Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1905-11-23
CHAPTER XII.

j Il &
! Reggie's chambers in the Inner TEN
| pie looked depressingly cold, cherries
| and uninyiting as he entered them at a
few minutes past midnight. The train
| from Arlington had arrived late at
Waterloo, and a dense yellow fog had
| caused his drive through the snowy
| streets to he an unpleasant one.
But at last he had arrived at his
rooms. which looked aggressively UNI
| prepared for his reception. He struck
match and lighted the fire. He was
| cold aud also hungry, but the latter he
did not heed.
THE last eight hours might have
been eight years, so much has been
concentrated into them!" he said to
himself, with heart-sick bitterness.
little thought when | parted from Au-
drey this afternoon that | was kiss.
ing her for the last time. Fortunate
~ i dIti ilCI hloN II. oIlod1u La e
made fool of myself if l had. To
think that she is all the world to me,
and l am all the world to her, and yet
we must never see each other again!
Never again will her loving arms Irvine
round my neck and her face be raised
to mine, looking so invitingly sweet.
How stunningly pretty she is! Such
a divinely bewitching little mouth, and
eyes so loving and true!
But to let my mind dwell on her
lovability will only render me many
degrees more frantically unhappy, and
the writing of the letter to break off
our engagement thousand times
more cruelty difficult. How miserable
these rooms look! So depressingly
cherries in comparison to a home
presided over by Audrey. l shall cut
London now-in fact, England shall be
closed to me; and the sooner l put
miles between it and myself the bet
ter. Hard work lies before me now to
build up position in another country
and to steer clear of all help from
Guy. Oh, but this letter to Audrey
must be written"
Instantly he sat down at the writ
ing table and leisurely took out some
note paper. He was in NO hurry to pen
those words that would cut him adrift.
unloved and lonely. Twice he assay
to prosaic English and twice he tore
the half-written letters to atoms and
flung them into the fire.
Il don't want to break her dear lit
tie heart, and yet | want it to read as
an emphatically earnest break off, !" he
thought, with sigh. .'There is no
good in prolonging agonies. The soon
er that we both bravely face the inev-
table the better for ourself and each
other. | am afraid that she will be
awfully upset! l fervently hope that
she will not cry much. 1t would break
my heart, transform me into a wild
state of fiendish anger against Guy, if
But of course she'll cry. She would
not be a woman if she did not It's a
pity women cannot control their bitter
feelings as men do. A few days in the
blues in private. Oh, hang it, why do
my thoughts keep flying off at tan
gent? The truth is that l am cow
ard at heart about everything that
concerns Audrey. The letter must be
written, though. The poor little wom-
an must be told the cruel truth. Of
course Ellingham won't let her remain
short of cash. He can easily allow her
couple of hundred I'll make third
shot at writing to her. and it must be
successful !
Again he took UP his pen, and slow
~ and deliberately whote the letter
that would bring agony of mind to the
receiver OF it. Most carefully he re
read it-not once, but several times.
(To Be continued.)