The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1908-01-25
CHAPTER xx.-fcontinu.d.)

In the alcovc that Val occupied by
Mrs. Fenton's couch Bride and Prof.
Lewiston were sitting. She was engaged
for that dance, she had told hisn, start
Ing up eagerly when the first strains of
music reached the supper room, and he
bad taken her back for her partner. But
The music rose and fell, there was al
ever.moving whirl OF dancers, and still
Bride sat expectant, until at length the
music ceased and the dancers suryed out,
laughing and talking, into the cool hall
With its many lounges.
"Shall we follow them r. the professor
asked, sorry for the girls piteous eyes
and whitening face. 1T Is growing so
hot here"
He felt he should like to knocx Char
teris down. Never before had he felt in
such an aggressive mood as he did when
be- pushed open the door leading into the
conservatory. They sauntered aoD: I'M
der the huge Towering palms, Brides
hand lying listlessly on his arm. They
reached the end of the path, and turned
mechanically to retrace their steps. when
Brides hand frightened its grasp, the light
came back to her face.
III Y 10 was AhA1iAA 49, NA1
the cross path, his face pressed against
the glass as If he were trying to pierce
the gloom outside. He started violently
as Lewiston uttered his name, and then
came forward with his own sweet smile.
Dear Bride, will you ever forgive
me?' he asked gently, as she looked at
him, her great eyes filled with %reproach.
al was SO sorry TO miss that dance but
you will give me another, won't you?"
'Oh, yes :" Bride, poor, simple Bride,
said breathlessly.
She turned to Lewiston with a frank
smile which, while her words thanked him
for his escort, told him still more plain
ty he was no longer wanted. He felt
very unhappy as he moved away, but his
unhappiness was, with the exception of a
triling sense of loss, entirely for Bride.
he was afraid she was building on very
shallow foundations.
He roamed about aimlessly, feeling very
much at variance with the gay, pleasure
seeking crowd. lie had nothing in com
mon with these light-hearted young folks,
be felt pitifully old and lonely. Life had
always been so serious, so grave a matter
10 him he had been weighed with respon-
sibilities at so early an age that 1t had
made him an old man before his time.
"And yet ] am not really old" he
mused. Il am not bald, my eyesight is
keen, and / am more vigorous now than
I was as an Undergraduate. | am an
older mar now at thirty-seven than young
Eenton will be at fifty. 1t Is my manner,
my loss of all those affections and ties
which complete and augment a mans
life. / am a horribly lonely man.
A little later he wandered again into
he conservatory now almost deserted.
BE paced up and down, his hands clasped
Behind his back, his head bowed, deep in
Ehought-thoughts that brought q frown
10 his face.
Passing down one of the side walks
be noticed casually that the door of a
small orchid house had been left open,
revealing glnhpses of it's exquisite treas
ures. Lewiston revealed in flowers, and,
preoccupied as he was, remembered that
Mr.. Fenton had said something about a
new and rare acquisition lately procured.
de entered the small house, that possess
ID no other door save the one by which
be had entered. He found the new treas
ure and examined 1t critically, sauntcr-
ing slowly round until he had reached the
door again, and then the sound of famil-
hr voices attracted his attention. He
peered through the leafy screen and took
/ cautious survey.
Billy Fenton and Aileen Beresford
we're sitting on a lounge directly opposite
DO the door, and there was something in
their attitudes that made Lewiston. I'M
Eersed as he was in such matters, realize
hat to make his entrance at that moment
would be exceedingly unwise. lie looked
at the young couple dis~pass.onately, adj
hiring the pretty picture they made. and
lhoughtfully criticising the play of the
ubdued light on Aliens downcast face
and Blly's handsome features.
Aileen was really quite a pretty girl I!
be thought refectively. For the first time
he seemed TO look at her simply as a
woman and not ms the product of modern
progress. He had always been va .lely
conscious that she was p%leasanter to the
Eye than the majority OF her fellow stu
aents, but on thGt point he had never be-
fore appealed TO him. 1t had been by
her intellect, her extraordinary capabil-
IVY the feuoWu as u pupil thul sue Woulu
rive her master that had been first in His
thoughts concerning her. He had pro-
posed to her, it was true, but it had been
simply ia Difference to an absurd modern
convention that would not permit even an
intellectual partnership between a man
and a woman, q master and pupil, with
but unpleasant rumor and scandal.
TO be sure Aileen had been something
bf a shock to him since his arrival in
Caterham West. She had not manifested
her usual avidity for information, her
customary concentration Of energies in
her reading, but he had excused her way
wardness on the score of youth and the
Holiday influence. Until that moment,