Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-08
Continued from page 10

ready TO adore her on any terms; but he
liked variety.
may be. And what l mean by having so
much time to make up, Miss Give, is that
l have to live down the years didn't know
you"
"You are a light-tongued person, l am
afraid, Mr.. Sylvester she said. She
dropped her eyes. Frances Helen has gone
for walk with her nurse she added. "She
told me to say that she would come back to
have tea with YOU"
Damon hoped that she would become lost
in Central Park. Every sweet of her; but |
can't waste time in talking of Frances
Helen,' he said. 81 am thinking about all
those lost wears when | didn't know YOU,
Miss Give"
She looked at him very seriously, and
under her scrutiny his smile died.
"Do you think you are taking quite the
right tone with me, Mr.. Sylvester" she
asked. "You did me service on the day
we met; but is that any reason why you
should try to make short cut into some
thing like intimacy? Or possibly you think
this half-familiar talk is the sort of thing
that dependents, like governesses, are &C
customed tor
A deep crimson flooded his face. al have
not deserved that last, Miss Give" he said
Ill a low COIc L nope SilOulo uCEcl UlS-
tinguish between governess and any other
lady"
Every good; but have you any reason for
assuming that you think l am to be pleased
by the tone of familiar banter you have
chosen to assumed
Damon gnawed his under lip ferce1y
Then he said unsteadily, Miss Give, you
are quite right. l have taken the wrong
tone; but have been unfortunate in deed
rather than in intention.
HE kept his eyes on the ground, feeling
IL rather sorry for himself He saw his
blunder. Here she had been looking upon
him as stranger, whom she had met in the
most casual way Doubtless it had not oc-
CURED to her that they would meet often.
But he had been loving her more and more
every hour; had more and more determined
that he would serve her, and some day win
her for his wife. And, greedily enough, be-
cause he loved and would serve her, he had
been assuming friendship on her part that
did not exist. He had been going too fast,
and she resented it, and justly. Moreover,
he could not take a perfectly obvious way
out of his difficulty. He could not tell her
that, mad though it seemed, he loved her
and would like to blazon the fact to the
whole world. He could not say this; for he
not only had no name to offer her. but he did
not know even whether he was free to offer
her himself. He only knew that the fact
that he was pledged to be Larrabee Damon
for sometime to come, all for her sake, was
the very reason why he could not set to work
to discover how far he was bound by the
conditions of his former life, whatever it had
been.
AS he sat, downcaSt, he did not know that |
she was looking at him sympathetically, |
that there was forgiving expression in her |
face, as if she were saying to herself that, |
after all, he was only an impetuous boy, who |
did not have it in him to offend woman
very deeply.
Miss Give" he said at last, al am afraid |
I have given you reason to think very badly |
of me. There is good deal in my life that |
is upsetting just now, and perhaps it has |
gone to my head. l am not free to explain |
to you all l should like to explain. My |
tongue will have to be fettered; but want |
you to know that what l am saying now is |
more earnest than anything ever said be-
fore"
He looked at her very steadily and waited |
as if for her to speak. When she said nothing, |
he continued:
"From the moment | saw you, Miss Give,
,,<,I 30 hat