The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-06-26

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not?"
aren't we?" she said, with rather
elaborate indifference.
Personally, I'm not-not a bit. l
was at first. For "a hours was aw-
| fully hard hit. 1t isn't a nice trick to
play man, you know, to bolt with his
best friend fortnight before the we'd
ding?"
ut was, perhaps, better" she sus-
gested, than boiling fortnight after
the wedding"
"You couldn't expect me-" he pro-
tested, ito see it in that cold blooded
and philosophical light. No, don't
mind admitting that at first | was
awfully hard hit. Then l thought Of
you"
Thanks" Her tone was dry. Did
the thought of me comfort you?"
"Well-I-thousht you'd be awfully
hard hit, too," he explained rather
lamely
80 I was at first" she admitted in
cautiously.
There was a pause. She forgot to
torture the gravel
How long" he inquired delicately,
"did it l;\t?"
"It?"-
"The first agony" he said, with SOL
emnity.
A smile crept into her eyes.
"About-about "a hours-and half a
minute" she confessed.
"I told you," he said triumphantly,
that it was worse for you than it was
for mel"
by half a minute" she retorted.
Then
"Well?" he murmured.
"Oh, then I remembered you. But
that didn't" she added hastily, "con-
sole me in the least. 1t made me
worse"
"Worse!"
81 had to be sorry for you, as well
as for myself Don't you see?"
Her tone was shade impatient. He
reflected for a moment or two.
"If I'd known that" he said at last.
at would have made my recovery
much mere rapid. I should have felt
it my duty" there was a touch of
laughter in his tone-'to avoid giving
you more cause for distress than you
had already. l should have felt that
"a hours of despair were exactly %
hours and SO minutes too long. i
SUPPOSE" he hinted, that we must
concede the other minute to blighted
affection"
wouldn't it be more truthful" she
suggested, "if we conceded it to-pro-
priety?"
81 shouldn't have dared to mention
propriety," he replied gayly, "but l
can't deny that l thought of it.
After ALL they didn't want us. Why
in the world should we pay them the
undeserved compliment of continuing.
under such unpromising circumstances
to want them?"
81 shouldn't have been practical
enough to put such an admirably SEN
sible idea into words" she returned,
smiling at the handle of her parasol,
"but | must admit that it did occur
to me-"
at would have helped me enor-
mously," he declared, 'if l could have
supposed it possible that you might
think like that"
at seems to me-" she returned, not
without an attempt at condemnation,
that you really weren't in need of
any help. Your recovery was quite
rapid enough as it was. If 1t isn't
the direst heresy to say so, I'm begin
ming to wonder whether you-whether
you ever cared for Angela at ALL"
'If it isn't the most confounded i'm
rertinence on my part to hint at such
a possibility" ne confessed softly, I'm
on the point of asking myself whether
we were-perhaps-not absolutely des-
olated by the fact that they didn't
want US"
Her head dropped little. There was
laughter in her eyes.
"Its quite too extraordinary" she
said, "but the possibility is in the act
of occurring to me, too"
He moved a shade nearer to her on
the garden seat.
There was something wrong some
where" he reminded her. What was
it? We weren't able to hold them, you
know. We didn't know the reason at
the time, or we should Of course, have
set the poor things free. We didn't
realize, either of us, that we couldn't
hold them because we ourselves cared
for-well, say, other people"
"Cther people?"
"Say you-and me" he suggested,
vaguely, az for you, and you for
but in that case" she said, with
delightful severity, we're pair of
hypocrites. We haven't behaved splen-
didly at all-and it's no credit to us
that we didn't NOPE. We-we're hor-
rid shams."
He captured the parasol-and the
hand that held it.
"I can't permit you,' he declared, ito
abuse either of us. Don't say we were
hypocrites. At the worst, we only
showed a natural talent for the ex-