River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1915-10-28

her attention to Allison, who was less
disconcerting. Allison, casting an oc-
casional glance at the intense young
rector, seemed preoccupied tonight;
and Mrs. Helen Davies, pausing to
take her sister Grace with her, walked
up the stairs with a forefinger tapping
at her well-shaped chin. She seemed
to have reversed places with her sis
ter tonight, for Mrs. Sargent was SUI
premeiy happy, while Helen Davies
was doing the family worrying.
She could have hidden Allison adieu
had she waited a very few minutes.
He was man who had spent life
time in linking two and two together,
and he abided unwaveringly by his de-
auctions. There was no mistaking the
nature of the change which was so ap-
parent in Rev. Smith Boyd; but Ali
son, after careful thought on the mat
ter, was able to take a comparatively
early departure.
I'll see you tomorrow, GAIL" he OBJ
served finally. Rising, he crossed to
where she sat, and, reaching into her
lap. he took both her hands. He let
her arms swing from his clasp, and,
looking down into her eyes with smil-
ing regard, he gave her hands an extra
pressure, which sent, for the hun
dredth time that night, a surge of
color over her face.
Rev. Smith Boyd, blazing down at
that scene, suddenly felt something
crushing under his hand 1t was the
light runner board of the music rack
and three hairs, which had lain in
placid place at the crown of his head,
suddenly popped erect. Ten thousand
years before, had these three been so
grouped, Allison would have felt
stone ak on the back of his neck, but
as it was he passed out unmolested,
nodding carelessly to the young rec
tor, and bestowing on Gail parting
look which was the perfection of easy
assurance.
Rev. Smith Boyd wasted not min
ute in purposeless hesitation or idle
preliminary conversation.
Call" he said, in voice which
chimed of all the love songs ever writ
ten, which vibrated with all the love
passion ever breathed, which pleaded
with the love appeal Of all the domi-
nant forces since creation. Gail had
resumed her seat on the end Of the
piano bench, and now he reached
down and took her hand, and held it,
unresisting She was weak and limp,
and she averted her eyes from the
burning gaze which beamed down on
her. Her breath was futtering, and
the hand which lay in her lap was cold
and trembling. Gail, l love you'll" He
bent his head and kissed her hand
The touch was fire, and she felt her
blood leap to it. Gail, DEAR" and his
voice was like the suppressed cres-
cendo of a tremendous organ flute;
II come to you with the love of a man
I come to you with the love of one
inspired to do great deeds, not just
to lay them at your feet, but because
Won are in the world" He bent lower,
and tried to gaze into the brown eyes
under those fiuttering lashes. He held
her hand more tightly to him, clasped
it to his breast, oppressed her with
the tremendous desire of his whole
being to draw her to him, and hold
her close, as one and part Of him for
all time to come, mingling and merg-
ing them into one ecstatic harmony.
Gail! Oh, Gail, Call"
There was a cry in that repetition
Of her name, almost an anguish. She
stole an upward glance at him, her
face pale, her beautiful lips half part
ed, and in her depthless brown eyes,
alive now with new light which had
been born within her, there was no
forbiddance, though she dropped them
hastily, and bent her head still lower.
She had made herself an eternal part
Of him just then, had he but seized
upon that unspoken assent, and taken
her in his arms, and breatned to her
Of the love of man for woman, the love
that never dies nor wavers nor falters,
so long as the human race shall en-
dure.
He bent still closer to her, so that
he all but EMBODIED her. His warm
breath was upon her cheek. che SYM
pathy which was between them
bridged the narrow chasm of air, and
enveloped them in an ethereal fame
which coursed them from head to foot,
and had already nigh welded them
into one.
Il need you, Call" he told her. Il
need you to be my wife, my sweet
heart, my companion. l need you to
go with me through life, to walk hand
in hand with me about the greatest
work in the world, the redemption of
the fallen and helpless, into whose
lives we may shed some Of the beauty
which blossoms in our own"
There was a low cry from Gail, a
cry which was half sob, which came
with sharp intake of the breath. and
carried with it pain and sorrow and
protest. She had been so happy, in
what she fancied to be the near full