Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1903-03-05

speak. Her head lay on Rothesays
breast; her eyes half closed, were
filled with the rapture that flooded her
whole being.
II am frce!"-he whispered next
you know that l am tree from that
engagement, or. l should not have
dared to come to you. Since ! wrote
that letter-ah, could not help writ
ing to you!-even since then ave
learned of my freedom, and l lost not
one moment in seeking you"
A joy SO intense that it almost gave
her sharp physical pain shot through
Kate as she heard him. She was free
to love him-free to take this bound
less happiness into her heart. She
did not think then of all the other
troubles that had beset her-that she
had still to contend against.
You arc free?" she repeated. lift
ing her head and looking at him,
meeting in the darkness the brilliancy
of his eyes that she could not have
borne in the daylight.
Did you not know it, since I am
here?" he answered.
And he knew that. though she had
yielded thus. had she still found him
bound she would have babe him go
when reason and conscience resumed
the control which love had for the mo-
ment gained.
He went on hurriedly:
Yes. l am free by Miss Lauriat's
own act | saw in this evenings pa
per an account of the runaway match
of Miss Laura Lauriat of Philadelphia.
1t seems she. also, has found her
chains irksome, and, thank God! she
has broken them. Perhaps the shad
ow of suspicion under which l lie has
tened the event. At any rate she has
freed me. 1t was an engagement en-
tered into when we were both too
young. Still. had supposed, of
course. that l had loved her. I. who
had never known love until had seen
you. pressing his lips to the hand he
held. Then ! knew what love was.
All. hope never again to know the
tornents Of despair and bliss that l
knew when l was ill here, and longed
so to see you, and yet dreaded your
SCllllliSo lpl lSdI liitll DClidS
myself. And you-you were as cold
as snow. You plunged me in despair.
l. who had no right to wish for your
love. could not repress my desire to
win it. You knew that l loved you?"
bending his face down until he could
see her eyes. The fire in my cart
must have made itself felt. though l
denied it all expression. You knew
that loved your
Yes. And yet I thought it could
not be- she answered.
And you?' he persisted.
Il? l loved you. have spent
hours praying that | might be able to
stihe the love that was at once so
sweet and so bitter. Oh, loved YOU"
She repeated the words with the
abandon of a perfect passion that
knows itself responded to-that is not
ashamed Of itself.
He pressed her yet closer to him,
and poured forth incoherent express
sions OF a fiery and rapturous emo
ton.
AS, in the wistful musings of her
lonely life. Kate Purcell had dreamed
of being loved. so now she was pene
trated and encircled by passion that
was to change all her life for her. The
herself capable but which she had
never expected to know. was hers.
The silence which surrounded the
two was full of the emotion which
ruled them; it seemed as if the night
itself knew their happiness and brood
ed with tenderness above them.
After a time Kate recalled to her
mind the danger that Rothesay might
have braved in coming to her.
She knew nothing of the circum-
stances. She only knew that he had,
for some reason. concealed himself of
late, and that officers of the law were
looking for him.
Thinking of this she said, in voice
that revealed her fear:
"But you should not stay-you may
be found. Oh, why did I allow you to
remain moment when l knew what
search is being made for you! Go
now!"
She pushed him from her, and
turned away herself, entirely pos
sessed now by the thought that some
one might find him there.
But what lover would not have lin
gered moment longer? He could not
CO. He detained her, selling her hand
and holding it fast while he said:
Il cannot leave you yet. would
risk much for a few moments of hap
piness like this. If fate had not wound
such web about me would claim
you this moment"
There was an angry rebellion in his
voice, as we'll as terrible impatience.
Kate could not help reiterating her
fears, and her wish that he should not
]inger moment. The thought that
he might be arrested was unendur-
able.
Now that she knew that he loved
her, and that she was free to love him,
she felt that she could endure absence
from him-everything but that he
should be in danger.
SIS there, then, so much danger that