The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1912-05-09

sale surroundings of conventional life,
he should find that he had been blind
to C~onstance's defects? He recalled
each speech of hers, each gesture, and
could remember nothing unworthy.
But he longed to put his love to the
test by observation, and the hours
seemed torture to him. ,
He had written to the ladies to ex-
pect him at three o'clock that after
noon. and about that hour, attired in
a black frock coat, black trousers and
a sable tie, as bef1tted his new occupa-
ton, he rang the bell of the Davenant
mansion of Fifty-fifth street. After an
unusually long delay a livered serv-
ant opened the door to him.
"Er-Ive come to see Miss Grice,'
stammered Lord %Jocelyn, conscious
suddenly that he had no cards suit.
able for his new alias. ..
well, young Teller, this amt the
place to come" said the footman
haughtily. Down that Anyway and
ring the kitchen bell" And he slam
med the door in Jocelyn's face.
For a moment, speeches. with fury,
Jocelyn meditated an assault upon
the mahogany panels; then, control
ling himself, he descended the stairs
and rang the bell of the area, as he
had been directed. A stout cook in a
blue dress came to the kitchen door.
Walk right in, young man." she
shrilled, extending the door invitingly.
"And wipe your feet. Miss Mary's
particular. You'll find Connie in that
room back there"
Lord Jocelyn passed through a dark
passage, thinking he heard whispered
giggling from every side. Once, too,
he fancied he heard the odious words,
Comics new beau!" But he disre-
garded these external signs of his fan
GEES position in the Davenant house
hold and passed on into a small room
at the end of the hall-to find Con-
stance, clad in a bullying print dress,
busily sweeping the carpet. As he
came in she scrambled to her feet,
red and confused, and stood facing
him, still clfnging to the broom.
And then and there Richard, Lord
| Jocelyn, was put to the test of his
life. II
Down by the waves at Atlantic City,
when the two women had associated
on terms Of practical equality, Joce-
Ign had been wholly ignorant of and
Indifferent to social ratings and ranks.
It was enough for him that he loved,
and that nature attuned herself to his
wooing. But here, in these abodes Of
men, recalled with suddenness to
those customs and ideas which a
thousand years of civilization had
hardened into a traditional code-how
could he stoop to raise this servant
in the ill-itting dress to his own social
level? How could he take her to
wife, bring her back to Doublewith
Manor, introduce her to the country
side?
And yet he had been trained In the
conventional code of honor of a gen.
tleman. Whatever he did he must do
quickly, for Constance Grice had read
the struggle in his face and, no longer
ashamed, was watching him curi0usly.
And then, instead of disgust and
self-pity, Jocelyn felt only love new
risen, and stronger than before. He
clasped her in his arms and kissed
her, and his fears dissolved like shad-
ows before the sun.
Connie, darling, I must tell you
now" he said. II really am Lord
Jocelyn, and not an undertaken. I
wanted to test your love and now I
know 1t as surely as I know mine for
you"
'Wel said, Richard" cried a voice
outside the door, and out of the dark
passage emerged his stepmother. Rich
ard looked at her in little surprise. So
many astonishing things had been hap
pening that one more hardly counted.
"she was testing you, too, Richard"
his stepmother said. This is Mary
Davenanf NV half.aiotor and fho hoat