The Washington times., 1905-09-24

and eagerness as he pleaded for the
privilege Of taking her servants place
Alice no longer dared to interrupt him.
and hardly ventured to lift her eyes
from the floor. She had come down
with the firm purpose of saying some
thing to him which would put an end
to all intimacy, and here, before she
had been five minutes in his presence
he was talking to her in a way that
delighted her ears and her heart He
went rafting on as if fearful that a
pause might bring a change Of mood
AS she rarely looked up. he could feast
his eyes upon her face. where now the
color was coming and going. and on
her shapely hands. which were clasped
in her lap. He talked of Colorado as
II it were settled that they were to go
there together. and they must certainly
have some preliminary training in
rough riding; and then. merely to
make conversation, he spoke of other
places that should only be visited on
horseback, always claiming in all of
them his post of groom. Alice felt her
trouble and confusion of spirit passing
away as the light stream of talk
rirpled on. She took little part in il
at first, but from monosyllables of as
sent she passed on to a word of reply
from time to time; and before she
knew how it happened she was en-
gagged in a frank and hearty inter
change Of thoughts and fancies. which
brought her best faculties into play
and made her content with herself in
spite of the occasional intrusion of the
idea that she had not been true to her
self in letting her just anger die so
quickly away.
If Farnham could have seen into the
proud and honest heart Of the young
girl he was talking TO, he would have
rested on the field he had won, and not
tempted a further adventure. Her an
ger against him had been dissipated by
the very effort she had made TO give
it effect. and she had fallen insensibly
into the old relation of good neighbor-
hood and unreserved admiration with
which she hzd always regarded him.
She had silenced her scrupIes by the
thought that in talking pleasantly with
him she was obeying her mother, and
that after all II was not her business
TO judge him. II he could have known
his own best interest, he would have
left her then, when her voice and her
smile had become gay and unembar-
rassed according to their wont, with
her conscience at ease about his faults
and her mind filled with a pleasant
memory Of his visit
But such wisdom was beyond his
reach. He had felt suddenly. and once
for all. in the last hour. the power and
visible presence Of his love. He had
never in his life been so moved by any
passion as he was by the JOY that
stirred his heart when he heard the
rustic of her dress in the hall and saw
her white hand resting lightly on the
dark wood of the stairs. As she
walked into the parlor, from her face
and her hair. from every movement of
iIer limbs, from every hutter OF her
soft and gauzy garments. there came
to him an assertion of her power over
him that filled him with a delicious
awe. She represented to him, as he
had never felt it before. the embodied
mystery and majesty Of womanhood
During all the long conversation that
i4-.G followed. he had been conscious Of
sort OF dual operation of his mind |
Ike that familiar TO the eaters OF
hashish. With one part of him he had
been carrying on a light and shallow |
conversation. as an excuse TO remain |
in her presence and. to keep his eyes
upon her. and with all the more active |
energies of his being he had been Civ
ing himself UP to act Of passion |
ate alteration OF her The thoughts |
that uttered themselves to him, as he |
chatted about all sorts of Indifferent |
things. were something like these: |
How can IL have ever happened that /
such beauty, such dignity, such physi- |
cal perfection could come together in /
one person, and the best and sweetest
heart have met them there? II she
knew her value, her pride would ruin |
her. In her there is everything, and (
everything else beside: Galatea the /
statue. with Christian soul She is |
the best that could fall to any man. |
but better for me than for any one |
else Anybody who sees her must love |
her, but i was made for nothing else |
but to love her. This is what mythoIo- |
gies meant. She is Venus: she loves |
laughter, and her teeth and lips are di- !
vine. She is Diana: she makes the