Evening star., 1914-01-18

her arms across the balustrade above the
edge of the cliff, buried her face in them, and
burst into tears. Lester, the apparently
cold and phlegmatic, had strained forward,
tensed in every fiber, and shutting his jaws
as if to repress a cry as she talked, and his
hands had gripped the edge of the marble
on which he sat as if to check himself from
making some serious mistake that might
forever cut him off from her life; but now,
overcome, he leaped to his feet and across
the intervening space in the curve of the
niche, and threw himself on his knees be-
fore her.
4Arabella! Arabella!' he exclaimed
@This can't 60 on! 1t mustn't! 1t isn't the
Colonel, nor you alone, that is being cruel
fed, but me as well! can't stand it to see
you suffer! l won't! l love you, Arabella
| love you too much for that! Oh-1-'
He seized her arms almost roughly, and
lifted them from the stone. He gathered
them and her head into his embrace, and
stroked her hair as she sobbed on his
shoulder. He lifted himself to his feet,
carrying her with him, until they stood to-
gether, she unresisting, and he holding her
close as he might have held a wounded child,
tenderly, and with passionate desire to
comfort. He could not speak, although his
thoughts leaped to a torrent of words; for
his throat was CONSTRUCTED, his lips dry, and
his heart pounding wildly with great Ella
ton and love. He could only bend over and
kiss her hair, sense rather than smell its in
toxicating fragrance which enveloped his
face like perfume, and hold her with
reverence profound and overpowering. All
that he had wanted to tell her for many
months at last surged into words that he
whispered into her ears; while she, as if tired
of the struggle and her well kept sorrows,
rested quietly, save for the timid, yet yearn-
ing uplift Of her arms which crept round his
neck and clung to him as if to some wondrous
shield of refuge and comfort.
She held him away after a long time, and
now her hands held his face, and she studied
it and his eyes with a pathetic air of inquiry.
The moon had crept above the trees, benign
ant, wise, and tolerant 1t softened the
shadows of the stately villa on the cliff to
something like one sees in dreams. 1t made
of the terrace, perched high above the gilt
tering sound, a balcony Of love- 1t rendered
the ivy that she had nurtured until it
climbed upward along the FACADE, a mar
velous lacework of soft light. 1t enhanced
it emphasized the clean lines of his face as
he met her inspection. They were suddenly
incapable of speech. They had passed be-
yond the possibility of words to that mar
velous field where souls are bare and must
show clean to brave the test.
1t was almost in tone of wonder at the
miracle that she spoke, when at last she
found voice. Il know nothing of you,' she
said, barely above whisper, save that l
love you. You have told me nothing of
yourself; yet trust you. desire nothing
but you. have known you only since I
came here, and yet feel that have known
you always. You have said no word of love
to me until tonight, and yet have known,
as if always, that you loved me, and that
you are strong
And he, too overcome to reply, could but
draw her more closely to him, and pillow her
head on his breast
To be continued next Sunday