Middletown transcript., 1907-08-31
BIIJNDER

ing theleast Bit inquisitive, and
she always seemed TO make him
talk about himself without ap-
pearing to do SO.
/ shall never forget our chats,
he said earnestly. especially that
one onSunday night about choos-
ing the right woman. Il sank
deeper than you Il ever know.
Miss Brereton flushed slightly.
I never meant to preach. she
said apologetically, only I've
seen SO many lives wrecked, and
I couldn't bear to think you
might plunge into a mistake
through ignorance of our sex. It
was only meant to warn you to
sift the false from the true, and
to teach you to recognize what is
shallow and artificial when you
see it. You told me there was no
one you specially cared for, you
! know, or I should never have
been SO bold.
| He looked across at her with
an almost sad expression in his
goodly boyish face.
Doesn't it strike you as strange
for a man Of twenty-five never to
have had a love affair Of any sort
never to have cared for one
girl more than another 7
It strikes me as remarkably
sensible, she said decisively. It
means that when the right girl
does come, she will get some.
thing worth having.
His expression changed q little
l-he dropped his eyes and began
to fidget neryously with the
tablecloth.
| I have absolutely never known.
hs said slowly, till yesterday,
what it felt like to love any
woman-except my mother.
/ Margaret Brereton's heart
gave a wild bound, and then
seemed to stand still-her cheeks
paled slowly. and under the table
her hands clasped and unclasped
| one another.
! Till yesterday she repeated,
hardly Knowing what she said.
| Kynaston Merrick was fun.
bling in his coat pocket with his
sound hand. He did not notice
her agitation-he was evidently
agitated himself. You won't
laugh at me, he went on, because
| you never do, or I shouldn't tell
you. II it was possible-but !
suppose it isn't-I should say !
had fallen in love with photo
graph. He extracted something
as he spoke, and held it out to
her.
i Miss Brereton's S self possession
came back in a moment, and with
it the heartache that had grown
habitual to her of late.
And you've really never seen
the original ? she asked, stretch.
| ing out her hand to take it from
him. How old-fashioned and
romantic Of you !!
Never !! be replied, and I don't
suppose / ever shall. She's prob.
ably married with a family Of
children-or-or something.
She took the picture from him
and gazed at it long and earn
estly. Her face didn't change
only a very close observer might
have noticed that her lips quiv'
cred slightly.
It represented just the head
and shoulders of q young girl
hardly out of her teens-wiIh
wide, eager eyes, not unlike
Kynaston's own, and masses Of
dark hair and frank, smiling lips.
She was in evening dress, but
only a little bit of dimpled neck
and a fold or two of drapery were
visible. II was a picture Of her.
self, taken when she was eigh'
II teen.
Margaret Brereton turned the
i picture over. You found this
q in the house, she said in q cur.
iously quiet voice.
Yes, In the drawing-room.
was looking through q lot oi
albums and things to amuse my
]. self yesterday, and I came across
I Lit. Is she-is she any relation
of yours 7 / fancied there was !
j likeness.
ri Miss Brereton.nodded. Avery
l distant one, she said carelessly.
81 But isn't tia perfect face !? he
went on with boyish enthusiasm
I I've never met any girl a bit like
I her, yet I've known heaps o.
pretty ones. She's just the ides
I've always carried in my brair
. tnf xuh0f m ~ xsYffo chas,ld lr.r,iy fstys