The Washington times., 1913-08-08
The Story of Lee and the Lost Hope

to her-the mans duty. Woe 30 the
sweet alliance Of the sexes in love In
| which the woman does not bend above
the man noes not aspire to the Womans
| height!
She was tall enough, had they been
side by side. to have met him with q
level glance, or almost There was tnat
difference physically between them tnat
there should be spiritually, only physi-
cally he-as II should be-was the larger
and stronger being, as spiritually she
predominated. His strength was In
obeyance just then Her beauty and her
charm had mastered him. She fancieo
him like clay within her hands. shape
ly and beautiful and strong for moiaihs, y.
| Could she mold him7 That was to De
seen. Now, that afternoon, 1t was 10
1 be tried
Before those two Ioomed parting Of
| the ways. Should she take his hand
and follow along the right-hand pain!
| Or should she go to the eastward ana
summon him to her? Was the leash
that held the heart of her lover IN
/ check strong enough to drag the man
whittier he tain would not GOT
| A horse fastened to the hitching post
! outside the gate at the end OF the long
| lane stamped his feet tmpatiently; MS
tail slapped his sides. irritated by the
summer flies. That horse had borne
him there at a gallop. II he had peen
human he might have eased his fret
ting by considering whether he was 70
| spend the night In the cool shade OF tne
| great red barn back of the house, or
whether he was to carry back the I'M
patient rider who had found his best
| pace too slow in the coming. The wom-
| cn had suggested that the horse De
stabbed. but the man had declared taas
| the exig sncies of the time demanded
| that he should first have a decision
\ which, at some peril to his liberty ana
| in some sense to his honor, no had come
to receive.
The young man had been at the old
farmhouse many a time during tne isst
two years. She had placed herself pc,
! fore him many time as she was placed
\ that afternoon, seated on the low ran
| Of the porch, her alluring foot-as hand
some and shapely foot, II little
larger, and as well clad, as that OF any
Southern girl with whom he had ever
/ tripped through the dance-swingins
! dazzingly like a pendulum before hlm-
| Her back was bordered py cllngihg
masses of purple clematis twining
around white pillars, against which her
bright hair shone golden in the sun
Had she caught that violet touch OF
color in her eyes from the nowersE ne
wondered, on that day he had nrst De-
clared his love, and, reaching up from
where he had stood on the step slightly
beneath her, had kissed her hand ana
then had slipped his arm about her
waist and held her tightly lest she
should fall from the porch. That was
year ago this present summer. He
had imagined that the course OF his
life was thenceforth and forever settled.
that II was TO be spent with this De-
loved woman. But now he had come 10
see indeed whether the dream OF the
year was to vanish In stern awaken
ing to the sound Of cannon.
For these two were from different sec
tions of a country which was hopeless
ly divided upon a question of principle
The question was an abstract one ana
It might so cold philosophy would
have put it-have been discussed with
on: heat, without animosity; but philoso-
ply makes no accounting OF human
passions and the debate about the in
depreciation Of an ancient document re-
vered as the Constitution had engen-
dered bitter antagonisms which had
bred hot. unreasoning hatreds. The con-
tention was exceeding sharp and bitter:
Love shot his bolts against bucklers> OF
misunderstanding which his blunt points,
made for penetrable human hearts,
could not pierce. Partaking of the ma
tional hatred, a coldness, better, con-
straint, had spring up between the lovers
"a constraint that one other, who had
only suspected how things had been,
viewed with eQuanimity, nay, satisfac-
tion.
The young man from the South was
Va student, or had been four days be-
fore. at Harvard College. His dearest
friend and claSsmate was brotner Oh
this girl. Scarcely second in his affec-
tions was the third person who had
been glad at the signs OF the impend-
ing rupture between his friend and his
other friends sister. Philip Grafton
cherished Burt Kirkwood and George
Manning In his heart of hearts after
Kathleen Kirkwood, Burt's younger
and only sister. The three friends, one
from Massachusetts, one from ~Pennsyl-
yania, and one from Virginia, had de-
veloped In their six years at the great
old university one OF these friendships
which not sixty years OF severance
would diminish. They had been more
than brothers to one another, yersingu-
l9rly enough. Grafton had not conf1ded
either to his prospective brother-in-law
or TO Manning the engagement which
had been entered upon By him and
Kathleen, though Kirkwood found 1t out
certainly and Manning at least sus-
pected It.
Perhaps Grafton OWNED Manning's