The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-12-25

,srs the outcrash Of the sea.
aYou mean me-" he concluded.
aDo T.
He looked up into the lovely face
Her eyes we're very sweet, very clear
sesr With excitement hutver Friendly
aTet Us SIT here on the steps a littl,
while. will you?" she asked
So be found a place beside her on,
step lower, and she leaned forward
elbows on knees, rounded white chr
m her palms, the starlight giving hel
hare arms and Shoulders a marble lus
M and tinting her eyes a deeper
amethyst.
And now, innocently untethered. mis-
Eion and all, she laid her heart quite
bare-one chapter of it. And, like 9th
o. women Grant who believe In the
influence of their sex individually and
eOiIectively, she began wrong by tell
ing him of her engagement perhaps to
emphasize her pure disinterestedness
In q crusade for principle only.
30 1t was when she was most elo-
Quent, most earnestly inspired-nay.
In the very midst Of a plea for sweet
nsSs and light and simple living-that
hh reasonings found voice In the me-
terial comment:
II never imagined you were Ell
gassdF'
~0f course you didn't. You'd known
me for about three hours-there on the
Cliff
'But-Quarrier"-
Over his youthful face sulien shsd-
uw had fallen-fiekering, not yet set
tied He would not for anything OH
earth have talked freely to the woman
destined to be Quarters wife. He
bad talked too much anyway. Some
thing In her, something about her, had
oosened his tongue. He had made
plain ass OF himself, that was ala
garruous ass. And truly 1t seemed
that the girl beside him, even in the
starlight, could follow and divine what
be had scarcely expressed to himself.
or her instincts had taken a shorter
rut to forestall his own conclusion.
Don't think the things you are
thinking she said in a fierce little
voice. leaning toward him.
What do you meanY' he asked,
taken aback
you know! Don'tl 1t is unfair-it
Isis faithless--tO me. | am your
friend Why not? Does it make any
difference to you whom l marryP If
such a friendship as ours is to become
worth anything to you-tO newly
should it trouble you that | know and
am thinking of things that cOnceln
your Is 1t because the confidence is
one sided? Is 1t because you have
given and l have listened and given
nothing in return to balance the ac
count? | do give interest-deep inter
est, sympathy If you ask it; l give
confidence in return If you desire it,
what can a girl like you need of
gympathy?" he said, smiling.
you don't know, you don't know.
If heredity is a dark vista and if you
must stare through 1t all your life,
sword in hand, always on your guard
do you think you are the only one?"
Are you-one?" he said incredu-
lousy.
yes" with an involuntary shudder,
not that way. 1t is easier for me.
think it is. | know it is But there
are things to combat-impulses, a
perhaps something al
most ruthless. What else | do not
know, for | have never experienced
violent emotions of any sort-never
even deep emotion"
You are in lover
Eyes, thoroughly" she added, with
but not violently. r.
She hesitated, stopped short, leaning
forward, peering at him through the
lusk, and, Mr.. Siward, are you
aughing" She rose, and he stood up
There was lightning in her dark eyes
low; in his something that glimmered
md danced. She watched it. fascinat-
~ Then Of sudden the storm broke,
hd they were both laughing convul-
lyeIy face to face, there under the
tars
Mr.. Siward," she breathed, 81 don't
now what l am laughing at, do you?
ou-you infer that l am either not
love or incapable of 1t or too igno-
ant Of 1t to know what I'm talking '
bout That, Mr.. Siward, is what you d
ave done to me tonight" c
lin sorry
Are you?" Il
i ought to be anyway" he said. d
II was unfortunate. An utterly In "
laughter seemed to bewitch o.
en, lowering always close to his Inns Il
I'd hers al
HOW can you laughr' she said. &c
low dare you! ! don't care for you sc
AIRY as violently as did, Mr.. 81 IL!
ara. friendship between us would 81
II be at all good for me. Things pass tv
SWlftly-too intimately. There is O.
much mockery in you She ceas- Oh
suddenly watching the somber al
.auon Of his face, and, Have hurt to
she asked penitently, wi