Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-04-17

N.
Miss Iiddle stared at him for mo-
meTt. Woman of the world as she was.
his appeal moved her. She hardly. In.
deed, understood him.
Zone day. she echoed.
Yes. Think of the years I've lived
without you-the years | must live with.
ont you. One day out OF them won't burt
YOU. We're no longer children. YOU and
L Let me come down tomorrow early IN,
and stay with YOU for the dav. It's q
queer notion. you think? That's INV az.
fair. Don't refuse me-
She did not She had always souobt
hand.
And my day is nearly DONE" said
Perciyai, with an odd laugh.
A distant church clock had struck &
with slow, lingering strokes. The sonud
came family to those two sitting be-
meath the shelter of the sandhilIs far
along the shore.
They had spent the entire dav tooetb-
er, and now, as PereiYal said, the day
was nearly done.
His world was not her world and she
knew it. She had always known It. even
during that summer when strange mad
ness possessed her and clouded her men
tai vision.
She was reused out of her dreams nv
her hearing him ask her, in hating
words and with many pause, what he
had asked her years ago-to he his wife:
and to her own dismay she found herself
listening with sympathy-eyen with a
hint of yielding.
sWore Id never ask any woman
twice, he said, with naive simplicity;
but you make me break my oath.
can't help myself, Virginia I know all
you would say-all you said before. and
more, no doubt; but | must say it, even
II I've got to leave you forever-forever,
mlnd-in ten minutes. | love you'll love
|you!"
She was silent. Other men had plead
ed with her in far more ardent, far more
eloquent terms; but they had never
moved her as Jim Percival moved her.
There was the Duke of Bedminster. who
had offered her five country seats,
palace IN Park Lane, the finest emeralds
and pearls in England; an income run
ning into five figures, and incidentally
himself, and she had never even hest
tated, to that youthful peers amaze
ment. There was the home secretary
who begged her to found a salon and
help him in his parliamentary career,
and she had said no without a tremor
Ihere We're others, too numerous to men
ton, and she had refused them all, kind
iy but decisively, feeling nothing but
slight pity and tinge of amusement
Tor their sakes. Here was something en-
tirely different, and before it she quailed
woman of the world as she was
Think it over" he urged, as she did
not speak. 81 won't hurry you or bother
You, only let me know soon, Virginia
You can do what you like with me-
There's nothing ! couldn't do for you and
your happiness. Promise you'll think it
over
Il promise" she said, drawing a long
breath, feeling that she was with those
words giving up some of her precious
independence
She was surprised at her own feelings
as they walked slowly back to the hotel.
somehow the idea of marriage with Jim
feTcival had assumed a more probable
aspect. She parted from him with sim
cere regret-even with affection, remem-
bering that she had always, as she said,
been fond of him as boy, ten years ago.
He left her with hope singing in his
heart, and, turning at the corner of the
road, waved his hand to her as she stood
there in the rays of the sinking sun,
gracious figure, with the red parasol held
over her head.
1t was delightfully."- cool in her room,
shaded by blinds, and she sat down
In the open window at her writing table,
but it was long before she took up her
pen. The letter was difficult one to
write, and had she really made up her
mind?
Nearly week had sped since that in
toxicating day at Rosscarlow. She must
in justice to the man give Percival his
answer. 1t was not fair to keep him in
suspense.
As she sat there plunged in anxious
thought, hating between two opinions,
the voices of the croquet players foated
up to her, and she caught fragment of
their conversation.
It's thousand pities, all the same,
she never married ="
Miss Liddle started as if she had been
shot.
A thousand pities she had never mar
ried Why-why did those idle words
bring before her picture of her lone
liness?
In that instant the thought of jim
Percival cheered and comforted her in
tensely. After all, why not? He loved
her-had always loved her-and she
cared for him more than any other man
she had ever met. Perhaps she might
say she loved him.
She dipped her pen in the ink and
wrote few lines, her face paling with
emotion as she signed her name to that
little note which was to bring peep into
Eden to Jim Percival.
She was unusually brilliant that night
and the life and soul of the party.
Il am delighted to see you in such
good spirits, Virginia" said Lady Kill
Turin as they sat together in the drawing
room after dinner. You were looking so
tired this afternoon.
Il am quite we'll now" returned Miss
Liddle, with an odd smile.
She slipped into the moonlit garden
later, before the men came in from the
smoking room, leaving the rest of the