The Saint Paul globe., 1904-05-15

anu LIE WHcelS peat a broken tattoo,
muffied at times by the complaining
wind, while the wizard of the dark
worked his grotesque enchantment.
Are you .cold-dear?" the young
man asked, when he felt her come close
TO him. His words and his tone
startled the girl and almost broke the
spell. Flora McCray struggled a mo-
nleng with the girl in the dark, and
snuddered-1n despair as voice from
the girl, who felt a strong arm quiet
her, answered.: "A little"
Scott your noisy outlaws with the
mapping curtains, whistle your sneers
In the dead weed stalks, and humble
your p1ous warnings among the teIe-
graph wires by the roadside. wind of
the Willow Creek prairies; you cannot
break the spell. Throw yourself upon
the hillside, roll over and over in your
commissions Of derision The charm
you would dissolve is only sweetened
when the sorcerer of the night turns
your antics into uncouth mysteries
and your cachinations into wordless
passion songs.
AS the lights of the town came in
slgnt the young couple grew silent,
A turn in the road brought the buggy
under the white glare of an electric
light Flora McCray was sitting uD-
right with her hands folded under the
Tope. and Howard, with the whip and
the lines IN his hands, was consciously
clucking at the horses. Each saw the
otner.s race clearly, and as they crossed
the circle Of light the man spoke.
1T must be o'clock"
me girl did not reply, and the young
man leaned over to look out Of the
buggy as If to scan the clouds. The
prospect did not altogether satisfy him
and he said:
It's going to be a pretty gloomy
Sunday, l guess"
AS Howard put out his arms to help
her from the buggy she barely touched
his outstretched hand, and her de-
clded shyness surprised him. In a be-
W1lderment of confusion he said:
You have made me very happy to-
nlght-Miss McCray. Shall I speak to
your father when come out to dinner
tomorrow"
The girl did not reply, but went up |
the steps and into the house, while |
the young man climbed into his buggy
and beat time with the whip to the |
tune he was whistling as he gave the |
horses the rein for the stable. |
Flora McCray locked the door and |
slipped the bolt as quietly as she could. |
She blew out the light in the parlor |
and stole noiselssly up stairs, avoiding, |
as was her wont in using the stairs at |
night, the creaky step at the landing |
that always wakened her mother. After |
entering her room she turned UP the |
light and at once began taking off her |
outer wraps.
This prim. shy. old-fashioned girl |
had from her earliest childhood, OBJ |
served habits of precise neatness. This |
evening she went about her room, |
hanging up every garment that be- |
longed on a hook, and folding away |
every one that belonged elsewhere.
To outward view she was a placid, |
methodical emotionless being-per- |
haps she herself did not notice that |
she avoided facing the mirror as she /
took down her hair-yet strong feelings I
were working within her. Just before |
going to bed she started to put away
her hat. She picked 1t up. The velvet |
and the ribbon seemed crushed. She |
put out her hand to smooth them. A /
hot flush Of recollection swept over
her, and she put the hat down. She |
did not look at 1T again, but blew out
the light and went to bed with her
face turned from the guilty reminder.
And all night long Flora McCray
lashed herself for the folly of the Girl
in the Dark. And all night long Flora
McCray scourged her very self for a
very possible self, blaming her very
modest self for. an hour that she could
not explain. and putting her flushed
face under the pillow when she remem-
bered for what it had been upturned
so eagerly in the dark In her abject
remorse, 1t seemed to her that she was
the only guilty one-the man was only
means, not an agent in the faneied |
transgression. AS she remembered it,
she had made all the advances; he had |
only been kind and good TO her.
The next morning all Of Willow Creek
knew that John Howard had taken
Flora McCray to Robinson's the night
before and that he was going to eat
Sunday dinner with the McCrays that
afternoon. But the town. as usual
was divided. One-half claimed that
the McCrays had to have all of How
ards money or they would fail; and
the other half held that John Howard
was going to marry Flora McCray to
keep the old man from prosecuting
him for running off mortgaged cattle
and reporting them as dead. And in
the whole town no one could have been
so thoroughly surprised as was Mr.. |
McCray when his daughter said to him:
Father, if Mr.. Howard says any
thing to you about me you will tell him
.that-I-cannot-m him"
McCray and his daughter were walk
ing along the narrow. rough sidewalk
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 few
explanatory why's and whats" be-
fore his daughter had said firmly. You h