Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-15

she less gifted with powers of self-deceptionz
and did she, therefore, recognize in the recesses
of her own innocent heart that she felt happe :
than she had for three weeks past just because
her old friend Edward was himself again." and
not cold, reserved, almost distant, he had beer
during that space of time? Indeed, he was some8
what more than his own old self. Nina had
never before met such look from his browIt
eyes as once or twice this morning made he :
own blue ones to drop so precipitatey, and he |.
heart to beat with strange, sweet agitation and
bewiderment. And then, too, he seemed so hap
py; or if the ardent eagerness of his whole manner
and bearing was rather too suggestive OF unres +
for happy" to be the fitting word, there wa
something in his look that irresstibly gave tn 7
idea of weight lifted from the heart, cloud
passed away from the minds eye" and the re
dictionary freedom and relief that naturally attend
on relaxation of mental tension 1t would havf
made Nina glad at any time to see one she carec
for look so buoyantly, BEAUTIFULLY joyous as Ed
ward seemed this morning. and it was quite al
established fact that she did care for" him. Sh {
had known him since she was a child of tel i
years old, and he college youth of seventeen
and he had been her embodiment of MASCULINE T.
wisdom, intellect and general superiority from tina
time to the present No wonder, therefore, tina
she had felt sense of dreary dissatisfaction Will
that qudsi-estrangement (Which no one noticedk
and she herself only instinctively recognized
had subsisted between them. No wonder tha Z
life was brighter and sweeter to her now tina
he was once more her friend
And 1t enchanted world; and tn E
homely little inn where they stopped was a
Arcadan cottage, and the lunch (athough brea
and butter, biscuits, and sherry were simply sc
down in the bill was celestial in its nature an
ambrosal and nectarine in its materials.
And If all this the case what shall b
said of the walk through the woods after the sal
repaSt? The party of four sauntered forth to
gether, the three ladies and their cavalier sid
by side By insensibe degrees, however, thi
order of progression was altered. Nina was en- f.
treated to look at certain primroses, small ferns
and violets which had clustered together lovingl
about the roots of specially fair-stemme(
beech; and then presently he tempted her t
linger and listen to the woodpigeon's tender mus
that came to them so softly and tremulousl
through the spring silence And so it befell tha
at the next bend in the wood path the elder ladies
busily talking, were out of sight, and these tw'
young people were virtually alone in their para
disc.
And Edward was saying
"Do you suppose Eden more beautiful thar
this? And don't you think it must always hav
been this particular there?"
And he looked round with an expression o
praise and love that grew and grew in his eyes
till it finally eliminated as they rested Nina
sweet dropped face. She felt the gaze she di
not venture to meet, and the color came and wen
upon her cheek Again the unwonted sense o
embarrassment oppressed her strangely. She
walked on rapidly, hardly knowing she did so +
until she was struck almost motionless with the
earnestly uttered words:
nina, you are not trying to escape listening
to what must say?"