is
what l wanted to heart" she returned
in level tones-"the accusation. You
will tell this to his face?"
Graham paused. His anxiety was a
| tangle of suspicious born of his knowl-
edge of men, his intuitions, and his
fears. Looking at it dispassionately
| from the outside, what right had he
| to interfere? Graham was. much in
| love, brave enough to carry through
/ the inevitable row, and quite willing
| as far as himself was concerned, to
! do so; but he could not fail to see
that, however, the affair came out il
would irretrievably injure the girls
reputation. No one would believe that