Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-05-25

/ my hands, out of pure hate.
did you marry him?" demanded.
My voice sounded hoarse and strange
in my ears. That's all want to
know. Did you marry him?"
mo"
l drew long breath.
"You-cared about him?"
She hesitated.
NO." she said finally. 81 did not
care about him."
/ sat down on the edge of the boat
and mopped my hot face. 1 was heart
lily ashamed of myself, and mingled
with my abasement was a great re-
lief. If she had not married him, and
had not cared for him, nothing else
was of any Importance.
81 was sorry, of course, the moment
the train had started, but l had wired
was coming, and / could not go
back. and then when I got there, the
place was charming. There were no
neighbors, but we fshed and rode and
| motored, and-it was moonlight, like
this"
put my hand over both of hers,
clasped in her lap. 81 know" ac-
knowledged repentantly, "and-people
do queer things when it is moonlight.
The moon has got me tonight, Alison.
If l am a boor, remember that, won't
you?"
Her fingers lay quiet under mine.
"And So" she went on with little
sigh, "I-began to think perhaps
| cared. But all the time l felt that
there was something not quite right
Now and then Mrs. Curtis would say
or do something that gave me
queer start, as if she had dropped a
| mask for a moment And there was
trouble with the servants; they were
almost insolent. l couldn't under
stand. l don't know when it dawned
on me that the old Baron Cavalcanti
had been right when he said they
were not my kind of people. But
wanted to get away, wanted it des-
perately."
"Of course, they were not your
kind" 1 cried. "The man was mar
ried! The girl Jennie, housemaid,
was a SPY in Mrs. Sullivan's employ.
1
would have killed him! Not only that,
but the man he murdered, Harrington,
was his wife's father. And III see
him hang by the neck yet if it takes
every energy and every penny 1 pos
sess''
I could have told her so much more
gently, have broken the shock for
her: l have never been proud of that
evening on the sand. l was alternate
" a boor and a ruffian-like hurt
youngster who passes the blow that
has hurt him on to his playmate, that
both may bawl together. And now
Alison sat, white and cold, without
speech.
Married." she said finally, in a
small voice. why, I don't think it is
possible, is it? II was on my way
to Baltimore to marry him myself,
when the wreck came"
But you said you don't care for
him!" 1 protested, my heavy mascu-
line mind unable to jump the gaps in
her story. And then, without the
slightest warning, realized that she
was crying. She shook off my hand
and fumbled for her handkerchief,
and failing to find it, she accepted the
one / thrust into her wet fingers.
Then, little by little, she told me
from the handkerchief, a sordid story
of a motor trip in the mountains with
out Mrs. Curtis, of a lost road and a
broken car, and a rainy night when
they-she and Sullivan, tramped eter-
nally and did not get home. And of
Mrs. Curtis, when they got home at
dawn. suddenly grown conventional
and deeply shocked. Of her own
proud. halfdisdainful consent to
make possible the hackneyed COM
promising situation by marrying the
rascal, and then-of his disappearance
from the train. 1t was so terrible to
her, such a Heaven-sent relief to me,
in spite of my rage against Sullivan,
that l laughed aloud. At which she
looked at me over the handkerchief.
81 know it's funny" she said, with
catch in her breath. when l think
that l nearly married a murderer
and didn't cry for sheer joy" Then
| BIC buAlCu AC1 law anu CAAO0 o3SAA'
please DON'T" protested INSTEAD
lily. 81 won't be responsible if you
keep on crying like that. 1 may for
get that / have a capital charge hang
ing over my head, and that l may be
arrested at any moment"
That brought her out Of the hand
kerchief at once. II meant to be so
i beInfuI" she said "and I've thought
of nothing but myself There were
some things I meant to tell you. If
Jennie was-what you say, then I IN
derstand why she came to me Just be-
fore l left. She had been packing
my things and she must have seen
what condition l was in, for she came
over to me when l was getting my
wraps on, to leave, and said, Don't
do it, Miss West, l beg you won't do
I you'll 10 cOrrv over after And