The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1914-07-24

But IL you will marry me, III be
content with SO little, till-you do"
She shook her head, her hair max
ing dim flashes in the freight. mo,
Chilly" she said. ut makes me
wretched to give you pain, but | must
Il must! Love isn't like that. It
doesn't come afterward. I know. !
could never give you what you want.
You would end by despising me. as
I-should despise myself"
81 won't give up" he said incoher-
emily. ~ can't give up. Not so long
as / know there's nobody else. At the
ball thought thought perhaps you
cared for Valiant-but since he told
me-
He stopped suddenly, for she was
looking at him from an ashen face.
HE told me there was no reason why
I should not try my luck" he said diff
ficultly. II asked him."
There was a silence, while he gazed
at her, breathing despair. Then he
tried to laugh.
"All right" he said hoarsely. cit
1t doesn't matter. Don't worry"
She stretched out her hand to him
in gesture Of wistful pain, and he
held 1t moment between both of
his, then released it and went hur-
riedly out.
AS the door closed, Shirley sat
down, her head dropping into her
hands like storm-broken flower. Val
liant had accepted the finality of the
situation. With wave Of deeper
hopelessness than had yet submerged
her, she realized that, against her own
decision, something deep within her
had taken shy and secret comfort in
his stubborn masculine refusal.
Against all fact, in face Of the impos-
sible, her heart had been clinging to
this-as though his love might even
attain the miraculous and somewhere,
somehow, recreate circumstance. But
now he, too, had bowed to the decree.
A kind of utter apathetic wretched-
ness seized upon her, to replace the
sharp misery that had so long been
her companion-an empty numbness
in which, in a measure, she ceased to
feel.
An hour dragged slowly by and at
length she rose and went slowly up
the stairs. Her head felt curiously
heavy, but it did not ache. Outside
her mothers door, as was her CUSTOM
she paused mechanically to listen. A
tiny pencil of light struck through the
darkness and painted spot of bright
ness on her gown. 1t came through
the keyhole; the lamp in her mothers
room was burning. "She has FALLEN
asleep and forgotten it," she thought
and softly turning the knob, pushed
the door noiselessly open and entered
A moment she stood listening to the
low regular breathing of the sleeper
The reading-lamp shed a shaded glow
on the pillow with it's spread-out sill
yer hair, and on the delicate hands
clasped loosely on the coverlet. Shir'
ley came close and looked down on
the placid face. 1t was smooth. as a
child's and smile touched 1t lightly
as IL some pleasant sleep-thought had
Just laid rosy fingers on the dreaming
lips. The light caught and sparkled
from something bright that lay be
tween her mothers hands. 1t was the
enamel brooch that held her own baby
curl. and she saw suddenly that what
she had all her life thought was a
solid pendant, was now open locket
wise and that the two halves clasped
a miniature. It came to her at once
that the picture must be Sassoon's
and a quick thrill Of pity and yearn
ing welled up through her own dejec
ton. STOPPING, she looked at 1t close
ly. She started as she did so, for the
face on the little disk of ivory was
that of John Valiant.
An instant she stared unbelievingly
Then recollection of the resemblance
of which Valiant had told her rushed
to her. and she realized that 1t mus
be the picture of his father. The fac
shocked and COMPOUNDED her. Why
should her mother carry in secret tht
miniature of the man who hat
killed
shirley's breath stopped. She fell
her face tingling and a curious weak
ness came on her limbs. Why, indeed
unless-and the thought was like
wild prayer in her mind-she hat
been mistaken in her surmise
Thoughts came thronging in pani'
haste: the fourteenth Of May and tn
cape observation-disclosures might poin
no less to Valiant than to Saseoon
But her mothers fainting at the sigh
of the son-the eager interest she hat
displayed in Shirley's accounts of him
from the episode of the rose and tn
bulldog to the tournament ball
seemed now to, stand out in new
light, throbbing and roseate. Coul'
1t be? Had she been stumbling alon'
a blind trail, misled by the cunninI
dovetailing Of circumstance? He
: heart was beating stifingly. If sh
should be mistaken now! She dashe'
her hand across her eyes as though +
compel their clearness, and locke
, again.
. - Dno,tu UoIianf'a face tina