The Green Forest tribune., 1916-02-04

the rector, and directed the most. of
 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 forefnger tapping
 at her well-shaped chin. She seemed
 to have reversed places with her sis ter tonight, for Mrs. Sargent was su-
 premely happy, while Helen Davies
 was doing the family worrying.
 She could have bidden Allison adieu
 had she waited very few minutes. He was a man who had spent a llfe- time in linking two and two together, l 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 comparatively early departure.
 "Tll see you tomorrow, Gail, he ob-. 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, surge or color over her face.
 Rev. Smith Boyd, blazing down at | that scene, suddenly felt something crushing under his hand. It 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 a stone ax on the back of his neck, but as it was he passed out unmolested.
 holding 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.
 Gail" he said, in voice which | 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 l piano bench, and now he reached
 down and took her hand and held it. l uDresisting. 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, love you!" He heut 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;
 q come to you with the love of man
 I come to you with the love of one inspired to do great deeds, not just '6 fs- shem q, your .sEr: r1r I 6ees1ssr you are in the worid!" He bent lower, and tried to gaze into the brown eyes under those fiuttering lashes. He held aer hand more tightly to him, clasped 1t to his breast, oppressed her with the tremendous desire of his whole being to draw her to him, and hold aer close, as one and part of him for III time to come, mingling and merg Ing them into one ecstatic harmony. | Gail! Oh, Gail, Gail!"
 There was a cry in that repetition 0f 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 a new light which had been born within her, there was no 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 tha.t unspoken assent, and taken her in his arms, and breathed 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 enfolded her. Ills warm breath was upon her cheek. The sym pathy which was between them bridged the narrow chasm of air. and anveloped them in an ethereal tame which coursed them from head to foot, and had already nigh welded them into one.
 q need you, Gail!" he told her. T 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. cry which was half sob, which came
 with a 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
 fillment of the promptings which had