The Sauk Centre herald., 1908-05-21

up courage ana asked the woman l
loved to marry me.
She gave me hesitating little
eyes," and then l kissed her to pre-
vent her taking it back again.
Jack" said Helen, suddenly, when
we had talked over the future that
we were to spend together, were you
ever in love with anyone else?"
l had made up my mind that there
should be no secrets between us, so
holding her hand in mine and looking
into her laughing eyes l confessed
the little episode of the previous sum.
mer.
Are you quite sure that there was
never anybody else?" she asked, when
my story had come to an end.
T Quite" l answered honestly.
u think We might have lights now,'
she said, rising and going toward the
door, through which she disappeared.
A servant came in presently and
lighted the gas, and then / fell to
dreaming and wondering why Helen
did not come back
The sound of a step on the carpet
caused me to look up, and there ad-
vancing toward me l saw-not Helen
but Miss Lee in her sailor hat, her
gray veil and pink cotton gown.
l felt for moment that l must be
dreaming, but merry laugh which
sounded very real fell upon my ear,
and the next moment the veil was
lifted and Helen's blue eyes were look
ing into mine and she was saying:
II am SO glad that there is no one
but Miss Lee for me to be jealous Of
"You see l have horribly jealous
disposition" she began in answer to
my request for an explanation, "and
after papa married again l was
wretchedly unhappy, and hated my
stepmother with a hatred that was
only equaled by her detestation Of
me. When she and my father returned
home after their marriage l tried
very hard to be agreeable to her, but
she asserted her authority over me in
such disagreeable way that one day
l lost control of my temper and we
had dreadful scene. Papa heard all
about it when he came home that
evening, and the end of it was that /
was told the following day to have
my things packed, as l was going
away for the summer l had expected
to go abroad with my father, as we
had done so many summers before,
and was therefore a little surprised
when he told me that / was going to
pass the summer at a farmhouse in
Vermont
my stepmother's maid travelled
with me to Hartville, and saw me set
tied with the Bennets, miserly old
farmer and his wife. The latter,
soon discovered, was a sort of connec-
tion of my stepmother's.
''The day upon which l first saw
you | had put on this thick veil as a
protection against the mosquitoes,
which always swarmed about a cer-
tain marshy place where l sometimes
went for wild flowers. Almost as soon
as you got up and came toward me
recognized your face. Although we
had never met had often seen you in
town during the previous winter, and
thinking it quite probable that we
might meet some day, and not caring
to appear to you in the light of a
naughty child who was being pun
ished for its misdeeds, kept my face
concealed at our subsequent inter-
views.
when l told you that my name was
Lee l did not tell an untruth, for it
is my middle name. l suppose it was
very wrong of me to have made a
practice of meeting you in that Sc
cluded part of the country as 1 did,
but the temptation was too strong,
and Il don't wish to flatter you), but
there was certain attraction in your
society.
'My aunt had been abroad for some
months, but l knew that she was ex.
pected home in July. l wrote her
telling of my whereabouts, and was
not surprised when she appeared at
Hartville one evening and told me to
be prepared to go home with her the
next day.
81 was only half glad to go away
with auntie when she came; but let
me go, Jack. 1 hear the carriage, and
they must not see me in this cos.
tune"