The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-01-17

straight before her diSconSolate That l can't get a proper perspec- tive of Robert" she unused; makes it hard for me to analyze my feelings re- garding him. You don't know if you want a thing or not, if you are always anticipated in the wanting of it. That's how it is with Robert! want to want him very much, but I have him al- l ready, so how can I tell.'' ir'
 The girl clasped her hands impa- tiently over her head. Now take my family. They all brag about Robert because he is such a dependable man! Why, that quality belongs to him just as his nose does. Its nothing to com ment upon, that I can see. Sometimes it's even tiresome." { Going over to a window, the girl I krelt on it's broad seat and aazed ! through the gray mist that gathered ;. on the glass. Now he will be here in-precisely" -glancing at the clock. ten minutes, with the same mechanical promptness l that has characterized his calls upon me ever since grew up. I really be- l lieve that Robert hasn't mite of tenn perament. He's as constant to habit as dad to his after-d dinner cigar"
 Now just see that rain! I should l thing that he would phone up not to i come; prompt to the minute-and soaked through, 's5- @. q wished sometimes that I hadn't grown up with Robert In every single event in my life, he's either been in it, or lived in the next block to it.. | He's like my alphabet. can't remem- Der when I didn't know it. I can't get
 far enough away from him to really i tell if I love him or not, and can't l get him to go far enough away from 1 me to find out. He just laughs when I tell him that. Sometimes l. have l doubts. s1#e, There is his bell nowr' She jumped
 to her feet and looked at the clock. why, Robert!'' in astonishment, you are n minutes turning to face the
 door as it slowly opened. Her eyes
 quickly changed from their eager, in
 innate expression, to the conventional
 one, as maid entered, and leaving a package on the table, quietly withdrew
 The girl flushed. and turned back to the fire. But you are late Robert for the first time" The rain hurled
 itself to the street below. The wind coaxed the flying sparks up the chim-
 ney, and out into the dark day. When
 the girl became conscious of the dark
 ness, she lighted the lamps, and re- turning to the window peered out into
 the drenched street. Gray figures | S,;..
 floated by like spectres, and the creak
 of the wheels of an electric car slid- ing on wet track came up to her from below. '"5 's "He might have 'phoned if he
 couldn't come! That's only common
 courtesyT <
 The clock struck 5, and the girl
 started to her feet.
 why" she gasped, tits o'clock
 and he never failed me before!"
 Her voice had q shook tone in it, as s1 if she were being .rudely introduced to
 a new factor in her life.
 I "When man like Robert fails to keep an appointment, it's serious! He
 could have 'phoned me easily" she
 protested passionately, land an hour late!''
 Maybe it was only an impluse. or
 the desire of our parents that made
 him tell me in the first place that he
 loved mel" she persisted. Now he is
 consumed with ennui, and stayed away
 because he is too much of a gentleman
 to come and act bored" Angry tears in her eyes, she paced the length of the room nervously. Suddenly she
 paused in her restless march.
 "Well, it's perfectly clear to me,
 now, that don't love him. she an-
 nounced to her bookcase. "I am angry
 and hurt--but I don't love him.
 Tt takes thing like this to get at
 ones feelings. We have made a mis- take, and when he comes, for of course he will have to come some time, I will tel him so. I won't give him a chance
 to say first about it.'' The girl lifted
 her head proudly.
 q will tell him that can't love him
 cant possibly love him! I always
 knew that lis devotion had more of the protecting element in it than the ar-
 dent, and I took it for love. It may be he did-then."
 A gust of wind caught the storm
 door and blew it shut. The girl paused listening for the sound of footsteps toming down the hall. "r can't love you Robert" she murmured mechani-
 cally-'I can't love you!'
 The snapping of the logs on the
 hearth, and the rain-sodden noises out
 side alone broke the stiffness. While
 she stood there waiting. a sound did
 reach her ears. alarming and insistent. r Running to the window she rubbed of , the dampness with her handkerchief,
 and endeayored to look out. An amblu.
 lance jumped past her out of the black ness, warning bell changing nadly ir l the wild rush forward. The hammer oi galloping feet, the licked of a pale
 light, and the hurrying of people to. wards the point of interest, made the girls heart beat fast with apprehen
 sion. ,..o
 How awful it looked in the dark"