The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-05-02

heart.
When he reached the hospital he
strobe quickly into the main build
Ing. But half way along the CORR
dor which runs through 1t he stopped
he stopped in his walk because he
had called halt in his thoughts.
they had been joyously rushing fur
Their and further along new paths and
new byways.
Was Mabel Greenwood anything
more to him than a pleasant friend !?
Did he feel for her more than friend
ship?
He did not laugh the thought
down. He neither affirmed nor de-
MED the question. He shrugged his
shoulders and went on down the cor
ridor, but Immediately his thoughts
were forging ahead down their new
paths and plunging again into their
new byways.
But before long he stopped again.
II ! take up this Hampshire prac-
tlce, he unused, II shall seldom be
IN London. Our friendship will
cease. Well, the ending of chance
friendship will soon be achieved and
forgotten
But in his heart the thought of a
different ending was gaining strength.
He did not go so far as to admit. or
deny its possibility, but the new by
ways in which his. thoughts were
wandering were at least pleasant.
After an afternoon at Henley. fol-
lowed by a dinner at Gattis and a
theatre, Mabel Greenwood returned
to the pretentious but shabby Bays
water boarding house which, for want
OF anything else, she called her home.
During the afternoon and evening
she had been for Cayley the gay,
light hearted companion that she al
ways was. She had made no effort
to be SO; she had simply abandoned
herself to happiness.
She kept her love for Cayley in the
secret places Of her thoughts. Even
when she heard that he had bought
practice in Hampshire, and fore
saw, as she was quick to foresee, that
their friendship would of necessity
soon cease, her spirits did not fail.
She merely told herself that for the
present she would not face the fut-
ure.
That night, however, the skeleton
OF the future dwelt with her.
She did not sleep. She heard the
clock Of neighboring church strike
each hour, and she saw the light steal
in-she saw it grow till each familiar
object in the room became distinct.
OF the certainty of her love for
Cayley there could be no doubht.
In those silent hours it brought her
pain. Every thought that grew from
It stabbed her. If 1t could ever be
accomplished, If she had but the
right to count the hours to a day
when it would be consummated, she
might have known the depths Of Joy.
She could never marry Cayley.
Yet she thought of all that she
could give-her youth. her power of
love. Surely she had much to give;
yet what more than many another,
many another whom Cayley would
meet as an equal, not as he had met
her. in a pleasant friendship, sprung
from chance acquaintance?
"Yet no one can give him all that
! can give" she rebelled piteously.
The cold light was growing strong.
remorselessly disclosing the shabby
room.
Her poverty sprang up to mock
her. She had lost her place in Black
ley's because she was said to have
been careless. She could hardly
hope for good position after that.
Perhaps she would not be able even
to continue living In the boarding
house. She would have to live more
humbly, her pleasures would be few
er, her life narrower. unless she ac-
copied pleasures which as yet she had
refused, unless she lived differently,
less strafghtly. After all, why not?
And II so, why not Cayley. rather
than another? II she gave every
thing and asked for nothing It would
be she who would pay the toll OF suf-
fering, when 1t came to be paid. And
in the meantime she would have the
Joy.
Shame came upon her, shame and
something more. That might be the
beginning beginning Of what?
She buried her face In the pillow,
she shut out the light.
The first sounds OF the day broke
in upon her thoughts. From the
main thoroughfare, some streets dis
tant, came the rumble Of the early
trafic; In the street below her win
dow the milkman was busy.
She got up and steeled herself to
think clearly.
II am not q fool" she told herself.
II shall have to let this Joy pass by.
It will not be easy. but must crush
my love-"
She poured out some water, and
again and again bent down her face
into its GOODNESS. Her thoughts be-
came clearer, and she began to dress
carefully and methodically, as was
her wont. The postman came into
the street, and his sharp double