The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1914-11-17

Ranston had lighted a pine-knot In
the fireplace, and the walls were shud-
dering with crimson shadows. Her
hand was shielding her eyes, and as
she strove to fill the gaps In their
somewhat spasmodic conversation
with the trivial impersonal things that
belonged to their old intimacy, the
tiny Pickering flames seemed to be
darting unfriendly fingers plucking at
her secret. Leaning from her nest Of
cushions she thrust the poker into
the glowing resinous mass till sparks
whizzed up the chimneyis black nav
In a torrent.
How they fyi" she said. "Rickey
Snyder calls it raising a blizzard in
Hades. l used to think they flew up
to the sky and became the Httlest
stars. What a pity we have to grow
up and learn SO much! I'd rather
have kept on believing that when the
red leaves In the woods whirled about
In a circle the fairies were dancing,
and that it was the gnomes who put
the cockle-burs in the hounds ears"
She had been talking at random,
gradually becoming shrinkingly con-
scious of his constrained and STUN
bling manner She had, however, but
half defined his errand when he came
to it all in burst.
II can't get to it, somehow, Shir-
ley" he said with sudden desperation,
"but here it is. I've come to ask you
to marry me. Don't stop me-" he
went on hurriedly, lifting his hand:
whatever you say, | must tell you.
I've been trying to for months and
months!" Now that he had started,
1t came with boyish vehemence that
both chilled and thrilled her. Even
In her own desolation, and shrinking
almost unbearably from the avowal,
the hope and brightness in his voice
touched her with pity. 1t seemed to
her that life was a strange tumble of
unacceptable and incomprehensible
pain. And all the while, in the young
voice vibrant with feeling, her cring-
ing ear was catching imagined echoes
Of that other voice, graver and more
self-contained, but shaken by the same
passion, in that iteration Of I love
you! l love you'll"
His answer came to him finally in
her silence, and he released her hands
which he had caught in his own. They
dropped, limp and unresponsive, in
her lap. Shirley" he said brokenly,
maybe you can't care for me-yet.
But If you will marry me, I'll 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
i must! Love isn't like that. 1t
doesn't come afterward l know. 1
could never give you what you want.
You would end by despising me, as
should despise myself"
81 won't give up" he said incoher-
emily. Il can't give up. Not SO long
as l know there's nobody else. At the
ball I 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
| should not try my luck" he said diff
ficultly. "I asked him"
There was silence, while he gazed
at her, breathing despair Then he
tried to laugh.
"All right" he said hoarsely. Ut
If doesn't ttnr nnn't
She stretched out her hand to him
in a gesture of wistful pain, and he
held it 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 a storm broken flower. Val
liant had accepted the finality Of ~