The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-31

debfa She feared she might get an ary; and in the present state of her mind towards Leonard the expression of any feeling, even contempt. would not .be wise. Her best protection from him would ha c manifest kindly nega- tion of any special interest. In the eNcond place. she believed that he woufd have her letter with the other papers, and she did not wish her aunt to see it. lest she should recognize the writing. Besides. the sight of u might cause her some emotion which either of the others might notice. Tn | her boudoir with a beating heart. she untled the string and looked through the papers
 Her letter was not among thera.
 For q few seconds Ehe stood stock | stili, thinking. Then with sigh. she sat down and began to read the list of debta. turning to the original now and | again for details. As she went on. her | wonder and disgust grew: and even a sense of something like fear came into | her thoughts. A man who could be so | wildly reckless and 60 selnshly un- scrupuious as this was a man to be feared. She knew that his father was a comparatively poor man, who could not possibly meet such q burden as | this If he were thus to his father, l what might he be to her if he got q 1 chance.
 1 she made few pencil notes on the l list; and went back at once to the 1 study. Her mind was made up as 70 l her action.
 whilst she had been away Leonard l had had a distinctly uncomfortable I ttms. He tried hard to be airy and aegage in hia manner, and to make l smalitnlk in . becomingly unconcsfn- Ad way. But the old ladys eyes were upon him all the time; their unremlt- 1 tins ea1e was intensified by the lselasser which she used remorseiessly I ssncs her last meeting with him she had been thinking: and when an cd lady thinks. something has got to Arisa from 1t. She replied very aptiy and very politely to all his remarks: but her vigilance never relaxed, and he I felt himself growing humiliatingly hot l unaer her scrunity. Sterhen'e ab- I nsfee seemed unaccountably long, and Ia chafsd inwardIy. TWO minutes
 should have sufilced 10 read the sum maryl There was no necessity of hes
 going into all the detaitpl Could she l not trust hirni. .....if thfe thing went
 on much longer. and that internal old
 woman kept locking at him with Bel
 internal glasses, he would have te break out But that internal let
 terg She may have expected Co, ma Il
 with the other papers. Everything
 waA internal todayl still, nc mus
 keep quiet; he had not yet got ths I money"
 When stephen returned she wal
 quite businessIike and calm. She did ' nes manifest the slightest disapprovai
 but seemed to simply accept every. thing as facts She asked him few
 questions on subjects regarding which
 she had made notes. such as discounts
 These he answered Go the best of his
 ability Then she held the paper out to him and without any preliminary
 remark said:
 twin you please put the names tc these9s
 How do you meanT he sasSed
 flushing.
 ..The names of the persons to whom
 these sums marked debts of honor
 are due" His reply came quickly. and
 was a little aggressive; he thought
 this might be ( good time to make a
 bluff:
 1T do not see that that is necessary can settie them when l have the
 money Slowly and without either
 passe or furry stephen replied, look,
 inR straight in ths eyes as she handed
 him the whole mass of papers:
 aOf course it is not necessaryi Few
 things in the world really arel I onls
 wanted to help you out of youi