Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1912-02-15

weeks afterward, Daylight proposed
to Dede. AS on the first time, he re-
strained himself until his hunger for
her overwhelmed him and swept him
away in his red automobile to Berke-
ley. He left the machine several
blocks away and proceeded to the
house on foot. But Dede was out, the
! landlady's daughter told him, and
added on second thought, that she
was walking in the hills. Further
more, the young lady directed him
where Dede's walk was most likely to
extend. Daylight obeyed the girls in
structions, and soon the street he fol-
lowed passed the last house and itself
ceased where began the first steep
slopes of the open hills. The air was
damp with the on-coming of rain, for
the storm had not yet burst, though
the rising wind proclaimed its i'm.
minence. AS far as he could see,
there was no sign of Dede on the
smooth, grassy hills. To the right,
dipping down into hollow and rising
again, was large, full-grown eucalyp-
tus grove. Here all was noise and
movement, the lofty, slender-trunked
trees swaying back and forth in the
wind and clashing their branches to-
gether. In the squalls, above all the
minor noises of creaking and groan-
ing, arose a deep drumming note as
of a mighty harp. Knowing Dede as
he did, Daylight was confident that he
would find her somewhere In this
grove where the storm effects were SO
pronounced. And find her he did,
across the hollow and on the exposed
crest of the opposing slope where the
gale smote its fiercest blows.
"It's the same old thing" he said.
81 want you and I've come for you.
You've just got to have me, Dede, for
the more l think about it the more
certain / am that you've got sneak
ing liking for me that's something
more than just ordinary liking. And
you don't dast say that it isn't; now
dast you?"
please, please" she begged. ''We
can never marry, so don't let us dis
cuss it,"
Daylight decided that action was
more efficient than speech. So he
stepped between her and the wind
and drew her so that she stood close
in the shelter of him. An unusually
stiff squall blew about them and
thrummed overhead in the tree-tops,
and both paused to listen. A shower
of flying leaves enveloped them, and
hard on the heel of the wind came
driving drops of rain. He looked down
on her and on her hair, wind-blown
about her face; and because OF her
closeness to him and of fresher and
more poignant realization of what she
meant to him, he trembled so that she
was aware OF it in the hand that held
hers. She suddenly leaned against
him, bowling her head until it rested
lightly upon his breast. And so they
stood while another squall, with flying
leaves and scattered drops of rain,
ratified past. With equal suddenness
she lifted her head and looked at him.
do you know" she said, 81 prayed
last night about you. | prayed that
you would fail, that you would lose
notwithstanding"
Daylight stared his amazement at
this cryptic utterance.
THAT sure beats me. ! always said
got out of my depth with women,
and you've got me out OF my depth
now. Well, you've just got to ex-
| plain, that's ALL"
His arms went around her and held
her closely, and this time she did not
resist. Her head was bowed, and he
! could not see her face, yet he had
premonition that she was crying. He
had learned the virtue of silence, and
he waited her will in the matter.
| Things had come to such pass that
she was bound to tell him something
now. OF that he was confident.
81 would dearly like to marry you."
she faltered, "but am afraid. | am
proud and humble at the same time
that man like you should care for
me. But you have too much money.
There's where my abominable COM
mon sense steps in. Even If we did
marry, you could never be my man
my lover and my husband. You
would be your moneys man. l know
I am a foolish woman, but want
my man for myself. And your
money destroys you; it makes you
less and less NICE. l am not ashamed
to say that love you, because shall
never marry you. And I loved you
much when did not know you at all,
when you first came down from Alas
ka and first went into the Office. You
were my hero. You were the Burning
Daylight of the golddiggings, the dar-
ing traveller and miner. And you
looked it, / don't see how any wom-
an could have looked at you without
loving you-then. But you don't look
it now. You, man of the open, have
been cooping yourself up in the cities
with all that that means. You are
becoming something different, some
thing not so healthy, not so clean, not
SO nice. Your money and your way
of life are doing it. You know 1t. You
haven't the same body now that you
had then. You are putting on flesh,
and it is not healthy flesh. You are
kind and genial with me, know. but