The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1906-01-02

GORDON SLIPPED STRONG ARM ABOUT
HER AND DREW HER TOWARD HIM.
carefully to the sound end of it and
sat down, catching her breath in q
little spasm of relief In the distance
a coyotes cry sounded distinctly, and
a whole army of minor echoes thronged
in its wake.
The pink gray of early morning flung
an enchanting rosiness over everything,
and the air was suddenly vocal with
the matutinal chirping of thousands of
birds.
Presently the girl got up and began
to search along the side Of the log for
something. She came to it at last.
Any one looking at her just then could
have detected that from the unmis-
taxable signs of emotion all at once
visible on her face. Quick tears sprang
to her eyes as she looked and splashed
unheeded on her interlocked hands.
'R. g., e. r., June, '02-June, '05."
The letters, roughly carved with a
pocketknife, were a trifie eaten away
at the edges, but perfectly legible still
"Our wedding day." she murmured
softly, touching the crude inscription
with tender, tremulous finger. "Dick,
Dick-if we only hadn'tv' For a mo-
ment she felt as though she were going
to choke. The memory of past bitter
ness-their quarrel, estrangement and
final separations upon her suffo-
nof rrIu vl,l, ,i,,rx
a swift access of pride, she threw back
her head, the mist drying away from
her eyes and leaving them half hard,
half regretful, bright as stars For a
full minute she stood there tall and
straight, immovable as a statue; then
she bent suddenly and laid her cheek
against the rough side of the log.
Almost on the instant the sharp snap
ping of a twig brought her upright,
with a startled movement Not TWEEN
ty feet away, just visible through the
interlaced foliage, a man was striding
rapidly toward her. The girl had just
time to gather her skirts and slip noise
lessly behind a screen of bamboo
Despite its nonchalance. Gordon's
careless swing had a decided purpose
behind it. He cans directly up to the
crumbling old log and stood looking
down upon its crusty surface with an
inscrutable expression in his keen gray
eyes.
Presently he, too, stopped and scan
ned closely along certain line on the
side of the log In an instant his face
lit up only t. loud swiftly, while a
look of pain mate his clean, clear fea-
lures look almost sharp He sat down
and dropped his face in his hands with
a sort of hopelessness too entire for
expression. After a little he lifted his
head YEARLY and stared straight ahead
or him at nothing at all. Then, all at
once, he started, paled and jumped to
his feet, every nerve quivering. On the
soft turf exactly in front of him were
footprints-a woman's footprintsl And
a bit further on lay a tiny scrap Of
lace, vaguely exhalant of a subtle odor
her favorite perfume
Gordon stopped quickly and possess
ed himself of the handkerchief In one
corner were the initials he already ex-
pected to see there He crushed It
against his lips with a passionate rush
of tenderness, and a wonderful light
came into his eyes. Dearest of all wo-
men," he unused radlantly, 81 shall 90
to the ends of creation to find you If it
takes me all the eternities to do itr'
The girl held her hands tightly over
her heart, lest Gordon should hear its
turbulent throbbing. Her teeth, caught
unconsciously over her lip, left clean
row of pink indentations for a long
time afterward.
As he turned to come past her she
shrank back bit and her foot slipped
fatally. The next moment Gordon was
bending over her, and his breath, COM
ing In little quick jerks, lifted the fine
hair from her temples in tiny gold
wisps.
Tim afraid it's going to be serious,
Dick. 1 don't believe l can walk bit"
Quite involuntarily she had reverted to
the old familiar title.
The world seemed to stop revolving
for a minute. Then Gordon slippsd