New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-08


ready to adore her on any terms; but he
liked variety
"Prccisely; so we may be personal-or |
may be. And what | mean by having so
much time to make up, Miss Give, is that
| have TO live down the years didn't know
you.
you are a Ight-tongucd person | am
afraid. Mr. Sylvester. she said. She
dropped her eyes. Frances Helen has gone
for a walk with her nurse, she added she
told me to say that she would come back TO
have tea with YOU.
Damon hoped that she would become lost
in Central Park. "Vcrv sweet OF her; but
can't waste time in talking Of Frances
Helen. he said. Il am thinking about all
those lost years when | didn't know you,
Miss Give
She looked at him very seriously, and
under her scrutiny his smile died.
"Do YOU think YOU are taking quite the
right tone with me, Mr. Sylvester she
asked You did me q service on the day
We met; but is that any reason why YOU
should try % make a short cut into some
thing like intimacy Or possibly you think
this halt-faWlllar talk IS the sort Of thing
that dependents, ike governesseS, are &C
customcd to-
\ deep crimson flooded his face. Il have
not deserved that last Miss Give, he SAID
in low tone. 81 hope | should never dis
tingush between goyeneSs and any other
lady.
VERY good; but have YOU any reason for
assuming that YOU think | am TO be pleased
by the tone OF familiar banter YOU have
chosen To assumc;"
II l., .f.- 'tg.
Then ne SAID unstcadlv. Miss Give, YOU
are quite right | have taken the wrong
tone; but | have been unfortunate in deed
rather than in intention"
LIE kept his eyes on the ground, feeling
IL rather sorry for himself He SAW his
burdcr Here she had been looking upon
him as a stranger. whom She had met in the
most casual way Doubtless 1t had not oc-
CURED TO her that they would meet often.
But he had been loving her more and more
every hour; had more and more determined
that he would serve her and some day win
her for his wife. And, grccdily enough, be-
cause he loved and would serve her, he had
been assuming friendship on her part that
did not exist. He had been going too fast,
and she resented il, and Justly. Moreover,
he could not take a perfectly obvious way
out of his difficulty He could not tell her
that, mad though it seemed. he loved her
and would like to blazon the fact TO the
whole world. He could not say this for he
not only had no name to offer her but he did
not know even whether he was free TO offer
her himself He only knew that the fact
that ne was pledged to be Larrabee Damon
for sometime to come. all for her sake, was
the very reason why he could not set to work
10 discover how far he was bound by the
conditions of his former life, whatever ii had
been
As he sat. downcast, he did not know that
she was looking at him Sympathetically, |
that there was forgiving expression in her
face, as il she were saying TO herself that, |
after all, he was only an impctuouS boy, who |
did not have it in him to offend a woman |
very deeply.
"NliSs Give" he said at last, Il am afraid |
| have given YOU reason to think very badly |
of me. There is good deal in my life that |
is upScttlng just now, and perhaps it has |
gone TO my head. | am not free To explain |
to YOU all | should like to explain. My |
tongue will have To be fcttercd: but | want |
YOU TO know that what | am saying now is
more earnest than anything ever said be-
fore"
He looked at her very steadily, and waited
rs if for her to speak. When she said nothing,
he continued:
1. Il. \