The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-11-17
of z S[IE,l ,la|||;:|k[ I SWORDS

Barbara, love you.
 "No-nOt again. Light the candle" "Just a moment longer here in the
 dark with Ben-ten. It's fate. darling! Why should have been in Japan and
 not in Persia when you came?. Why
 did happen to be there in the garden that night at that particular moment?
 Why. it was the purest accident that
 I came here today! No-not accident.
 It was kismet. Barbara" Make light, beg youw His lips were murmuring against
 her cheek. Say I love you tool" "I-cannot. You-you would hold me cheap. l would bel am. What? | Yes. it was a. tulip tree. was six
 teen. Oh. you couldn't have-why,
 you'd forgotten the whole thing. You
 had. you had! Don't hold me. No. I
 don't care what you think! Yes. I do
 care! Yes. H. This Is perfectly
 shameless! Dark? That makes it all
 the worse. What will you No. no! You must not kiss me again! We 1 must go back. l will go back" She freed herself. and he fumbled for his fallen candle. He struck a | -natck The sputtering blue flame lit l ner white, languorous face, her fallen
 hair. her heaving breast. It went out. He struck another. and the wick blazed up.
 "Look at me, dear," he said. "Tell
 me in the light. Will you marry me?" "I cannot answer-now." 'Why? Don't you love mel" 'sI-in so short time how could I? Let us go now. I don't know myself s-nor-nOr you"
 She was trembling. and he noted it
 with a pang of compunction.
 Tomorrow. sweetheart-wn you
 give me my answer then" "Yes" It was almost inaudible. -"At the foreign minister's ball to- morrow night? I'll come to you there.
 dearest. r'-
 He stopped. She had caught her
 hand to her throat with a wild ges- ture "Ben-ten! She-she is drowning
 ct us! There! Look therer'
 "My poor darlingr' he said. "You
 are nervous. See-it was only the l shadow! 1 ought not to have brought you into this dismal hole. You are
 positively shivering."
 "Let us hurry," she said. and they
 went quickly into the warmer air and hgnt of the entrance.
 The sQuall had passed with the fate
 full swiftness of its coming. The
 waves still gurgled and tumbled. but
 the fury of the wind was over. The
 murk light had lifted. showing the
 wet sky patchy drab. which again
 was beginning to show glimpses of golden hue.
 They walked back to Haru at the tea house beneath the wild, poignant
 beauty of disheveled cryptomeria. echo- ing once more the eternal song of the semi-along paths strewn with drench- ed petals and sweet with the moist scents of sodden leaves-then together down the steep tempted hill and across the planked walk to the mainland, where a. trolley buzzed through the springing ricefelds, musical now with the me kayui-me kayui of the frogs. Daunt accompanied them to the through line of the railway. From there he was to return to Kamakura for the answer to his letter. The sun was setting when the Tokyo leexpress pulled into the station. As Haru disappeared into the compart- nent Daunt took Barbara's hand to help her to the platform. There had been no other first class passengers | fn h0 rty ra6 hn orI or l the asphalt was deserted. Her lovely flushed face was turned toward him. and there in the dusk of the station he bent swiftly and kissed her once more on the lips.
 Dearest. dearest! he said behind
 his teeth and turned quickly away. In the car as the train fled through the glory of the sunset Barbara closed
 her eyes. the longer to keep the i'm.
 pression of that eager gaze, the 1.-the,
 muscular poise of the strong frame,
 the parted lips the brown hair curling
 under the peak of the cloth cap. Her thought drifted into tomorrow, when she was to give him her an- swer. All she knew what that answer would bel She thought of the tele- gram of the night before. which she had read in the candlelighted street Tomorrow Ware also was coming for an answer. She knew what that would be too. She felt a sudden pity for him. Yet she knew now what wis., dom she had gained in these two swift days-that his was not the love that most deserved it. Daunt's parting kiss clung to her lips like living flower. The hand he had clasped still burned to his touch: she lifted it and held it against her hot face, while the dark ening carriage seemed to fill with the
 dank smell of salty wind and sea
 weed mingled with his voice: r Barbara. love you! Dearest, dear
 estv'
 She thought the gesture unseen. un-
 guessed by any one. But in the for
 ward car, beyond the glass vestibule
 door. which to her was only a trem-
 bling mirror. a man sat watching with
 burning eyes. He had been gazing
 through the window when the train
 stopped, had risen to his feet with in-
 stant recognition-to shrink back into
 his seat. his fingers clinched, his bit
 ten lip indrawn and pallor on his
 face.
 It was Austen Ware, and he@had