The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-01-12

\
..Thatis all right. j mean what J
say never to see him again. win
You promise me7 Promise mel can't
bear i'll / won't have it!g ~
A alm Of emotion crossed his clear
young eyes and her slender hands
were held fast in his clasp His face
was beautiful in its tenderness and. In
a righteous anger as he bent 1t on
her. Instead of reproying him as she
had done before, instead Of snRtching
away her hands. she swayed, and at
the sight. Of her weakness his eyes
cleared, and the film lifted Ikea cur.
tain. She was not fainting, but, as
her face turned toward his he saw 1t
transformed, and Dan caught her in
her dark dress, the lowers intner bod.
ice, TO his heart. { He held her as II
he had snatched her from wreck ans
in a safe embrace lifted her high to
the shore OF a coral strand. He kissed
her, first tfmldly, wonderingly, with
the sacrament Of first love on his
lips. Then he kissed her as his heart
babe him, and when he set her free
she was crying, but the tears on his
face were not all her tears.
Little boy. how crazy, how perfect
ly crazy! oh, Dan-Dan!"
She chung to him, looking up at
him Just as his boy-dreams had told
him girl would look some day. Her
face was sufTused and softened, her
lips-her coral.red, fine, lovely lips
were trembling, and her eyes were
as gray, as profound as those seas
his Imagination had longed to explore.
Made poet for the first time in his
life, as his arms were around her, he
whispered: "You are all my dreams
come true. II any man comes near
you I'll kill him Just as sure as fate.
Tllgkill him..
Hush, hush! told you you were
crazy. We're both perfectly mad. l
have tried my best not to come to this
with you. What would your father
sayY Let me go, let me go; III call
Higgins"
The boy laughed aloud. the laugh Of
happy youth. He held her SO close
that she might as well have tried to
loose herself from an iron image OF
the Spanish TnQuisition as from his
young arms. This slender, delicious,
wilIowy thing he held was Lefty Lane,
the adored star London went mad
over; the triumph of 1t! Ii flashed
through him as his pulses beat and his
heart was high with the conquest, but
it was to the woman only that he
whispered
1--WE said a lot of stuff and l am
likely to say a lot more, but l want
YOU to say something to me. Don't
YOU love me?"
The word on his lips to him was as
strSnge, as wonderful, as though it
had been made for him. a-a
4 guess must love you, Dan.
guess l must have for a long time"
gGod, I'm 80 glad! How long?"
%sNhy, ever since you used to come
to the soda fountain and ask for choc'
oiate. You don't know how sweet you
were when you were a little boy"
She put her slender hand against
his hot cheek. "And you are nothing
but a little boy now! think must
beserazy!"
As he protested, as she listened In
tently to what his emotion taught him
to say to her, she whispered close to
hissear: i.
What will you take, little boy?"
And he answered: I'll take you
you'll"
At a slight sound in the next room
Lefty Lane started as though the In
terruption really brought her to her
senses, put her hand to her disheveled
hair, and before she could prevent ii,
Dan had called Mrs. Higgins TO- come
ill.," and the woman, in response,
came into the sitting-room. The boy
went to her and took her hands ca
gerly, and said:
IT'S all right, all right, Mrs. Hig-
gins. Just think OF 1t! She belongs
to mel"
ooh, don't be perfect lunatic, Dan"
the actress exclaimed, half laughing
half crying, "and don't listen to him,
Higgins. He's just crazy"
But the old woman's eyes went
bright at the boys face and tone. q
never was 80 glad Of anything in my
life."
,"As Of what?" asked her mistress
sharply, and the tone was so cold and
so suddenly altered that Dan felt a
chill OF despair.
"Ehy, at what Mr.. Blair says, Miss.
"rhen," said her mistress, you
ought to be ashamed of yourself. He's
only twenty-five, he doesn't know any
thing about life You must be crazy.
He's as mad as March hare and he
ought TO be in school"
Then, to their CONSERVATION, she
burst into passion of weeping; threw
herself on Higgins breast and begged
her to send Dan away--to send every
body away-and to let her die in peace.
In utter despair The boy obeyed the
dresser's motion to go, and his trans
port was changed into anxiety and
dread. He hung about downstairs in
Tho Savoy for the rest Of the after