Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-02-26
Hidden
Periills
CHAPTER VIII-(Continued,)
BY NARY CECIL IA

one"
Rourke bad drawn up a chair besid
his friend now, and was sitting astrid
upon it: his arms folded on the back, hi
eyes intent and listening.
Il have loved Lorraine since she was
little thing, no higher than the chal
you are leaning on. | can not tell 10
what ! loved her; ! can not tell VIII.
such love should grow in my heart Tor
child, when l-eypn thrn-Was a MAJ
with a mans care. But that it did grow
| there, and has increased and deepenet
year by year, | know by-by every hop
l build, and every pain | have to stliie.
And does she not know this. AtholE
81 think she does because | think NJ
girl could be the very light of "A man
eyes, and the very heart of a mans life
without knowing it,"
81 can not tell" replied isourke
thoughtfully Il have never studied any
| girl but Una, and from the very first ]
always told her how | loved her. | die
not leave much for her to guess. not L.
Ard then they talked of other things
| until they reached Hampton House.
"Mr. and Miss Gaveston are dining AT
Mr.. Lucas" the butler said, as he turned
on the gas and struck a match. Miss
Shefford was staying in kensington. Miss
| Lorraine was at home alone. Should he
give any nal ne besides DR.. Nere?'
Suppose we go up unannounced,' said
Athol. 81 generally do"
"All right" returned Rourke, with ut
ter negligence.
How provoking that Una should be
out" he added in a low tone to Athol.
40 6a s,,,ptnrnJ nm bahiDd him on fhn
stairs.
"They have gone to a house near here,
and where very early hours are kept"
Athol answered, 80 your patience will
not be long tried"
AS he finished speaking he tapped at
the door in the lobby, and when a voice
answered, leisurely and rather ~absently,
"Come in," he opened the door and stood
back for Trenham to enter first.
A small room, somber in it's furniture,
but made dazzlingly radiant by the four
gaslights burning to their fullest extent,
and a strong-minded wood fire glowing
and cracking and blazing as if felt put
upon it's honor to comport itself as would
a country wood fire under the same cir
cumstances. A girl was kneeling on the
rug before this sturdy fire replenishing
1t gingerly and basking in it's warmth,
and looking as if she loved it.
"Why, Lorraine, a fire to-day?
mo, not to-day; tonight she said,
coolly, while she scientifically inserted a
splinter between the bars. "Athol, What
a pity you are come, because everybody is
out. There, that burns ~splendidly. If 1
don't have an immense amount Of light
in these rooms, you know, and CHEEKY
fires when l am alone here, l feel'-she
was slowly rising now and shaking the
crumbs of wood from her dress-"as if l
had the old times clinging about me still.
These rooms are always dull and dim
and cheerless then, and when I am here
alone I feel as if I had come back to the
old life-unless I make an enormous
amount Of light and warmth and noise.
So / nave to build up a fire and turn on
the gas and sing and laugh and let Joan
come in and-Athol! !"
The word was uttered in u tone quite
new that night to Athol, from the lips
whose very tone and accent he thought he
knew SO we'll. She had risen and turned
to greet him, and he had taken her hand
In his, but her eyes were gone from his
face to the face beyond him, and were
resting there in a strange, wide, wistful
questioning.
And Rourke? He had rot claimed ac-
craftsmanship, nor greeted her, nor spok-
en-. He had only seen her.
DO you forget him?" asked Athol,
laughing as he glanced from the girls
face to Rourke. 'He Thought you would
II do not" she answered, quietly, and
then a sudden blush ,darted for an in
slant across her face, and Rourke Tren-
ham saw that the eyes which he had
called flashing could be soft, too, and
liquid as a child's.
Una will soon be home,' she said,
with a GOODNESS whose ge%nuineness neither
of the young men doubted. Il thought
she was fortunate when she vent away
she will not think so now, will she?"
MAY we wait until then asked
Rourke. "Do you think us great bores
for coming just now-or rather, l should
say, do o think me a great bore?"
at is as much Athol's house as it is
mine. said Lorraine, lightly, "and as
much yours. Mr.. Trenham, as his. VIII
you have tea with me?"
THANK you. l see a magnificent meth
cd of improving that fire. said Rourke,
upsthe tongs.T
Lorraine Gaveston was nineteen, as DR..
We're had said, and tall and rounded with
. woman's perfect grace, yet there was an
inexplicablc childishness lingering about
her still. Rourke felt its presence with
understanding it. He had been con-
scious of it in her first question, twill
you have tea with me?" knowing that
from others the words would have sound
ed brusque and curt, while from her they
had the wooing tone of a child's entreaty.
Her face had altered beyond his knowi-
edge since he had seen it half buried in
the hay yet, for all that, he recognized
something in it's expression which took
him, with a leap, back through those seven
years. and told him that the nature of the
child was the nature of the woman still.
her slow, graceful movements tonight,
the perfect apparent ease of her amer,
6nd the grave earnestness of her hospi-
tality-so deftly II courteously exercised
through aiii the InerriTaentt and laughter
Rourke could never have guessed thar this
was the first time it had ever fallen 20 ner
lot to entertain a stranger All! quite
as little could he have guessed then how
tar and how fatally she had succeeded
She had still the lustrous eyes and clear
brunette complexion which had, in her
childhood won Mr.. Bartle's pet name I;
and still the smile and frown were as
quick to chase each other on the gypsy"
face as they had been then but what a
brilliant beauty it wore now! And of the
power such beauty gave her, the girl had
~rowrp II, r.pronaciOuS