The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-15

that the McCrays had to have all of
| HoWard'S money, or they would fall;
and the other half held that John
| Howard was going to marry Flora Nc
Cray to keep the old man from prose-
cutting him for running off mortgaged
cattle and reporting them as dead.
And in the whole town no one could
have been so thoroughly surprised rs
was Mr.. McCray when his daughter
said to him:
Father. if Mr.. Howard says any
thing to you about me, you will tell
| -I--cannOt-marry him"
McCray and his daughter were
walking along the narrow, rough side
walk toward the church when these
words were spoken. The mother had
| dropped back and was not in hearing
distance. McCray could only find
voice for a few explanatory why's
and whats before his daughter had
said firmly, You will be sure, won
| YOU Father?" and was waiting for her
! mother to catch up with them.
After the service the women, Flora
and her mother among them, hurried
home to attend to the feast of the
| day, and the men, after lounSlnS
around the post office, sauntered nome,
newspapers in hand. With this crowd
came McCray and his young partner.
For a while in their walk they talked
| v
| seemed to cheer up and be concerned
only with the commonplaces.
AT the dinner table the young peo-
pie met for the first time that day.
Flora McCray felt keenly and with
a twinge of anguish that the young
/ mans cordial suavity in greeting her
was only inspired by gratitude for her
generosity in releasing him from any
obligation.
She met his eye, and thought she
read there a recollection of everything
that had been. Then, as she looked
down and away, all the sweetness and
unreality of the nights ride was made
real to her. A turn of his head
brought his profile into relief, and she
thought of how handsome he had
looked out in the night, and of how
tender he had been with her. While
the young man chatted on idly with
I her father. the girl was silent, as she
always was, when there were visitors
at the house.
After dinner the men went into the
parlor, where they smoked and talked
alone while the women put away the
best china, afraid to trust it to the
hired girl Finally young How
ard and Mr.. McCray thought that the
evening mail would be in and distri-
buted. They put on their overcoats
and were in the hall, when the elder
man opened the dining-room door
and said:
Mother, John thinks dts time to go,
and l am going to walk down to the
post office with him."
When the front door closed Mrs.
McCray said:
what a nice young man John
Howard is, isn't hep"
"Oh, yes, he is nice enough,
guess" answered the daughter rising
to go to her room.
AS she neared the top of the stairs
Flora McCray quickened her pace.
She ran through the upper hall. Once
in her room, she went straight to the
dresser, where the rumpled hat was
still lying The lonely girl stood be-
fore it a moment, and then, STOPPING
awkwardly, touched the crumpled
velvet with pursed, uncertain lips, as
one ashamed. 1t may have been the
dusk in the room, or it may have
been the ghost of an ordor from
cigar, that transported this unschool-
ed heart back to the darkness, and
the joy of first caress. But dusk, or
ghost or something, came to this shy
girl there, and nerverd her whole be-
ing, so that she was no longer awk-
ward, no longer uncertain, nor in any
wise ashamed. The pretty velvet toy
she made her shrine, and in her wor-
ship she kissed it, rubbed it with her
burning cheek and buried her face in
its sacred folds.
In Willow Creek where they scott
and higgle owe rsordid things, in Will
low Creek the hard, the arid, the bar
rem, they Say-no matter What-but
i'm and out of the morrow ways, turn
ing the sharp corners with the rest
with tired feet, and timid, insure
hands, there goes woman whose Wo-
manhood came to her as a dream-in
the night
Burdock Blood Bitters cures it,
promptly, permanently. Regulates and
tones the stomach.
Is it a burn? Use DR.. Thomas
Electric Oil. A cut? Use Dr..ThomaS
Electric Oil. At your druggists.
Coughs and colds down to the very
borderland of consumption, yield to
the soothing healing influences of DR..
Woods Norway Pine Syrup.
Only one remedy in the world that
will at once stop itchiness of the skin
in any part of the body; Doan's Oint-
ment.t At any drug store. so cents.
Mr.. Critique-Yes, indeed, my house
is simply full of Titians.
Mrs. Nouveariche-Good gracious,
amt there no way of killing emf
rinceton Tiger.
Gowan's Pneumonia Cure-a life pre-,
server.