Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1910-11-18
CHAPTER vllI.-continued.

CHAPTER VllI.-continued.
The judicious Hews permitted full
day to intervene before following up
the news with call in Macdougal
street. Now, If ever, he thought, the
girl might be ready to listen to rea-
son; he counted not a little upon
,Eunice's womanly pique and pride,
which might tempt her to show the
recalcitrant Wilfrid that two could
play the same game, and that she was
not the one to wear the willow for an
other woman's fiance. Wonderland
men likewise-have been known to
marry for spite and repent at leisure.
1t was Rogers cue, as usual, to pre-
tend to be wholly ignorant of the lit
tie tragedy going on behind the
scenes. Eunice was totally unaware
of the fact that he was in the employ
of her old lover, and she thought she
had sufficiently masked her own feel
ings.
When Hews came in that evening
Eunice was alone, and intuitively felt
that crisis was impending. For
millennial ages women have been pit
ting subtle wit against brute strength,
developing a sixth sense which de-
tects Immediately and individually the
benign or the malign designs of the
opposite sex
Tonight, however, she detected
tenseness of latent purpose in Roger
Hews which doubtless he flattered
himself was wholly hidden, and which
certainly his first words did not re-
veal, for his talk was all about the
great railroad strike then raging.
AS the evening wore on, and John
Trevecca failed to make his usual
nine o'clock appearance, Hews in
quired:
Where is your father tonight?"
II think he has gone upstairs" said
Eunice, who had been hoping this
| question would not be asked. In
fact" she went on hurriedly, II am
quite worried about him; he has taken
a heavy cold, and his asthma is al
ways worse at such times"
II do not wish to alarm you" said
Hews with a well-simulated note of
sympathy in his voice; "but / have
noticed that he is aging rapidly; he
is not the man he was year ago"
ooh, do you really think that?' ex-
claimed Eunice regretfully, and quick
to take alarm. HE is perhaps not as
vigorous as he used to be, but hope
he will be spared to me for many,
many years! He is my only relative
| in ho oh
and the ready tears came into her
eyes for the sole parent she had ever
| known.
1T is nothing serious, guess" said
Roger with off-hand, Soothing convic-
ton; but your father ought to be en-
joying leisurely old age; at his time
of life he should not have to work"
Eunice nodded her head in quick
assent.
$50 | have told him, Mr.. Hews,
again and again. But he persists in
saying that he must toll on at the
shops in order that he may keep add
ing to the little pile of savings which
is to save me from want when he is
dead and gone
/
with real sincerity, but you have it
in your power to render all that labor
unnecessary, and to make your father
comfortable for the rest of his life
Il don't see" began Eunice, when,
with wave of color flooding face and
forehead, she suddenly did see. How
silly and blind to give him such a
good opening, she thought
Roger Hews was quick to seize his
chance-in fact, he had cleverly led
up to this very point.
Eat the risk of offending you, Miss
Eunice,'' he struck in, II must recur
to the proposal | made you once be-
fore. Marry me, and your father need
not worry about his future or your
own. They will both be my care
then"
You promised" said the girl re-
proachfully, but he took the words out
of her mouth n.his surcharge of feel
ing.
Il promised know it--never to
recur to the theme so near to my
heart without your permission. / have
broken the promise because | can
keep silence no longer. Eunice, love
you, dearly. madly. devotedly. with all
the strength of man who has never
loved before. l cannot live without
you, and / will not. Be my wife,
Eunice, be my wife,"
His agitation was almost pitiable to
see. The self-contained and calcu-
lating nature of the man seemed sud-
denly thawed and melted as the cold
steel ingot is liquefied by the hot
breath of the retort. In the intensity
of his passion his voice trembIed, his
eyes blazed, his pale face assumed a
brickish-red tinge; he left his seat
and came to her side. putting one
hand on her shoulder, and striving to