The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1918-06-04

rod with switch he carried, tossed q
chip at a chattering chipmunk his
eyes sweeping the fields, the coloring
woods, only to return and rest upon
her face.
There is little change" he said at
last. "The sumacs are beginning to
color; there Is the same simmer Of
silver in the leaves of the beech over
there, and l verify believe the same
minnows are flashing through the wa
ter He leaned over the bank peer
ing down. into the branch. Look,
Rachel" His voice was excited and
he caught her hand, drawing her for
ward. Look. There Is the same old
mullet we tried so hard to catch, and
he is playing the same old tricks.
darting In and out the roots, catching
tadpoles as he can. No. Nothing is
changed" He picked up pebble and
dropped 1t into the water, watching
the ripples that extended across the
narrow stream. Nothing, except
Rachel Talbot, and am accountable
for that"
His voice had altered All the light
ness was gone. you have no reason
to give me kindly thought, Rachel,
yet 1t was the hope you still feel an
interest that hae brought me back;
that has kept alive the little spark of
good there is In me-"
Her voice was low, slightly hest
tant, as she answered. Let us keep
to generalities. Randolph. 1t win be
best
"Generalitiesl have not come
from the ends of the earth to talk of
anything but ourselves. l was IN
Egypt when heard of your fathers
death; far up the Nile. l left for
Cairo that night and was fortunate In
catching steamer for Marseilles. l
did not even pause In Paris, such was
my haste to reach you. And you ask
me to talk generalities. We will not
talk at all, If not about that which
brought me here.9
Il had no reason to believe you
would come to me-"
THAT is true. But even before 1
knew you were In trouble l had deter
mined to return. Something happened.
Material as l have always been In my
beliefs, years in India and Egypt have
cnst their spell upon me. l now give
heed to many things that before would
have aroused derision. 1t was only a
dream. and heard you calling me.
calling In great distress. Not one
night, but night after night. became
obsessed by the fear Of knew not
what and made arrangements to leave.
Then / heard Of your fathers death:
Do you think I will talk platitudes
after thatT"
She smiled somewhat sadly as she
watched a squirrel scampering across
the wood path. y stir think II hass
not to look back. There is nothing to
be gained by doing so. and PERSONAL
ties will make us emotional, something
TO be avoided"
"We Will have to face that for 1
have come to ask you to give mo an
other chance, Rachel" For an instant
he laid his hand over hers. You are
O self-controlled, self-contained wom-
an, while l have always been given TO
extremes. For you I gave up my old
companions and forced myself to walk
IN that straight and narrow path
whose straightness and narrowness
! needs powerful incentive at the fur
ther end to make man, who all his
life has followed the caprice of the
moment, keep In the middle Of 1t.
Yet for one small lapse you shut the
door in my face, shut II and the great
er temptation was awaiting me-
"Oh. bes of YOU" she interrupted
In a stlfled voice. "why bring it all
back?"
Il must. do not mean to be
cruel, but we must talk this thing
out; talk Il over from an entirely diff
! ferent viewpoint. At that time you
were right. l realize 1t now. Then l
thought differently. for the accursed
spirit of opposition that made me OBJ
stinate in wrong had full possession of
me. The years that have passed be-
tween now and then l have lived In
the Orient and | have had opportuni-
ties In plenty TO sound the very depths
of remorse and despair. did not de-
serve that shut door. Rachel. but pride
and obstinacy kept me silent, for APP
pearances were against me. Yet
loved you then; still love you"
She had turned so that he could not
see her face and the silence lasted so