The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1906-12-25

way. OioCuaS ms again. 1He point IL
Herbert Hartley"
Then must put ON my bonds
again? Where is the rlngT
But he hadn't the ring.
You had 1t last"
II laid 1t in your lap"
But it was not in her lap nor the
seat nor the carriage Alexandra
laughed. "Oh, thrifty George, are you
sure you've not taken 1t back for safe
keeping?"
he stood long moment at her door.
"And Hartley" he said
Insistence was match to her powder.
How can I answer unless we're en-
gaged7 And people can't be engaged
without rings, can they, Georgef You
seem to think with mine on that /
fail to remember. Bring it back to me
and-good nightw
After week Of wrath mingled with
pain he got himself under control and
wrote her. But the answer came back
the same absurd, maddening, almost
insulting relteratlon--the ring, always
the ring. A perversity first or a pre-
text, did she use 1t now as a weapon
He hadn't the ring, she knew
Life was turmoil once Alexandra en-
tered, and he remembered with what
perverse astuteness she had said her
self: I'm like a mustard plaster on
your mind. You'd better take me off
before 1 raise blister"
But she was in every wind that blew,
and without her nothing was worth
while that once had been.
So for a fortnight he had gone about
his accustomed ways, and, though
many a fiutter Of familiar skirts had
set his heart a-jump, yet he never had
met Alexa since that night. Then a
case Of some Importance took him out
Of town with such sharp demand upon
all his faculties that he had known a
sort of respite.
But back in the town his work was
all to do again He went his way
down to his office; he bowed to peo-
pie who drove past with swift hope
that Alexa would not be with them.
And then Unexpectedly with a group
near the Hurds-there was Alexai
Yes, it was Alexandra and Evelyn
Hurd, and with them Herbert Hartley.
The group stood until he had almost
reached them, when Hartley turned,
and Evelyn went back to the house,
while Alexa stopped by the Hurds'
waiting carriage
He knew she had seen him long be-
fore. butt was one of her insiQcerities
he most disliked-she acted out acute
surprise. He put a sitter guard upon
himself.
A sitter guard! She called it by
another name. She hated him when
he was like that How futile he made
her feel, how trivial, how vainl Well,
at least she would make him feel once
more and betray 1t; she would wiring
out of him a protest
And then her mind misgave her.
Was she being left with the situation
ON her hands? Would he accept with
out protest? Would he never speak
She looked up and then down again
to her ungloved hand on which his
eyes were fixed. A seal ring of Her
bert's took the place of the one that
was lost. A loke-a stupid ioke-but
STUPIDITY lent her a stammering tongue.
George, George" she called after
him, but she entreated only an infiexi-
BILE back. With Herbert's name on her
lips and Herbert's ring on her finger,
she was indeed left committed to the
situation the last of her desiring.
Alexandra Haunted Herbert Hartley
In Greenfeld's face; she waved him
abroad like banner. If the town
hummed with rumors of her, she help
ed the rumor wax, but helped 1t to no
explanation.
But with her family there was one
topic that, like the weapon used in
committing crime, seemed always i'm
possible to dispose of. The nile green
tuIle-why didn't she wear 1t? And
that was the one thing she couldn't do
1t was their house dressmaker that
In a measure vanqulshed her at last
Zone, two, three" measured the WON
an That's only once and a quarter
and I'll need as much again. Those
ruf11es on your nile green underpetti-
coat-they're a match, Miss Alexandra
and we're in a hurry"
Alexandra went into her room, shut
ting the door behind. The tulle hung
upon the hooks with kind Of defiant
grace, as If 1t still held something OF
it's owners quality. She took the gowr
down slowly and spread 1t gently out
upon the bed How happy she had
been when she had worn 1.-THE las
time she had been happy!
She had meant they should have q
memorable evening, she and Georg'
and the gown. And how had 1t 81
fallen outf Coquetry? What did 1
mean except that If 1t were good to b'
with George 1t was Joy still subtlel
to dance away with some one els'
knowing his eyes held her, followed
her. and that for each the crowded