The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-12-19

hum 10 his death, and then sboito "
self behind the plea that it rmei'er r.o hely
n mistake! 1t is Il mistake ~, S,n.rln.rth 'ler.th
pardonable,
( Her eyes flashed with q sudden light
softer than anger. eager and intense.
Richard! Not unpardonable.' she
cried. "You cannot use that word 10
me--you canuot!'
He did not answer She leaned TO.
ward him lightly. speaking past his
hard Silencc as past tangible bar
| r;cr. Richard, last night Won asked
mo to sny that ! loved YOU. and I could
not, because the words frightened me,
But ] will say it now. ] have given
my true love TO you-to You out Of all
the world-to no one. ever, bnt you
She waited as though the avowal
though he guiycrcd visibly under her
, words, he did not answer
g Richard. - she cried again.
lie lifted his set face. but il was not
to look al hor.
- You might find, IN year that you
had made another mistake he said,
slowly.
The. stiffness lay heavy between them
for Il hrcathless second. he could hear
his own heart beating.
81 think I have found it out al
ready She said. Then on the instant
she was gone, The door that swung
smut behind her quivcrcd with her i'm
petuous touch for a moment. aud then
all was still ON The veranda. and the
afternoon quiet fell back upon the
scene as before.
Norton did not move His brain was
still whiring as from q shock. and he
was hardly conscious of his surround
lngs. He was only conscious of a hurt
so profound that lie could not put it
INTO words, even 10 himself. When,
after long waiting, she still did not re
turn, he aroused himself and wandered
restlcssly down 10 the dock ut the foot
of the lawn. II she chose 10 shut her
self from him, The launch. now on
lis return trip 10 the railway station,
sipnalled question, and on an impulse
be answered
With scarcely a voIition on his own
part he found himself back in tho
parchcd city from which he had fled
50 light heartedly a few hours before,
II had the unfamiliar look of u place
that has been long forgotten.
The next day, after fretting away
some hours most unprofitably at his
office, his longing to somehow make
Virginia suffer as he was suffering
mastered him, and with sudden resolve
he caught an early train for the lake.
What he meant 10 say TO her was not
very clear in his own mind. Indeed,
his feelings were wholly chaotic. Yet
he wanted 10 see her. The habit Of
carrying his hurts TO her for healing
had been SO easily acquired, Tho word
awaiting HIM at the lake was there
fore new and unexpected blow. Nir-
gina was gone.
"Goue9' he repeated hlankly.
An hour ago. Mrs. Stafford said,
with face ostentatiously clear of curl
osi,y: She received telegram this
morning from her mother in Rich
mnnd, asking her TO come home at once.
Her sister is an invalid, YOU know,
and they were alarmed about her con.
dition. She took the first train pos
siblc. and asked mo 20 explain 10 all
her friends.
"Will You express my sympathy
when you writc'n he said. formally.
1T must he really serious, reflected
Mrs. Stafford, watching him depart
AS he followed the footpath TO tho
stntion, whrro Virginia must have
passed an hour before. his eye was
caught by a book fallen among tho
brown undcrbrush. 1t was thc book she
had been reading in the hammock the
day before-thc book from which War
wick's photograph, with IFS fatal
revelation, had fallen. He picked it
up. II WAS collection of Browning s
love-pocms. Virginia jackson S name
was on the fly-leaf. in Warwick s we'll
known hand. The book fell open at
"A Lover S Quarrel aud his eye was
caught by the words:
Foul be the world or fair
More or less, how can / care?
IT'S Tho world the same
For my praise or blame,
And endurance Is easy there.
Wrong in the one thing rare
OH il is hard TO bcari
lie read IT over twice. No words Of
his own could have expressed so com
plctcly his sense Of wrong at Virginia s
hands 1t was not merely personal
hurt She had been the one thing rare
to his hcart-and she had failed him. 1t
was best that she had gone, Nothing
could ever restore his radiant dream,
aud he could not bear 10 accept any.