The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-09-19

delight of hearing him u~nburdening his
soul at last. His love for 5her! Never
had it seemed SO great and so pure,
now that he spoke of parting. And
there was a quaint JOY in hearing him
thus rambling on-he. the reserved
man of the world. Convention had 50
often sealed his lips and restrained his
passion when he was wandering hap
PLY with her on the smooth paths of
love. Now Fate had hurled stone upon
stone down hat path. The way was
rugged and difficult, parting too, was
close at hand; all the restraint OF past
months tore at the barrier of conven-
ton. Luke about to lose the mortal
presence of his love, allowed his lips
to say that which he had bidder in his
heart for SO long.The mar of the world
lost himself in the maj who loved.
When he had ceased speaking she
said, quietly: ~
You talk. Luke. as If we were going
to part
Tonight, Lou. I must catch the
night oat to Calais"
My luggage can be sent on" she
rejoined, simply. Il am quite ready to
start"
ITO start?' he repeated, vaguely.
Why. yes, Luke. she replied with
time. / go with YOU
You cannot, Lou!" he sta1nmered,
almost stupidity, feeling quite bewild-
cred, for he had been forcibly dragged
back from a happy dreamlike state, to
one of impossible reality.
why not:
you have SAID it yourself, Lou. 1
shall be a fugitive from Justice +.
a man with whom no decent
woman would care to link her fate
Let us admit, them she said almost
ga1ly, that l am not a decent woman
for my fate is i~rretrievably linked with
yours"
'"Thi is preposterous :"
he began.
But already h had interrupted him,
speaking quietly in that ever contralto
voice of hers which he loved to hear.
Luke" she said, you must try and
understand. You must, because l have
so fully made up my mind, that nothing
that you could say would make me
change IT, unless you told me that you
no longer loved me. And this" h
added with the ghost of a smile, you
cannot now pretend, Luke, after all
that you said just now. 1t is not that
my mind wanted making up. My mind
has very little to do with 1t all. 1t
knows just as my heart does tina /
could not now live without you. I'm
not talking nonsense. Luke. and l seem
to be too old for mere sentimental
twaddle! therefore, when l say that I
could not now live parted from you, |
say it from the innellnost conviction
of my heart. Sh-sh-dear,' she whis-
pered, seeing that he wished to inter
rupt her, don't try and say anything
Just yet-not just yet-until 1 have
told you everything. I want you to
remember. Luke, that 1 am no longer
very young and hat ever since | can
remember anything. l have loved you.
l must have loved you even though /
did not know it. But if you had never
spoken of love to me, if you had never
written that letter which / received in
Brussels, l probably would have been
satisfied to go on with my humdrum
life to the end of time; who Knows?
l might have foundc ontentnent, ii not
happiness, by and by with some other
man. We women are meant to marry.
Men. are fond Of telling us that our
only mission on earth is to marry. But
all this possible quiet content, one let
happy now never. save in continuing
to o you. Life to me would be un-
speakably hideous without YOU and
your love. Therefore, l say, Luke, tina,
you have no longer any right 10
keep me at arms length. You
have no right, having once come
into my life, having once given
substance and vitality to my love
to withdraw yourself away from me.
Love, dear, is a bond, a mutual bond.
as sacred, as binding as any that are
contracted on this earth. ~You-when You
wrote that letter, when you first
spoke to me of love - entered
into a bond with me. You have no
right to force me to break it
The mellow tones of her contralto
voice died down in the heavy atmos-
phere of the room. They echoed and
re-echoed in the heart of the man.
who was now kneeling before Louisa.
as he would before the Madonna, dumb
with the intensity of emotion which
her sacrifice had brought to an almost
maddening pitch. She stood there neal
him. so devoted. so noble, and so pure,
90 you wonder or viii you smile, when
you see him with fair. young head
bowed to the ground pressing his lips
on the point of her shoe?
Luke! don't" h cried in passionate
sympathy.
Continued Next Week.)