The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-09

She heard me and turned her calm glance upon me.
 What makes you look so pleased ?"
 she asked.
 You I replied
 "No it Is not IT,
 But it is something about you. It is because you are a new Alicia, or rath-
 CT the early one come back again, the
 little Alicia Warren with whom the
 little Harry Clarke played at school"
 My reply gave her pleasure I saw 1t
 in the brightening of her eyes, and
 the sudden proud uplift of her head.
 T wonder if you have not told the
 truth,' she said thoughtfully, II do
 feel as if I were young girl again,
 and the past winter has been the least
 unhappy that I have had in five or
 six years. I think, too, Harry, that
 your success has helped. I feel as
 if you were finding repayment
 T have been overpaid already" I said, "and I want to tell you Alicia. that a little while ago I was afraid to
 see you, but have no such fear now" You were afraid because I am an- other mans wife and shall remain so," she said quite calmly. 'I do not hesi
 tate to speak to you of him. I bear
 his name now, and that is all. l have not seen him in three months, and he Will not dare to come here and an- | noy me-"
 
 the slightest fear of Grey, and it gave me keen sensation of pleasure. We walked on in silence and together up 1.-the slope. No one met us. We had the shady road to ourselves, and the | foliage was now so deep that all the little city was shut from our view. We were just we two in a world of the deepest green, with sky, low, dim and tender, Overhanging us. The l feeling of early youth came back again, but all mans emotions remained 1 with me.
 l In the wilderness forms and artifi- cialities are brushed away, the wild free air will not allow them and the 1 primitive man and woman stand forth. I began now to feel as if Alicia were almost free and as if she were intend ed for me. I think she noticed my si- | lence, but she did not interrupt it and walked on by my side, slender, white | and virginal.
 When she reached the crest of Ae | hill she stopped and looked eastward, l where the lovely Bluegrass region rolls away under a dim horizon.
 "It is pleasant to be here," she said. "It is for mel" I exclaimed, "Oh, Alicia, if you were only here always with me!'
 l I think I was carried away by the intoxication of the moment-I plead l no other excuse and ! seized her | 1duU. 0H0 UE0W IL away, UuI SIlG OIu not reproach me by either word ur l look.
 "We must not forget, either of Us, that I am another mans wife, and that l bear another mans name,'' she said. 1 You love me, know that, I am proud of it and the knowledge of it is the ! greatest thing I have I love you too, I do not seek to hide it from you now. Often I think that in the beginning it was intended we should be man and wife, but some unlucky chance, some | slip in the wheel of fate, changed it.
 It is past mending now, but, Harry, you and l can show the world that we are superior to it. It can be a meet ing of the souls, but nothing else.'' l It was the spiritual quality in her that spoke and N was humbled, al- though as I have said there was nOth- ing of reproach in word or tone. Wo- men alone I belieVe-and but few of | them-can feel a love that needs not
 marriage; perhaps it is higher and l purer, but man cannot live upon it l always.
 I "You are the Governor, and you must watch well your way" she said | in the utter calm of one who has now | a complete victory over herself. You | would not drive me away from Frank 1 fort I know, but I should have to go, if there were anything, even the slight est, which your enemies could use to 1 assail your name."
 "I forgot myself, but it was for moment only," I said "and always re- member, Alicia, that while I have had l repayment, and far more, you have l had none. The world is hard on wo | men,
 ] "I am not unhappy now" she said. l Perhaps I should say that I am hap py I feel almost as if I were begin | ming life over again. l am, in sense, free, as I never was before in my life"
 Would that you were wholly free!" | I exclaimed.
 She passed it over without notice, | and then we talked of lighter things. l could not fully share her spiritual ex- I altation, but I. was uplifted. 1 have | always Gfelt that my love for Alicia Grey was the best part of me, and it was pure enough to make sacrifice, if not easy, at least possible. 1 We spoke no more of love, but in a way we were boy and girl together know an old line, do not know who | wrote it, 'Id rather be a shepherd | boy upon the Grecian hills than reign | a king in Hades,' and I felt that way l the afternoon I met Alicia on the hills above Frankfort. We stood a long | time on the crest, looking at the river, l the ridges, and the rolling green coun- ! try to the dim eastward. There was l nothing in our manner but that of two comrades, or of two people who had met by chance III Wdlk. I Ct l liou never before felt quite so near to her | or that she was quite so approachable. 1 This new relationship of the spirit was not without it's gain, it bred a quiet CT mind, we were united in the spirit, and strength came.
 Fleecy white clouds sailed past us in | a sky of silky blue. a lizard rattled the bark of tree as he Scuttled upward, 1 a stray horseman passed, paying us little attention, and at last the red, fire of the sun began to burn over the dim valley to the eastward. The breeze blew colder and Alicia shivered a little | in her cloak.
 "It is time for me to return" she said You'll see me to Judge Whar- l tons won't you?"
 | "Gladly," I replied, and we walked 1 slowly down the hill, side by side. l l had begun to share her feeling that criticism, any arrows of gossip level | led at. her because we were seen to- 1 gether must rebound harmless from | the armor of her purity. It seemed to | me that she had dismissed from her mind all question of earthly love, and | while I remained a poor mortal who would have been glad to take her in my arms had I the right, I could re- gard her only with reverence and bor- | row from her of spiritual strength. 1 We reached the edge of the town. passed only an occasional person, some | of whom knew me and some of whom