The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-28

fContinued)
 "I know you are your own mie' my dear. But surely 1t would De ,.h ter if Mir. Everard would consult "ien his solicitor or his fathers ass", ,,ch some of his gentlemen friends m suon \ matter. rather than with youhs iadv whose relations with him, aiter all are only those of neignoor on visiting terms. For my own pSI
 shouid have thought that MT. Ever ard,s hest course would have been 10 consult with his own father put
 things that gentlemen, as Weu
 dies. do, have been sadly chan s,s- r,,, t,me,. Then. rising in formal dig nity, she bowed gravely to the
 before leaving the room.
 ppt inc position of being left alone ,n tha room with Leonard did not at all suit Stephens plans Hisins up ouicllv she said to her aunt:
 @pon,t stir, Auntie. l daresay you are quite right in what you say pu. promised MT. Everard to go into the matter. And as I have brought the swk wardness on myself, suppose l must hear 1t. If Mir. Everard wants to see me alone. and I suppose he IS dtfndent in speaking on such mat fer hefore you-he didn't play with YOU, you know!-we can ro out on the lawn. It Is not so hot as it was, and the seats beside the spring are comfy. we recover his wits she had headed nm out on the lawn.
 Her strategy was again thoroughly good. The spot which she had chosen. though perfectly isolated as to sound, for 1t was beyond earshot was quite in the open and commanded by all the windows of the house. A person speak . ing there might say what he liked, but his actions must be discreet
 On the lawn stephen tripped ahead; Leonard followed, meek as to his mo- tions, but inwardly raging. By her clever use of the opening she had put him in a dificuity from which there was no immediate means of extrica- ton. He could not quarrel overtly with stephen; for if he did so, how could he enter on the pressing mat ters of his debts. He dared not open iy proclaim his object in wishing to marry her. for had he done So her aunt might have interfered. with what suc- cess he could not be sure. In any case it would probably cause delay, and de- lay was just what he could not afford. He felt that in mentioning his debts at just such a moment he had given stephen the chance which she had so aptly taken. Tn jockey parlance. she had ''roped" him. He had to be on his good behavior, however; and with an apprehension that was new to him he followed her
 Close to where the spring gushed from the rock was an old Roman mar ble seat which a bygone Norman had. on his return from his travels brought with him from the grounds of an Ital- ian villa It was placed at an angle from the house so that the one of the two occupants which 1t held within its curve must almost face the house. whilst the other gave to it at least a quarter-face. stephen seated herself on the near side. leaving to Leonard the exposed position. As soon as he was seated. she began:
 Now Leonard, tell me all about the debts9' She spoke in tones of gay friendliness, but behind the mask of her cheerfulness was the real face of fear. She had something of the feel ing of one who in old days had been placed on the rack. The mention of her letter5to him was the first. turn of the screw In itself it was unpleasant rather than painful; its terror consist ed in what was to follow. The wooden rollers had not yet begun to creak Down deep in her mind was a convic- ton that that letter was a pivotal point of future sorrow. It was in the mean- time quite apparent to her that Leon . ard kept 1t as his last resource: so her instinct was to keep it to the front and thus minimize it's power.
 Leonard. though inwardly weakened by qualms of growing doubt had the animal instinct that, as he was in op- position, his safety was in attacking where his opponent most feared. He felt that there was some subtle change in his companion; this was never the same Stephen Norman whom only yes