Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-22

which they sat. Her eyes were only
and their violet depths were mazed witt
that made his heart suddenly contract. .
she breathed.
You do love mel" he exclaimed stubl
edge of masculine resentment rasping
You dol I'm not mistaken DO you thu
know? Before l went on that confound
Egypt in Burlingame's yacht year ago
DON'T Oh, don't!' She put out
weakly, and he caught one of them with q
impetuousness and bent his lips to it.
I" l shall say it! You kissed me then h
Monte, in this very spot, with the moo
shining on the water. You kissed me! L
love me then? Or was it only" He ha
but he felt the slim hand he held grow IL
dinghy rigid in his clasp. " / was such an
coward, and the money wasn't mine, and
prospects, and I-oh, l wanted, when |
asked you to marry me, to have some
thing decently tangible to offer you! But
you knew | meant it; you knew would
come back to say it. You couldn't have
misjudged me that way; for l wasn't
that sort. There has never been any
body else with me. And you have
admitted that there is no one else with
you. And yet you won't marry me!
His voice broke off with something like
a groan. He dropped her yielding
fingers, and his chin sunk dejectedly in his
hands.
The gaze she turned to his detected
posture was very soft, now that he could
not see it. Her eyes were luminous as
fire-opals, and her lips were tremulous
and tender. The hushed whispers of
tropical fir and palm, and the pale scent
of exotic California blossoms seemed to
cling about her like a careSs. He looked
up suddenly and felt the full measure
of her regard. Even in the dim light
she could see the tinge that leaped to his
cheek "Jessica, Jessical" he besought,
what is this thing that has come
between us? Tell me, dear, please. Can't
your"
Again she had averted her head, again
her fingers plucked at the tapery grass
spears in a nervous trepidation. "You-
wouldn't understand.
He moved closer to her on the moss.
Try me-
You wouldn't, you wouldn't" she
cried. Nobody would. feel that it's
irrational, absurd, and yet-and yet
OH she finished miserably, Il can't
shake it off, and | don't want toll And
the worst of it is, can't explain to any
body. / tried once to tell woman,
advised me to see DIR. Holbrook. s.
now that | am queer; | see it in her e.
ever she looks at me-"
~ was q oOASiy PNNHiOd NC4iiISii1ilSS
now in the moonbeams; but it was gray
You mean there is something in your
that forbid you to marry me?"
Yes" The acquiescence was faint and
"Forbids you to marry anyone?"
A shake of the auburn head.
The trouble seems to be my own p
then" he said with shade of bitterness.
l altered so? Do l disappoint your /
ideals?"
No, mol" The denial was tense and
he took courage
You lows - one else, yet. Do you in
may come to lows some one else?
No answer He WINGED as he saw the q
locking of her fingers.
Some one you known"
She shook her head.
Some one you have seem"
"No-yes-no-ah, don't ask mel
see | am unreasonable and contradic
queeri" She laughed now, sad, unnirt
laugh.
He paid no heed to her vehemence. g
seen him, and yet you haven't seen him,
on slowly. used to think the terms
self-exclusive. Perhaps they are not. c
You know that if thought there was a we
ed reason for your determination, woul
whole round world between us before
trouble you with a word; but somehow
IL l.