The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-02

Not tnl she was alone in her room that night did stephen dare 10 let heF thoughts run freely.
 But now in the darkness her mino began to work truly, so truly that sne began at the first step of logical pro- cess: to study facts. And to study them she must question till she found motive.
 Why had Harold sent her the letter? His own words said that 1t should De in her hands. Then. again, he said It might comfort her to know the letter was safe.. How could 1t comfort herE
 How did he get possession Of the let ter?
 There she began to understand; her quick intuition and her old knowledge of Harold's character and her new Knowledge of Leonards, helped her to reconstruct causes. In his interview with her he had admitted that Leonard had told him much, all. He would no doubt have refused to believe him, and Leonard would have shown him. as a proof, her letter asking him to meet her He would have seen then, as she did now, how much the possession of that letter might mean to any man.
 Stretching out her arms in the dark ness she whispered pleadingly;
 eForgive me, Harold.'
 And Harold. far away where the set ting sun was lying red on the rim of the western sea, could not hear her. But perhaps God did.
 How she longed to be able to cry. How sweet at that moment would have been the relief of tears. .s.
 And Harold's motive? For there could be no doubt as to Harold's earn estness when he had told her that he loved her.
 Here Stephen covered her face in one moment of rapture. But the gloom that followed 1t in her soul was darker than the night. She did not pursue the thought. That would come later when she should understand.
 And yet. so little do we poor mortais know the verities of things, so blind are we to things thrust before our eyes. that she understood more in that mo- rnent of ecstasy than in all the reason- ing that preceded and followed 1t.
 She had reproached him with coming to her with his suit hotfoot upon his knowledge of. her shameful proffer of herself to another man; of her refusal by him. Could he havo been so blind as not to have seen, as she did, the shameful aspect of his impulsiwe act? Surely. if he had thought, he must have seen! . :. And he must have thought; there had been time for 1t. It was at dinner that he had seen Leon ard; 1t was after breakfast when he had seen her. And if he had seen then.
 In an instant 1t all burst upon her; the whole splendid truth. He had held back the expression of his long love for her. waiting for the time when her ma turity might enable her to understand truly and judge wisely; waiting till her grief for the loss of her father had be- come a story of the past; waiting for God knows what a mans mind sees of obstacles when he loves. But he had spoken 1t out when 1t was to her ben- ait What. then, had been his idea of her benefit? Was 1t that he wished to meet the desire that she had manifest ed to have some man toto love?
 One other alternative there was; but f seemed so remote. so far-fetched, so noble. so unlike what a woman would do, that she could only regard 1t in shamefaced way. She put the matter to herself questioningly. and with a fneekness which had it's roots deeper than she knew. And here out of the depth of fter humility came a. noble thought. A noble thought. which was q noble truth. Through the darkness of the night through the inky gloom of her own soul came with that thought ray of truth which, whilst 1t showed her her own shrivelIed unworthiness, made the man whom she had dishon- ored with insults worse than death stand out in noble relief. Tn that ln- slant she guessed at, and realized, liar old's unselhsh nobility of purpose the l, supreme effort of his constant love Knowing the humiliation which she must have suffered at Leonard's hands, | he had so placed himself that even her rejection of him might be some solace