The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1916-01-13
GbeHALI9f TI pF
RyG[OpG[ RANDOLPH C1[STIp
and LILLIAN CHESTER w.
s e ~. ILLUSTRATED &C.DRH0DES
ILLUSTRATED r. C.D.RHODES



Homeward again in the starlit night.
still In that whirl OF exultation. 1t was
somewhat chillier now, and Allison
bundled her into the machine with
rough tenderness. She felt the thrill
OF him as he sat beside her, and the
firm strength with which he controlled
the swiftly speeding runabout, was
part her strength. They were kindred
. spirits, these two, soaring above the
affairs of earth in the serene compla-
cency of those who make trifes OF
vastness itself. They did not talk
much, for they had not much to talk
about. The details of scheme so
comprehensive as Allison's were not
things to be explained, they were
things to be seen in a vision. Once
she asked him about the bringing OF
the foreign railroads into the combina-
ton, and he told her that this would
only be accomplished by political up
heaval, which would take place next
month. and would probably involve the
whole of Europe. 1t was another de-
tail; and 1t seemed quite natural She
was SO interested that he told her all
about his foreign visitors.
In the park, Allison stopped at the
little outlook house where they had
climbed on that snowy night, and they
stood there. with the stars above, the
trees below and the twinkling lights
stretching out to the horizon, all alone
above the world of civilization. Be-
low sounded the clang of street cars,
and far off to the left, high In the air.
there cleaned the lights of a curving
L train. That was a part of Allison's
world which he had long since con-
quered, a part which he already held
In the hollow Of his hand; and the fact
that every moving thing which chung
upon track in all this vast piano.
rama was under his dominion, served
only to illustrate and make plain the
marvel Of the accomplishment which
was now under way. Beyond that dim
horizon lay another and still another,
and in them all, wherever things
moved or were transported, the lift Of
Allison's finger was to start and stop
the wheels, to the uttermost confines
or the earthi Oh, 1t was wonderful;
wonderful! And she was part of It!
1t was there that he proposed to her.
1t did not surprise her. She had
known It when they had entered the
park, and that this was the place.
He told her that all this empire was
being builded to lay at her feet, that
she was the empress of 1t and he the
emperor, but that their Joy was to be
not In the sway, not in the scepter and
crown, but in the doing, and in the
having done, and in the conceiving
and having conceived.
Was this a cold painting Of pomp
and glory and advantage and reward
He added to it the fire of lover, and
to that the force and mastery and
compulsion of his dynamic power. She
felt again the potent thrill of him, and
the might and sweep and drive Of him,
and with the hot, tumbling words of
love in her ears, and her senses a-reel,
and her mind in its whirling exulta-
ton, she felt between them sympa-
thy and union which it was not in
human strength to deny! Something
held her back, something made her
withhold the word of promise, on the
plea that she must have more time to
think, to consider, to straighten out
the tangle of her mind; but she suf-
fered him to sweep her in his arms,
and rain hot kisses upon her face, and
to tell her, over and over and over and
over that she belonged to him. for
ever and forever!