Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-12-31
A Romance of
The Year S End
Continued from page l.

Dorothy was furious-as she herself
would have expressed it. Her wrath
when he began to speak ordinary, col
orless words out of the dictionary was
directly proportionate to the pleasure
she had had in the bird song prelude;
but, of course, she couldn't tell him TO
go back and do it over again. He
should have known it; he must be pun
ished
NO" she said, rising. "No, cannot
listen"
'That is your answer" said he.
II have not answered you at all"
said Dorothy. Il am not prepared for
either question or answer. Let us not
speak of it,
Il have spoken" said he sadly. IF
you have not answered, | can only
wait"
Eyes, she said, wait We have
been friends. Let US go on as before
But you must not speak to me of this"
"The question must remain" he said
with a touch of firmness. ''It would
not be right. it would not be honest. to
ignore it,
LET it be So" said she, land l will
answer
"When?"
''Within the year." said she, aDd
looked for him to plead for much
briefer time, but he said gravely:
"Within this year," And she an
swered, yes"
The absurd fellow accepted these
terms as if his honor were in pledge
for their fulfllment. They met as
friends thereafter, and Clifford was
often very charming and lOvable, but
his lips were sealed. There were times
when Dorothy could have beaten him.
He was aware in his foolish way
of her displeasure, and he read his
doom in it. The days passed, and she
gave him no answer, and of course he
didn't ask her for it. He didn't know
enough. He relied upon her promise
(the idiotD to answer him within the
year, and now it was half past 10 on
the evening of the 31st of December,
and she had not answered!
He could not believe that she would
be false to her promise, but he had
long since ceased to have the smallest
hope of any favorable word. Within
the last month he had seen her rarely;
within the last week he had decided
that he would go away. He had re-
signed his position with the bridge
company and was considering several
offers of work in the far parts of the
earth An agent of the British gov
eminent had offered him especial in
ducements to go to Pretoria for year,
and he viewed the proposition favOra-
bly, because the place was SO remote.
He had. in fact, accepted, with the sin
gle proviso that he should be permitted
to change his mind at any moment
within the year.
Several times during that last even
ing he had resolved to telephone to
Sir James KnoWlton, the English rep
resentative in this negotiation, that he
might consider the matter settled, and
then he had chung to the dwindling
possibility that Dorothy might yet
communicate with him.
At half past 10 he had foolish idea.
Perhaps Dorothy had sent some word
and he had not received it. Would it
be a breach of his word to ask her?
He sat with his head in his hands and
debated this question, and at last, like
dull, dishonest schoOlbOy who knows
the answer of the problem and shapes
his figuring to fit it. Clifford shaped
his reasoning to suit his desire and
dragged himself to the telephone.
Dorothy did not give him any time
to ask her anything; she had her own
way with the conversation.
What are you doingY' she asked.
Nothing? You're all alone? Well,
that won't do at all on New Years eve.
Come right over here. Father is enter
tanning few sedate graybeards, and
no one is entertaining me. If | had
dreamed that you were disengaged 1
should have summoned you"
That was very friendly-far, far too
much so. A young lady who felt her
self bound to answer young mans
offer of marriage within an hour and
a half would hardly address him in
style so unconstrained The inevitable
inference was that Dorothy considered
the matter settled already, the mo"
tacitIy given and understood, the love
episode at an end.
It is said that a poet has died young
in every one of US. He was not quite
dead in Clifford. and he was a really
able bard. Dorothy had heard him
sing once; she was now to hear him
sing again, and in n most moving
strain
Clifford's mood was ideal for the per
formance and his theme the exile's
farewell, has always been a favorite.
Moreover, he had the advantage of I'm
yelling complete surprise. and Doro-