Gilpin observer., 1908-07-16

hands and put his lace within an Incl
Of her-I could see by the freight II,
look Of determination and ineffable re
lief. The secretary gave a little or,
and drew back. I conjectured thai
Wilfred was on the point OF making
an irretrievable ass of himself, SO
interrupted proceedings by knocking
a book on the sofa and rising to my
feet. At the first sound of the book
falling the two had jumped to their
feet and stood, the girl shrinking 7'ess
to wilfred and Wilfred with his arm
thrown around her.
who goes there!" he said, sternly,
as he discovered my figure in the
gloom, and "Ah!-its you, Terhune,"
as l came into the circle of light, in .
tone hope may never hear from him
again.
AS the secretary aaw who 1t was she
sprang away and was gone from the
room in second.
Well he said, with a sneer, as the
curtains closed behind her, leaves
dropper meddling as usual. What
can l do for you?"
sat down on the stool. "Sit down."
[ said. with quiet authority, land we'll
talk 1t over" He sat down. In mo-
ments like this he forgets his inde-
pendence and remembers that at one
time he used to obey me habitually.
I wanted to comfort him, but l knew
my duty better. Vincent" said, ap-
pealingly, don't you see it won't do?
She's no match for you-a girl with no
family and no money, and of her sta
tion in life. Give it up, / implore
you. Think Of your father. There
has never been a mesalliance in the
family; 1t would break his heart"
Vincent raised his head Mrs.
Armistead says her family is perfectly
respectable he said II asked her"
Perfectly respectable!" I repeated,
contemptuously. Think Of Vincent
marrying a girl who has nothing in her
favor but the fact that her family was
perfectly respectablen"
Vincent sighed pathetically and l
delivered one more blow Think"
said; your brother Edmund is over
40, unmarried. and a sufferer from
rheumatism OF the heart, as you know.
Suppose he should die-wouldn't you
make a more creditable heir to the
title II you hadn't tied yourself up to
a wife OF obscure origin-a penniless
American girl? And II you don't come
into the title you're only a younger
son. and you know yourself your pro-
pensity for getting into debt, and the
foreign Office for a boy of your age
is not paying business. No, Vincent,
you're not cut out for making money,
and it's certain you can't depend on
your father forever. Can't you see
how rash and foolish you are to con-
slider such thing?"
l leaned over and put my hand on
Vincent's shoulder He turned his
head, and when felt his smooth
cheek against my hand l knew that
the battle was won.
I'm awfully sorry, Arch" he said,
that was such a beast last night.
I'll never forgive myself for trying to
strike you. Only. you see, lost my
head, and l didn't know quite what
I was doing" "Of course" said, ~
understand" But he would not let
me stem the tide OF his remorse. And
then. you know, what you said was
very hard to bear, and you see. after
all, 1t wasn't true. She told me it
wasn't. Did you hear herr"
Yes" assented. "and believe she
told you the truth"
"of course; but then you're always
right, Archibald, always right When
I go away from here and never see
her any more"-his lips quivered un-
controllably-"I may be able to forget
her"
"Of course you will" assured
him, cheerily, though there was a lump
in my throat. Men have died, but
not for love. Many have been as hard
hit as you and have recovered"
"oh. yes" agreed my patient, but
without enthusiasm; but at any rate
I had gained my point. and Vincent
had agreed with me that marriage
with the secretary was too rash and
foolish for him to contemplate.
'By-the-by, Arch" he said, careless
ly, as we still sat before the fire try
ing to make believe that the incident
OF the secretary was closed, II have
something to tell you. The secretary
told me outright which one Of the
Six girls really is the daughter OF
Fletcher Boyd"
| looked at him in utter astonish
ment, What" l said. excitedly: dc
you mean to say she deliberately gave
away the secret? Which one is II, 70,
Heavens sake? And why did she
do it,"
Its Agatha Sixth. You were right
all along. AS for the reason, don't
know what she did 1t for, unless-un
less" he hesitated. shes such an
honorable little thing think she fel;
that the marriage would displease my
family so she wanted to turn me