Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-01-18

~ W AtSk AVA L
slhg room; and. closing the door, she
stood facing them all as half breath
less with the excitement Of the mornen
they stood in a row before her.
MY three dear children!" she muir
INJURED. Gordon's eyes lit with joy and
ms heart thrilled with the wonder OF
1T all. Then the mother stepped up to
him and. placing her hand on his arm,
led him over to the couch and made
MIN Sit beside her, while the brother
and sister sat down together close by.
NOW. Cyrll, my new son." said she,
a~eliberately, her eyes resting approx
lngly upon his face, you may tell your
story. see my girl has lost both head
and heart to o and 1 doubt ii she
could tell 1t ~connectedly."
And while Celia and jeff were laugh
ing at this, Gordon set about his task
OF winning a mother, and incidentally
an eager eyed young brother who was
more thai half committed to his cluse
already.
Celia watched proudly as her hand
some husband took out his credentials
and began his explanation.
First, l must tell you who 1 am.
and these papers will dc 1t better than
l could. VIII you look at them. p~lease?"
He handed her a few letters and
papers.
These papers on the top show the
RAM n position that my father and
grandfather held with the government
ana In the army. This is a letter from
the president to my father c%ongratu-
latlng him on his approaching mar
rage with my mother. That paper con-
tains my mothers family tree, and the
letters with it will give you an idea of
the honor In which my mothers family
was held in Washington and in Vir-
ginia, her old home. l know these mat
ters are not of much moment, and say
nothing whatever about what 1 am
imyself, but they are things you would
family II you had known me all my
ME; and at cas- they will tell you that
my family was respectable"
Mrs. Hathaway was examining the
papers. and suddenly looked up, ex-
claiming: My dear! My father knew
your grandfather 1 think 1 saw him
once when he came to our home in New
York. 1t was Years ago and / was a
young girl, but l remember he was a
fine looking man with keen, dark ewes.
and a heavy head of iron gray hair"
She looked at Gordon keenly.
Il wonder il your eyes are not like
MS. 1t was long age of course
They used to say l looked like him.
l do not remember him. He died when
l was very young"
The mother looked up with a pleas
ant smile.
Now tell me about yourself she
said and laid a gentle hand on his.
Gordon looked down, an embarrassed
flush spreading over his face.
There's nothing great to tell" he
said: I've always tried to live a
straight, true life. and I've never been
in o with any girl before" he
flashed a wonderful, binding smile up
on Celia.
Il was left alone in the world when
0llite VO1lnp. and hnva 1i1ol oro,,,J -
boarding schools and college. I'm a
graduate of Harvard and I've Travelled
q little. There was some money left
from my fathers estate, not much. I'm
rich. I'm a secret service man, and
l love my work. l get a good salary
and was this morning promoted to the
position next in rank to my chief, so
that now ! shall have still more money.
l shall be able to make your dauph-
ter comfortable and give her some of
the luxuries, if not all, to which she
has been accustomed"
my dear boy, that part is not what
I am anxious about" INTERRUPTED the
mother.
Il know" said Gordon, but 1t is
a detail you have a right to be told. /
understand that you care far more
what I am than how much money / can
make. n ! promise you / am going to
try to be all that you would want gyour
daughters husband to be. Perhaps the
best thing l can say for myself is that
/ love her better than my life, ana I
mean to make her happiness the dear
est thing In life to me"
The mothers look of deep under
standing answered him more e%loquently
a moment she spoke again.
But I do not understand how YOU
could have known one another and /
never have heard of you. Celia is not
good at keeping things from her moth
er, though the last three months she
has had a sadness that l could not
.fathom, and was forced to lay to her
natural dread of leaving home. She
seemed so insistent. upon having this
marriage just as George planned If
and i was so afraid she would regret
not waiting. How could you have
known n another. all this time and
she never talked to me about it, and
whatever in it if you two loved one
another? Just how long have you
known each other, anyway? Did it he
gin when you visited in Washington
last spring, Celia?"
With dancing eyes Celia shook her
head.
NO, IL I had met him then
I'm sure George Hayne would never
a y had ANYTHING to do with the mat
ter for Cyril would have known how
to help me out OF my difficulty"
4 shall have to- tell; you the whole
story from my standpoint, and from
the beginning" said Gordon, dreading
now that the crisis was upon him. what
the outcome would be. 4 have wanted
you to. know who and what l was be-
fore you knew the story, that YOU
might Judge me as kindly as possible.
and know that however l may have
been to blame in the matter it was
through no intention OF mine. NY story
may sound rather impossible. / know
It will seem improbable, but 1t is new
ertheless true. everything that / have
t0atell. May ! hope to be believed"
think you may answered the
mother searching his face anxiously.
Those eyes Of yours are not lying eyes,
Thank YOU" he said simply, and
then gathering all his courage he
plunged into his story.
Mrs. Hathaway was watching him
With searching interest. JEFF had
drawn his chair up close and conld
ycarcely restrain his excitement, and
when Gordon told Of his commission
he burst forth exploxively:
Gee! But thar was = great stunt!
I'D have liked to have been along with
you! You must DO simply great to bo
trusted With Z thing like that