The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-14

I
 at us ominousiy. her mouth cruel. hel
 eyes glittering.
 T did not see Francis again The next morning heard of his knocking
 man down in the hotel office. In the afternoon my auntstook me home, and hero I've been
 The girl laughed harshIy. ITO whom nm I talking?" she said TO the fallen leaves, perhaps. They | were so fresh and tender, so bright ana happy in the sunshine before thN frosti came. Like me they could not stand for long against that icy breath. Sure | ly I braved 1t we'll. holding nay heat high, but growing colder. weaker fainter as it nipped and chilled me Now I am tired of this slipping down FsThe few old friendly hands have passed
 me on. It Is not pleasant to hear that little Elta ReybuTu caused the es. | arrangement of the Ainlefghs and the --particulars. So they have broken my fall half-heartedly. and I am too proud to cling to the unwilling. Let me lia with the leaves. ass sinno- cent, as biameless as they. to wait for the snow of age to bring me peace aud rest lear love, so brief and un- spoken, I've had you'll shall have you to the end and be content with mem ory."
 Again she gazed at the tree top and the sparse foliage.
 "Stay there and laugh at me-" she smiled. "A few days more and you. too. will fall, my former gay associates.
 You've enjoyed a bit of life, defied the
 blasts on your securer perches, but are you worthier than I?''
 For a time the girl sat pensive and faintly amused at her conceit, wonder ing about her quiet future, with now and then a dimness clouding her vision as recollection brought up pictures of sunset skies and dancing wavelets of shady, fragrant paths among the wood lands and ever in the foreground the maa eho loved, tall, gentle. courteous, compressed lips dared not utter.
 Ahi he must have understood in spite of her mask: for there had been mo- ments when both had looked too long, and suddenly her cheeks were burning while his lost all their color, and they glanced away in such silence that their quick breathing was distinctly audible. Yet no word had ever come to her--not one in all the long three years since that hoerse Good night. Miss Elta," she heard so dizzily at the foot of that hated hotel stairway Bet ter so, perhaps. Had he written. she would have replied. and then--and then
 EIta arose impatiently, smoothing her hair, always recaicitrant with its curi- ing strays.
 "Isn't there any one in this house to answer the. beli?" she complained It has rung three times. suppose I'll have to go down"
 She opeped the door with an un- conscious pull trihe irritated at the interruption, and arming her tongue for swift dismissal of some unwelcome agent. The man who confronted her made a choking sound and held out his hands.
 The girl grasper them wildly, draw ing him inside. In the halfs stiffness her whisper broke, her syes searching his with the Intensity of a tortured soul listening for it's verdict of life or death
 "You--you would not have come un- less-unless--it was right. She is-- is--?" The question halted. timidly.
 Ainleigh nodded solemnly.
 "Yes. dear heart" he said softly, T have the right TOW. And your"
 ''Yes. Oh. Francis, you know. You known
 He held her tenderly while she cried upon his breast, betting and soothing her with little words and little caresses until she sighed away thessobs of re- action and sought his lips.
 By and by they walked along the paths in a great happiness. after the sole mn relation of that accidental death which freed him from a tyranny long grown @an nbcarable. yet borne with pa- tiense for the sake of others--her fam ly and his.
 Ainleigh smiled quecrly when stat ug the particulars.
 Had 1t not been an elooement," he | .aid, the automobile would have been | Iriven less recklessly." But Elta did | lot care to hear more.
 She stopped beneath the silver poplar l md picked up solitary eaf that rest | d on a tiny mound of whitening grass. |
 This is the one, Pm sure,'' she said | olithely. T shal, keep it always
 Her lover stared,
 '"That? he asked. My dear child. | what can you want of that old thins?'
 T saw 1t fali.' said the girl, dream ly 'I thought about it. I'll smooth it | ut and press 1t SO 1t will last long inc in It's resurrection. It was like ne, Francis"
 Like you%" Ainleigh laughed in- gazing at her cheeks. now brilliant in the keen air. T fail to see he resemblance, little girl There's lothing of the faded leaf about you"
 T was resurrected in my blood, Iear." she answered. happily. The rosts have only made me brighter. soor leaf"
 But the man only laughed again, ucking the slender arm closer as they wandered on. Perhaps a gleam of her meaning crossed his mind, for. sudden Y he hant his head and kissed her.