Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-10-28

"Now, my dear little girl" he began
at last, ft's all play, you know"
This was a most unfortunate state
ment. All her youthful energies had
been bent toward the obliteration of
this bitter fact. That is a moment OF
the greatest sadness when we find out
our hardly maintained realities have
only been some other persons play!
"It's been play all the time," she
sobbed impulsively. "I knew 1t was
so, I tried not to believe it! Josette
told me so, and l said she was stupid;
but she knew more than 1! You have
been playing with me from the first,
haven't you? Let me go back to my
dolls, monsieur, it's all I'm fit for"
She tried vainly to break away.
my dear child" he replied, still
holding her, but utterly at a loss to
know what to do or say, "you see
I"
"You never were my really truly
knight, were you?" she went on
through her tears. "You never cared
anything for me; you were just anus
ing yourself, weren't you? Making
fun of a foolish girl. Oh, monsieur,
how could you? And now you arc
going to leave mel"
"Anne," he said at last, "you are
only a little girl, and I am a grown
man."
Eyes, remember said you were old
for knight, but you were all I had!"
she walled.
But do you know" he continued,
'"it wasn't all play after all-not ex-
actly-and If fingered there on the
balcony-if you saw me pause, 1t was
because did not wish to leave you.
'Tis truly so. Dear little lady, little
playfellow and comrade, l am your
knight and will be-"
"And Is there no other lady in En-.
gland or America? You said mo- once,
but was 1t true?"
''It was true and 1t is true; there is
no lady in England or America, or any
where in the world, for me, except
in this little corner of France, and II
l hesitated about going away, 1t was
for you, but don't you see? My duty
Il am an English officer. My king is
at war with yours. must go back!"
"You love your country, monsieur,
more than-but you do not love me
at all, do you?" she asked piteously.
"Of course 1 do" he answered
promptly. ~ love you very much in
deed; you are the sweetest little girl
| know"
ooh, the marquis loves me that way,
and Jean-Renaud, and Josette, and"
"It's different with me, you know.
Not like that at all. You see, men do
their duty because they ought to, and
they love people because they have to-"
"po you have to love me. Sir Philip"
Eyes, and I am glad to, my dear
little girl. I am afraid II I stay here
any longer and you grow any older"
He hesitated; was he actually about to
! propose to this child? He resumed,
rather tamely. ''I had to go away, you
see. Now let me go, and some day
I will come back to you and"
"Put me down, monsieur" she said
gravely, with one of those swift
changes of mood which he had often
noticed before. "I insist upon 1t!
There, you may go now, but you will
never come back to me. know 1t.
You will be somebody else's knight,
and l."
Her little head dropped forward. He
lifted his hand to her chin, turned
her face upward and kissed her, and
then drew her nearer to his breast
as he might have done little sister.
Yet 1t was not such kiss as brother
might have given, nor was It sister
whose lips met his own. It was the
first time he or any man had kissed
her, save her grandfather, whose love
did not express itself in frequent ca
resses. She was but child, yet some
thing thrilled and leaped in her heart
at his touch, and there was a faint
echo Of her feeling, brief response
10 her heart-throb, in his own breast.
But in moment she broke from
his arms-never again could he hold
her so as before. She stood and looked
at him from those glorious eyes of
ners, and time, in one swift moment,
in the meeting kiss, wiped out the diff
ference in years between the two. His
thoughts changed as he gazed upon
her. A new idea came to him. In a
few years she would have grown-why
not7
Monsieur" she said at last, and the
change in her was evidenced by the
gravity and the added dignity Of her
manner, you have kissed away the
child. l am a woman; you cannot go
now"
why not, Mademoiselle Anne? l
can love you-from distance-for
swear, child or not, l love you-and I
can come back"
Love has nothing to do with this,
monsieur, now; I am French wo-
man. You must not go; you shall
not! You are a prisoner. The mar
quis is absent. The castle is mine un-
til he returns. l am the chatelaine.
| | could never look my grandfather in
the face again if l allowed you to es-
cape"
And how would you prevent it,
Mademoiselle Anne?"
by standing in your way, SOL" she
answered, stretching out her slender
arms and barring the window with her
slight figure. "A feeble barrier, you
say; yet you were my knight-even
though only in play-and l, at least,
do not forget it. Gentlemen do not
nocs m fraedom ovar tho hndies Of