The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1908-04-23


his strange conduct, and she sat staring
at him while ne continued: II told you
once that when / wanted my bill I'd let
you know. I'd ask for pay. want 1t
now. / present my bill"
With scared, miserable feeling, Mad
dy listened to him, wondering where she
should get the money, IL it were possible
for her grandfather to raise 1t, and how
much her entire wardrobe would bring,
suppose she should sell 1t. With half
stiHed sob she began to speak, but he ST.
fenced her by gesture, and sitting down
beside her, said, in voice more natural
than the one with which he had at first
addressed her:
"Maddy, know you have no money.
1t Is not that want, Maddy; want-I
want-you."
He bent down over her now, for her
face was hidden in her hands, all sense OF
sight shut out, all sense of hearing, too,
save the words he was pouring into her
ear--words which burned their way into
her heart, making it throb for q single
moment with gratifed pride, and then
growing heavy as lead as she knew how
impossible 1t was for her to pay the debt
as he desired. -.# .. "
"I can't, doctor; oh, can'tw she sob
bed. II never dreamed of this; never
supposed you could want me for your
wife. I'm only a little girl-only six
teen last October-but I'm SO sorry for
you, who have been so kind. If l only
could love you as you deserve! do love
you, too but not the way you mean.
cannot be Maddy Holbrook no, doctor,
cannot"
She was sobbing piteously, and in his
concern for her the doctor forgot some
what the stunning blow he had received.
Don't, Maddy, darling!" he said,
drawing her trembling form closely to
him. Don't be 80 distressed. I did not
much think you'd tell me yes, and was
a fool to ask you. l am too old; but,
Maddy, Guy is as old as l am"
The doctor did not know why he said
this, unless in the first keenness OF his
disappointment there was a satisfaction
in telling her that the objection to his
age would apply also to Guy. But 1t
did not AFFECT Maddy one whit, or give her
the slightest inkling of his meaning. He
saw it did not, and the pain was less
hard to bear. Still, he would know GER
tainly If he had rival, and so he said:
do you love someone else, Maddy? ls
another preferred before me, and is that
the reason why you cannot love meT
"No," Maddy answered, through her
tears. There is no one else. Whom
should / love, unless it were you? I
know nobody but Guy"
That name touched sore, aching
chord in the Doctors heart, but he gave
no sign Of the jealousy which had trou-
bled him, and for a moment there was
silence in the room; then, as the doctor
began family to realize that Maddy had
refused him, there awoke within him q
more intense desire to win her than he
had ever felt before. He would not give
her up without another effort, and lay
ing her unresisting head upon his bosom,
he pleaded again for her love, going over
all the past, and telling OF the interest
awakened when first she came to him that
April afternoon, almost two years ago.
There was great lump in Maddy's
throat as she tried to speak, but it cleared
away, and she said very sadly, but very
"Dr. Holbrook, would you like me to
say yes with my lips, when all the time
there was something at my heart tugging
to answer no.? I
This was not at all what Maddy meant
to say, but the words were born Of her
extreme truthfulness, and the doctor thus
learned the nature of the struggle which
he saw plainly was going on. r
''No, Maddy, would not have you say
yes unless your heart was in it," he an
swered, while he tried to smile upon the
fearful face looking up so sorrowfully at
him.
But the smile was q forlorn one, and
there came instead tear as he thought
how dear was the fair creature who never
would be his. Maddy saw the tear, and
as if she were child, wiped 1t from his
cheek; then, in tones which never fall
tered, she told him it might be in time
she'd learn to love him. She would try
so hard, she'd think of him always as
her promised husband, and by that means
should learn at last not to shrink from
taking him for such. 1t might be ever SO
long, and perhaps she should be twenty
or more, but some time in the future she
should feel differently. Was he satisfied,
and would he wait?
Her little hand y0as resting on his
shoulder, but he did not mind its soft
pressure or know that it was there, so
strong was the temptation to accept that
half-made promise. But the doctor was
too noble, too unselfsh to bind Maddy to
himself unless she were wholly willing,
and he said to her that if she did not love
him now she probably never would. She
could not make love. She need not try,
as it would only result in her own un-
happiness. They would be friends just
as they always had been, and none need
know of what had passed between them,
none but Guy. II must tell him." the
doctor said, because he knows that I