The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-13

That's all right!" said the boy with a hearty smile. "On my honour I'll Keep your secret as my own.'
 And when I can I'll write and let you knoW!' And so a friendship be- gan-
 MT. Hardy left word at the desk that he would not see any one, espec- ially any newspaper man. But on the
 Riverside Drive the kodaks had been hard at work: the black horse was recognized. and the morning papers had many execrable likenesses of Lootenant Breckenridge as he appear ed galloping.
 In the hall of the Holland House Lord Athlyne found Colonel Ogilvie
 waiting for him with that old-fashion- ed hospitality which is still to be found in the South He cordially greeted his guest. and when. they had come from the elevator took his arm to lead him into his own suite. Athlyne was quite touched with the greeting extended to
 him. He had not for years been in the
 way of receiving anything of the na- ture of family affection. But now
 when his hosts warmth was followed
 by a fearful gratitude on the part of ms wife which found expression of quick bending forward and kissing the
 hand which she held in hers-to the great consternation of the owner there of-he was sensible of feeling foolish.
 Oh. pray! pray!' he cried, and then remained silent; for what could he do but submit gracefully to such an overt outcome of the feeling of a grateful mother Joy was a girl in whom were the elements of passion; was it strange that the same emotional yeast worked in her as in her mothers nature
 The introduction to Miss Judith Hayes was a relief. She too felt strongly; no less strongly when she realized that the valiant stranger was so handsome and of so distinguished an appearance. But after all the mat ter was not so vita1ly close to her. An
 arI may be. cannot be actuated by the overwhelming impulses of mother hood. This very difference however, made speech easier; she it was who of all the grateful little party gave best verbal expressions to her feelings. In frank phrases, touched with the native warmth of her heart and emphasized by the admiring glances of her fine eyes. she told him of the gratitude which they all felt for his gallant res cue of her dear niece. She finished up with an. uncomfortable sob as she said:
 eff it hadn't been for your bravery and resource and strength there would be no more sorrowful band of poor souls in all the wide world than-than'' she turned her head and walked over to the window. Athlyne could see that for quite a minute or two afterwards her shoulders shook. When at last she did turn round, her glassy eyes but i'll accorded with her incisive humorous phrases or her ringing laugh. The eff rect on Athlyne was peculiar; without analysing the intellectual process too closely. he felt in his mind with a sec ret exulation that he had found an ally" It may have been the soldier instinct, to which he had been so long accustomed, working in his mind; or it may have had another basis. Any how he was content.
 His meeting with Joy surprised whilst it satisfied them both. They looked into each others eyes for an instant. and to them both the whole world be- came crystal. The whole world' to them both-their world-the> only world that was to them at that moment, that ever could be, that had been since the ordination of things. This is the true hearts content. It is the rapture of sion may later burn the rapture into fixed belief. as the furnace fixes the painted design on the potter'S clay, but in that first moment of eyes looking love-the coming together of those twin halves of a perfect soul which was at once the conception and realization Of Platonic belief.
 At dinner Athlyne was placed be- tween Mrs. Ogilvie and Joy, Colonel Ogilvie being next his daughter an l Miss Hayes next her sister. Thus Aunt Judy, being opposite both her niece and the guest, could watch them both without seeming to stare. In the early part of the dinner she was abnormally, for her, silent;but later on, when she felt that things were going duly with some of the party, she man. ifested her usual buoyancy of spirits. She had in the meantime come to cer- tain conclusions of her own.
 Somehow there was an air of con- strain over all the party, but in differ ent ways and from different causes. was ill at ease because they all made so much of him; and as he was painfully conscious of his false po- sition in accepting the hospitality of such persons under an alias, their own chagrin. Colonel Ogilvie con- scious, rather by instinct than from any definite word or action, that his guest was more reticent than he would , under the circumstances, was rather inclined to resent it. The Ogilvies had from the earliest times been very inn portant people in their own place; and many generations of them had grown up to the understanding that their even their acquaintance, was an honour. Now when he had asked into his family circle a young man known personally to him only by his visiting card and by the fact that he had saved his daughters 1ife-very it was true-he found his friendly interest in his new acquafn- tance was not received with equal The truth was that Ath-
 
 that he was not his own master whilst those grey eyes were upon him-most certainly not when. he was looking in to the mystery of their depths. And so he feared lest he should become confused and weave himself into a further tangle of falseness. In the background of his own mind he knew what he wished-what he intended; that his beautiful grey-eyed girl should become his wife. He knew that he must first get clear of his false position; and he was determined at any cost not to let anything interfere with this. At first Colonel Ogilvie's allusions to his home and his place in the world were purely kindly; he thought it only right, under the cir of his great obligation, to show how such an interest a man of his age might with another much his junior. But he could not help feel ing that though his guests manner was all that was winning and tha' though his words were adequate ther