The Ordway new era., 1917-03-16
only part of the day, they need nj

You DO not Know Wnat you aie say
ing" she laughed.
But he paid no heed to her. "Toi-
nette, there Is no one in the world,
there will never be anyone"
"Oh, please don't go on! l shall
never marry. l do not believe l was
meant for marriage. Aren't some girls
born to be spinsters?"
mo, mol Not you!"
"Yes, / shall be an old maid. There
Is no one In the world that l shall ever
marry. I shall be happy with my IA
ther all my life-and have only good
friends, faithful friends" she added
In n whisper so low that 1t seemed
thought, not speech.
"Your father is young no longer. He
must wish you to marry-he will be
happier if you do. You must not sac
rifice yourself to hint is unjust"
"While he lives l shall not leave
him; and oh, do not make me think
that there will ever come a time
when
Forgive me; I am sorry. But
can't you marry and still be with him?
Wouldn't he rather gain n son? Oh,
Toinette, II 1 could only tell you what
I feel! You must marry mel love
you sol"
81 can never marry you"
"Why not? Is it because you love
someone else?"
She was silent.
SIS it someone In your old home?
Surely not-you would never have left
I,
too young. Tell me-is it any man in
Corydon? Answer, Toinette! Is it
Toinette, is it this newcomer, this fel-
low Larrence?"
She did not answer.
Laurence or no onel Well, he's out
of my way. You'll see little of him
now-oh, I know, I've heard of you
both! He's happy enough elsewhere"
"Stopl Don't speak of Mr.. Lar
rence!"
"You think I don't know? I've
never met him, but news travels far,
tell you'll There's n pretty English
girl that he spends his time with
nowl"
II am not concerned in Mr.. Lar
rence's actions" she answered coldly.
"Believe me or not as you choose.
The whole village knows It. But I
know more-you think your heroic Mr..
Laurence Is an honest American now?
Bah! What is he, what Is he doing
here? Who knows anything about
Laurence? I tell you, he and Gran
mer's daughter are n pretty pair!"
doctor Elliott! Take care of your
words! You dare not slander Lydia !"
"Oh, she's honest enough, no doubt;
but-there's bound to be war with
England-and soon. Suppose you
| were English, wouldn't you do what
you could for your country? There's
| our forts and this frontier that the
English would Ike to have, remem-
ber."
II will not listen to thisl You can
ot mean what you are saying"
"1f you are a loyal American you
| will listen"
II will hear nothing more from you
| about Lydia and Mr.. laurence And
| now let me go. should not have let
you say what you have. Forgive me
let us both forget it."
She turned away and Elliott has
tened to repair his hasty speech.
II have said nothing of this to any
one and have only told you, Toinette,
because I love you so. I don't want
you to be misled by appearances.
shall say nothing more about this
but time will show you I am right.
You are not angry with me, Toinette?
1 would die rather than displease
you'll"
The girl was evidently aroused, and
only Elliotts good sense in dropping
the subject saved the walk homeward
from embarrassing silence. With ready
tact he began to speak Of other things,
and before they had reached the village
had succeeded in drawing a smile
from his companion. He told her
good night as If nothing untoward had
happened.
Returning to the tavern, he sat a
while In his room In moody silence
and then began gloomily to pound
some drugs with mortar and pestle
''The fat nearly fell in the fire that
time,' he muttered, and cursed him
self under his breath. you're too
devilish hasty," he told himself. "Slow
and careful is the word. She loves
himl But I'll spoil his fine game yet
The girls rich-rich, why, that wiz
ened old father of hers must be worth
fortune! And he can't live forever"
He fell to grinding his drugs as though
the simple remedies were poisons that
should encompass O'Bannon's death.
he had been right in one respect.
David had spent more than one pleas-
ant evening at the Cranmers'. Under
his friendliness the girl giowed Into
rosy reincarnation Of the audac.ous-
ly sympathetic Lydia Of their first
meeting. It was sweet to hear the