The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-09-10

objects In view. One was to take
rest, the other to go back to my oil,
home and visit old friends.
1t was about the same time of yea
as when had come away that one aft
ernoon few days after my arrival
went to call on Alice, who was nov
midway between girlhood and oil
maidhood. l found her In the garden
where | had left her five years befor,
tending her flowers Hearing some on
coming up the walk, she raised hersel
ana with tfowel In her hand stood
looking at me. saw that she recog
nlzed me. but whether she experience,
pleasure or pain at seeing me aga!,
could not determine. She had alwa 3,
had the faculty of conceaIing her feel
ings.
She welcomed me with a certain cor
dlaiity and led me to the same rustic
seat on which we had sat during on,
last and n, noFable interview.
You are not married, l believer"
said.
mo"
have often wondered why 1t is
that girls such as you are or were
with lots of suitors. very often don't
marry at ALL"
i suppose it's because they don't
meet the man they want or that the
man they want doesn't want them. 70,
my part | would not marry any man
unless he loved me-"
But men have loved you whom
you didn't want"
i have had men tell me they loved
me who meant it, and have had men
tell me they loved me who didn't. AT
any rate. they told me in such a half
hearted way that 1t meant nothing"
1 picked up my ears. For the first
time in the years that had interviewed
since my proposal l realized that it
was half hearted Could it be that she
referred to mine as such proposition
II remember" she continued, ION
that afternoon when you were here
last you upbraided me for trifiing. 1t
seems to me that If man loves a wo-
man and proposes to her to crafty a
curiosity as to whether she is trifiing
or not with him he is the more repre-
hensible of the two"
There was something sadly reproach-
full in this that made me vince
IF you refer to me l certainly have
paid for the wrong committed,
though l do not admit the charge, for
l have lived a lonely life since"
Il could only attribute your indiffer
ent tone to curiosity"
you were wrong. l did not realize
that my proposal was half hearted, but
l will admit that | did not know your
refusal meant so much to me. We do
not know how much we desire an oh
Ject till we find we can't have it
Then we fret and fume and refuse to
be comforted."
In that case, if the object is at last
attained. we find no comfort In It,"
Not so. The not getting what we
covet shows us that we did not real
lie how much we wanted it. | admit
that when we talked of this matter
years ago | was fearful of a refusal
Fear is no weapon with which to make
love"
1T is good weapon with which tc
keep those apart who should be to-
gether."
A slight trembling in her voice when
she said this struck responsive chord
in my heart. I had not only injured
myself, but her. l had nothing to say
"Why did you go away without com
ing to see me. as you said you would?'
II could no longer come as a friend
and l did not wish to come as a re-
jected lover. But enough of this, Alice
l, who thought had some insight into
woman's nature, have been fool
Ny stupidity has cost me infinite pain
l now know that under my youthful
friendship you was concealing an en-
during love, not love such as may
pass away at a breath, but one that
growing slowly, becomes an absorbing
passion"
Finding that words were inadequate
to express all felt, l took her in my
arms and told the rest in caresses.
Give years lost" she said through
tears, ION account of a misunderstood
ing"
They shall be made up for by
greater intensity Of those that are to
come"