The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-01
AIIcIA,S HOME COMING.
nv CeciIla A. Loineaux.


 .rt isn't even as if you needed to dc this, Alicia" Bob Kendall held his voice to d cool argumentative tone that made the girl before him still .who are you that you should decide vhsther | need to do anything at all?' she biazed. indignantly.
 T am your finance. and he was beginning, when she interrupted him If that Is your excuse TOT sucn un- inst interference with my wishes, can st feast relieve you of your duty" And she placed her engagement ring on the table between them. The young man gianced at 1t without seeming to see # Then he looked sharply at the an- rry girl who was drawn to her full
 aAIicia." he said. gently, you are foo angry to realize what you are do- ing Put the ring on your finger again; you don't mean this.
 Pardon me. do mean IL. said the girl, icily. rhesvo mans face whitened. and q hurt look sprang Into his steady brown eyes Then he strengthened up and squared hIs shoulders and set his sfrong chin firmly. When he spoke there was a note of hardness in his voice which the girl had never heard from him before and from which sne shrank mentally.
 Alicia, do you realize what you are doing? We were to be married in May; your trousseau is begun, I know. An you've given me every reason to be. l lfeve you cared for me as much as do for you. And now. because ask you to do this one thing-for your sake as we'll as mine-you are going to give all this up7
 The girl turned suddenly and wen' | to the window. where she stood look ing out into the dripping garden sn, l felt her lips quivering and she mus | Rob looked at the crown of dark-re' hair against the deep green of tn' ! window draperies. and his voice SOU | ened.
 .This is all I've ever asked of you | Alicia. I've been to confident or youi | love for me after you confessed 1t | I've believed in you too utterly ever t' be jealous of your filtration, as man: | another man would have been--an' rightly. too. I've submitted cheerful! to being .traiied' In public because l | was you who did the trailing" Alicia turned and faced him again I her foot tapping the floor impatiently | .Ts the list of your virtues a lon | one. sir?'' she asked.
 T shall not name them all" he an swered, calmly. The only thing "
 evef insisted upon your doing is tni | one we're talking about. Give up tni
 siiiv iii concert tour. I've never said [ | word when you've sung for swee charity's sake, or for any society af | fair. even when the publicity of th' events has often made me Wrttne This time you haven't any real reason | You are not in need of money ant you're not doing 1t for charity. l isn't even the necessary ambition Q the professional to win higher plac l f6r herself. You will get hattery iron | the critics who do not think it worti | tha effort to spend real criticism or society amateurs. If they should criti else you honestly-the way they d professionals, to whom 1t means DreaS l and butter-you'd see the point Tn | trying to make. I appreciate th' | charm of you and your voice as no ont else who looks and listens to you pos | sibly can, and, Alicia Fairaii. don | want to see you damned with fain l praise nor humiliated by any eonscien tious critic. Cant you see that
 When you are quite through" in | terrupted Alicia. you can doubtless find your way out. must ask you t
 excuse me" And she swept from tn room pausing once In the curtaine' doorway as if to speak.
 Unconsciously she assumed a thea
 trical attitude, Her face was turne'
 back over her shoulder and her lip
 were parted a little. With her glow ing head and her soft green dress be
 tween the heavier green of the cur
 tains she looked like a tall. beautifu dahiia, and Bob involuntaiily starte' forward. But she closed her lips to
 thin red line and went on droppint
 the curtains behind her. Presently h
 heard the tapping of her clippers upoi the stairs and then the bang of
 door.
 He did not leave the house at once
 but stood at the window where Alici' had stood. and looking out In the graI twilight It was early Spring. As h | looked wearily at the sparrows on tn
 soaked lawn. Bob felt his throat tight
 en. and brushed his hand across ht eyes.
 She couldn't mean It," he muttered
 as he turned and picked up the eme raId ring and slipped it into his yes pocket. 'Tt 1t too close to May for he
 to mean that" Then he sought 10 I