The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-05-20
CHAPTER Nv.

CHAPTER Nv.
no you mind, my dearest?'
Eyes; I wish I had been the hrst'
Alan"
The two people who were speaking
were sitting together on q boulder Dy
the seashore Of one Of u prettlest
watering places. 1t was early toDer
and although it had been a late season.
yet there was already a touch or cold
ness in the air, Notwithstanding the
brilliant sunshine. The sea was as plue
as the sky, tossing and nttie us
turbed by the wind, yet oniy ehouen
to give 1t color and motion. Inc ~
tie town looked white and clean, smii-
Ing in the autumn sunshine. "A thor-
oughly conventional English scene'
1ust as the girl herself was a thorough
" conventional English girl. Her dark
blue eyes were brown and or a sou
texture: her face a perfect oval, WIN a
little square chin, into which there
had been pressed, as by some owing
finger, the prettiest dimple IN the
world. A tall, slight figure, that gave
promose of a fuller, ampler woman
hood; a clear white skin, flushed rosy;
and lashes and eyebrows many shades
darker than her hair completed a
whole that was very captivating. She
dressed, too, conventionally, al
though the blue serge dress and Jacket
fitted her as only a tailor-made gown
can fit. A little sailor hat was perched
upon her head in just the most ehec-
tive n possible.
But at this minute the dark blue
eyes looked troubled, the pretty hands
were clasped round her knees, and she
was looking Stewards and away from
the man by her side. He, too, looked
troubled. It had cost Alan Mackenzie
Z good deal to record the events OF his
life, and to speak of the young wife he
had lost four years ago. He had want
ed the past to be past; and although
Veronica's memory was dear and sweet
to him, and the girl herself had been
loving and tender, yet it seemed TO
him hard to bring up the dead past.
There wal such a chasm betWeen tnat
life and this, such a difference De-
tween the dark-eyed, ~half-Spanish girl
he had wooed under the brilliant South
American skies and this girl whom ne
was woOing beside the tumbllng Eng
lish sea. that it often seemed to Alan
Mackenzie that he must be an entirely
different person.
He leaned forward and looked at
her. She had her face turned towards
the sea, SO that he could just see the
delicate profile outlined against the
blue sky, could just see the pink ear
nesting against the coils Of her hair.
It was not for her beauty alone that ne
loved Joyce Granville. He felt that
she was his equal in most, his superior
in some, things. He and she together,
he thought, could live the perfect mar
ried life. And o there was the
shadow Of poor Veronica to come and
throw q gloom over their wooing. Yer
onica, whom he had eve loved like
this girl: Veronica, for whom he had
had the tenderest protective pity. but
that va all.
And now he looked at Joyce, AM
felt to the full that II he lost hel
he lost everything that made LIT
worth living; that life without joyce
would be incomplete. and that al
his success in life-and he wa
by no means disposed to under
value that-would mean nothing to hin
without Joyce. She was 80 desirable
was Joyce, with her high-bred, Brit
ish air. and with all the qualities tina
he knew her to possess. and with tina
fact staring him full in the face tina
he loved her. and her alone.
His voice trembled az he said: "D'
you mind so much. Joyce, that 1t will
be an i~nsuperable bar? Do you NEAR
that you cannot say Yes to mel"
She turned round and faced him. and
he could see the trouble in her eye'
, and the t~witching OF her lips. mo.
che said. In q low voice, Il don't NEAR
that; I. cannot give you up, Alan. YOU
have made me love you; / cannot
change my love In q day. But it has
cast : shadow over me. / cannot re-
1oice over my love for you as I did
now / know this: That life cannot
give the unalloyed happines that ]
thought possible half an hour ago."
Because you are not the first.
Joyce7 In one n you are the first,
have told It you all quite truthfully
how nrst / felt nothing but pity for
her. and then gradually I wanted to
shield her from the hardships OF life,
and there was no other way. I mar
ried her."
"And she-did she not love you?"
Alan did not hesitate, MOI did he
prevaricate. A less truthful man than
ne might have made light Of Veron-
ica's devotion. but he could not. The
dead girls passionate eyes, fixed upon
him with an expression OF undying
love In them, rose up before him.
"She," he said. in q low voice-"she
loved me more than her life."
Joyce gave a little exclamation. 1t
Was not altogether pain. but as il she
had said that she had known it well.
OF course she had loved him! What