The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-03
.aura. for Gods sake answer mel'

Laura, for Gods sake answer mel" But still the woman was silent. She had not the courage to speak the words that would have to be spoken; to tell
 the lie that would have to be told. Laura" he cried, you do not mean you cannot mean that" He gripped her hard by the shoulders with both hands, and turned her face to his. She closed her eyes with a little moan of pain and would have fallen to the ground but for the strong fingers of the man who held her. But he could read the answer in her white face. Laura" he said graveiy. "do you mean that you refuse to marry me?" She opened her eyes and he knew
 the truth. He took his hands from her
 shoulders and looked away from her. There were deep lines about his mouth, and his face was no longer the face of a boy.
 And then the woman found the strength to speak.
 T cannot marry you, Jack" she said
 slowly. Tt would be impossible after
 what has happened. This thing would
 always lie between us. I have been thinking over many things in the night. I have decided that can never marry you. It will be best for both of us to part. and part forever" Do you mean," he cried hoarsely, that you do not love me because of of this?"
 T still love you. Jack." she replied. T shall always love you, but our ways must lie apart. A great shadow has fallen on our lives. and shall be in the darkness as we'll as you"
 For answer he reached out his hand to.open the gate so that he could pass through and come to her side; but she laid her hand upon his arm. TA- A1.l -tI IA AG Al&> f-nA A
 she said. Do not make the parting
 harder for me-" He dropped his hand from the latch and laughed bitterly.
 This gate. then" he said with a ghastly smile. lis the symbol of the life that Is to be. But I could break 1t down; I could wrench 1t from its hinges and splinter it, and reach your
 side. Laura, tell me what Is this bar rier between us, and why, if you still love me, you will not marry me-" T have told you,' she replied. can you not understand7 You have made our marriage impossible. There is nothing in my heart but love and pity for you. Yet If I married you, this
 secret, shared by us two by us two alone-would divide us so surely, so completely, that life would be hell to both of us. Goodbye, my dear lover! She held out her hands to him, and
 he pressed his lips to them Then the
 madness of great passion seized him. He loosed his fingers, and, gripping
 the gate with both his hands, he exert ed his enormous strength and literally tore the woodwork away from its iron
 hinges. 1t came apart with a loud
 crack ofkplintertng wood. and he flung the fragments far from him on to the grass. The whole action vas instan- taneous, brutal. terrible to witness. Before the girl could move from the spot on which she stood, he had clasped her in his arms and was sovering her face with passionate kisses You are mine" he cried hoarsely
 and will hold you against all the
 world---ay. in spite of yourself. in the face of every obstacle. You love me, and I will do anything to make you my wife. will break down all barriers as broke this | gate. I will suffer anything. I will l risk anything. You are mine. Laura till death"