The Irish standard., 1913-03-01

heart. It's SO lovely here, so quiet.
Don't you feel it? With the shadows
creeping across the pasture? 1 was
young and beautiful"
"And princess"
mo, a goose maid. My hair was
brown and thick and hung over each
shoulder in two long braids. was
bare-headed, with sleeves rolled to the
elbows Of my shapely arms
"You would have got malaria" said
Bartlett. "It's very damp here. j
think there must be pond over there
In the woods. You can hear the frogs"
"Oh, yes" agreed Henrietta. II
would have had malaria and rheuma.
tism, but wouldn't have cared, then
for you see. had come after the
geese. and down here in the tiny glen,
with the hush of the evening over all
[ had met him"
who? Me?"
my lover" said Henrietta,
"Me," said Bartlett softly, and to
Henrietta's surprise he laid his hand
gently on hers.
Henrietta blushed and looked away.
Her lover, this stout, grim, hard.eyed
man of business? Had romance come
to her thus late. in this guise? Was a
niddle-aged member of the New York
Stock Exchange her prince?
Henrietta" he asked gently, leaning
toward her, ."shall finish the story?"
"Why, no." said Henrietta, there
was no finish. It had just begun"
"Just . begun" whispered Bartlett.
and took her suddenly into his arms.
ooh, please" begged Henrietta. feel.
Ing that modesty called for some re.
please" he tainted. when you
were the goose girl and L was the
prince. you didn't say please"
Henrietta laughed. "And neither
did the prince" she dared him.
:, "No decent lover would" said Bart.
lett, bending and kissing her full on
her whimsical mouth.
After some little time they saw the
others reappear over the top of the
hill. Henrietta had returned to her
seat on the fence and Bartlett was be.
side her, his arm around her waist,
her head on his shoulder with sim.
plicity truly bucolic. So might the
Parkers' shifty.eyed stable.boy bs
wooing the slatternly maid-servant in
some secluded place behind the barn
Henrietta Strengthened quickly and
Dlushing crimson after the manner Of
the maid.servant, raised her hands ia
her hair SO that one side of her Golf
fure might not appear unnecessarily
nattened before the sharp eyes Of the
youthful Billy.
Aren't We silly?" said she, glancins
at Bartlett with the same expression
with. which the maid-servant would
have glanced at the stable-boy.
why silly" demanded Bartlett,
We love each: other, don't we? Why
shouldn't:1 put my arm around you?"
oh" said Henrietta, you should,
but Fer-er;2we seem SO old for such
things ,,3.e 80 80
"ofdr' Bartlett laughed. Love i,
the oldest thing in the world"
Il know" agreed Henrietta, "but moi
before people,"
why not before people? People
have become too artificial. They must
not love. nor hate, nor have any feel
1ngs. apparently, before people. Feel
ihgs are interesting and we ought to
show them more"
Henrietta laughed. "Oh, you are
silly. silly, silly. l never knew a New
York broker could be so silly, SO
mushy."
There's not a man living whom the
right woman can't make mushy. Won.
en- never realize how silly men are at
bottom, my own. They are frightened
by our exteriors, by the ingram fear
of the chattel for her master, born in
women since Eve handed the larger
share Of the spple to ADAM"
II always thought that would be
digni6ed and sweet"
You are, my love-"
mo. am as sill: as you. Iput my
head on your shoulder Just as these
girls do whom you see in Central Park
on Sunday afternoons. / never thought
that would be like that"
You have never loved before"
Indeed. l have. l have loved nearly
every one have ever met. Most all
girls do"
THAT isn't love. Merely an In
creased vibration of the. muscles OF
the heart. Love-ah, Henrietta, do
have to tell you what love is?"
mo" whispered Henrietta. "It's iust
giving"
She paused, gazing before her into
the deepening shadows Of the evening
with misty eyes, for the first time
realizing the completeness of life.
She nodded after moment toward
the approaching Billy and the Water.
melon. What's tho n,at+.- With the