Connecticut western news., 1910-06-09

lhouSulIul lOue. olEduSe!
 ''Well-now-I didn't say just that you know!
 There was a faint. suspicion of a blush on Miss Farrar's smooth cheeks, but her glance met Mowbray's with its usual unswerving honesty.
 ''Men have told me that they loved me-several of them. But that's not a proposal, you know, any more than it's a purchase when I say that adore a string of pearls at Tiffany's!'
 "A-a-h!'
 The ejaculation was full of enlight- enment. Mowbray was beginning at last to understand things that had al- ways puzzled him, as his next ques- tion showed.
 Would it be impertinent to ask how you have received these declarationsY
 Why, I just listened. You see, it's embarrassing. It makes one feel so terribly conscious"
 What about the man?" Mowbray asked quietly. Doesn't it occur to you that perhaps he might need a lit tie encouragement-tha perhaps he US d COuSClOuS LOO4
 For a moment there was silence De tween them. The point of view was utterly new to Miss Farrar, and she was obviously impressed by it.
 q never thought of that" she ad- mitted slowly. q thought that sort of thing was so in a mans line-his metier." She laughed bit ruefully.
 do In grass and, turning its head jauntily to one side, fixed bright, inquiring eye upon them. Then, with saucy wave of its tail, it scurried away.
 q have it." said Mowbray, "I have it! Learn from the squirrel! Light ness, airiness, coquettishness! Don't you see what I mean" And he looked at her teasingly.
 But she was not to be diverted. 'I am serious" she assured him. There's always a reason for everything, and there must be a reason for this. There's Alice Nixon. She's not so awfully pretty. I heard her say that she had had nineteen proposalsp' Miss Farrar's voice was touched with awe. | "Still-she's from the south," she add ed, and her tone implied that an allow ance should be made for the fact.
 Mowbray bit his lip.
 "Then there's her sister-just an or dinarily nice girl-follows with fifteen. Marion Pierce owns up to a dozen, and Beth Garrett-dear, homely Beth-ac- l. a-1~ ~OI I,n I specially wanted to find out. Per haps you can imagine how queer 1t makes me feel"
 "What do you say upon such occa- sions?" demanded Mowbray, watching the squirrel that was again eying them from a distance.
 There was a palpable pause before Miss Farrar replied. But at last her straightforwardness prevailed.
 "Sometimes I shake my head and look rather shocked. Then they think that I disapprove of such conversa- tions-think Pm noble, you know! At other times I laugh and say, T have never had oner in tone which implies just the reverse"
 She finished this confession and look ed at Mowbray out of the corner of her eyes in a way that drove the last ves- tige of fear out of his mind. This naive woman, the person whose dignity and coldness be had stood aloof from in absolute embarrassment for so long! He could have laughed at the absurd ity of it. Why had she never shown him her real self before?
 "I think I shall propose to you," he remarked deliberately.
 For a second she looked surprised. and then her eyes danced.
 'Let it be in your best style" she pleaded. Remember. it's my first, and I fear 1t may be my last too"
 He leaned toward her and looked straight into her eyes.
 ''It will be your last undoubtedly His voice was low and tense. For a long moment he looked at her-looked in a way that first made her small ears burn and then troubled her clear gaze, which wavered and fell.
 'I love you, dear" he said simply, "and I think you know the rest. Tell me that you do."
 Her cheeks were hot and her lips trembled. A strong hand reached out and took hers in a masterful way, and she knew that something which she had never even dreamed was true.
 'But I asked youw she moaned when at last she recovered something of her wonted serenity. 'I positively asked your'
 'You encouraged me-" he corrected. "and that's what they usually do, only your method was brutally direct"
 It was when she began to flush again that he aded. 1T shall always have something to tease you about, dearest" !"
 And the squirrel, which had been watching them in the lingering hope that they might possibly have brought him nuts, like sensible people, gave up in disgust and scurried away.