The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-16

| | What do you mean, Vermont"
 She was shaking and sobbing tear
 lessly with indignation. T don't | know what I mean," she breathlessly
 brought out. "But you go too fast. I will not be rushed like this. It's | it's horrible!"
 "I beg your pardon" he replied, checked, and deeply mystified. de I had read in books that the modern | woman needs new methods of woo ing, but he really thought that ne had been patient long enough. He said so with some heat. The girl, half turned away from
 him, was seeking to control herself. I'm very sorry" she said at last. | But you have come too soon. IT | was not ready for you. The-the | shock. wish you had not come I-just yet''
 But in the name of common sense, what was there to wait for?" he pardonably cried.
 | There is only me to wait for and admit that I am not worth it" said Vernon, with some dignity. "If you think so too, there is no more | to be said.''
 Vermont. he cried, full of remorse | and tenderness. Forgive me, dar- | ling. I have biundered, most unwit- | tingly.''
 You see," she began, bringing out | her words with an effort, because of the shaking of her voice. life for me has moved very fast lately. I am bewildered. I have come out of that far-away country and life. into this | wonderful England: and here, iii was child, when I left you and Golden Ridge. And this has hap pened to me so quickly-womanhood has come upon me like surprise. And I am afraid" He thought that he understood at last, and began with much satis- faction to assure her that she need fear from him nothing at all. He would be- the most deferential, the most considerate of lovers. He had not realized what she was feeling, but he loved her, he adored her for her delicacy. Not for worlds would he offend it: and so on. She listened, her mind half fixed upon him, but half upon what MT. Conroy had said. She was to give Lionel no definite promise until she had seen Jem.
 %You see, Lionel, have not prom ised yet to marry you" she succeed ed in saying at length "No, but you mean to- he cried out, like man suddenly stabbed. 1T really, truly am not sure" she faltered. "And"-holding out her arms to fend him off from her-"and | if you cannot be patient with me until I see my way clear. then it must be all over between us. I will not be rushed I will not!' sine cried vehemently.
 An, surely the Spirits of the Waste and Weald had tricked her cruelty! Here she had fled for the comfort of that dumb nature which speaks so tenderly to those who hear. And here had found her the crisis of her destiny. and she was reeling under the shock of revelation which the pressure of Lioners arms had pro- duced upon her.
 She was not strong enough to mar ny him. .. and if she did not marry him what should she do: Whither should she go from the pur- suing thought of Jem? Lionel was completely puzzled. He could not understand her attitude. What had happened to her, what idea had she got into her head which caused this peculiar conduct towards her lover? How often he had laughed at the complaints, in ballads. by love-sick swains, of their fair ones cruelty or capriceI Was | this just nothing but caprice? Was it the frills which the maiden un- consciously puts son to, assert her power before surrendering? You see,' continued Vernon, seeking wildly around for plausible reasons for her unreasonable coy ness, you see, since you left, we have~had such a terrible time! I new CT attended an inquest in my life be- fore. And it was such shock! Quite young woman, only a few months married-and they say she committed suicide because she was so unhappy"
 What" cried Lionel, completely thrown off his guard. But that $ nonsense! The verdict was: Death from Misadventure.'
 Vernon turned and stared upon him. He had grown crimson, and the veins stood out upon his fore head.
 How do you know that?" she slowly asked "You had left before the news of her death reached us.' A light flashed upon him, new light respecting her coidness. "I see::"