Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-12-08

a Stfoke OF apopicxy anQ the wedding Is
Michael is the chief speaker at a big
mass meeting at Madison Square Garden.
starr and her father are in the audience.
close of the meeting. Starr and her
father greet him warmly.
One evening Milky is walking by the
Endicott home and he sees Mr.. Endicott
staggering up the steps Of his home. He
helps him into the house, summons a
doctor, who p~ronounces the illness small
Ros' %. On M hsarinf + this 1at, t1ens servants m;,S z.na 81
colt. He stays and nurses hiT. On the
second day starr comes home and they
are both quarantined.
Joy. each others companionship thai
their quarantine is really q pleasure.
Buck escapes from Jail.
CHAPTER XVII.
All this; while Michael had, been in
daily Communication with Sam, as
we'll as with Will French, who with
the alley going, though they report
ed that the head had been sorely
missed. -'
Sam had reported daily progress
with the house and about two weeks
before Michael's release from quaran-
tine announced hat everything was
done. even to the papering of the
walls,aid o1ling Of the floors.
A fire had been burning in the fur
mace and fireplaces for several weeks,
$50 the plaster was thoroughly dry, and
1T was Michael's plan that Starr and
her father were to &C straight down
to the farm. as o O as they were free
ito leave the house. ,
To this end Hester and Will had
been given daily commissions to pur-
chase this and that neeFful article of
furniture, until now at last Michael
felt that the house would be habNable
for Starr and her precious invalid.
During the entire winter Michael
had pleased himself in purchasing
rugs here and there, and charming.
fitting, furniture for the house he was
building. A great many things-the
important things-had already, been
selected, and Michael knew he could
trust Testers taste for the rest. For
some eason he had v said much
to Starr about either Hester or Will,
perhaps because they had always
seemed to him. to belong to n an
other, and thus were somewhat set
apart from his own life.
But one morning, Starr, coming in
TO thelibrary where Michael was tele-
phoning' Hester about some last pur-
chases she was making, overheard
these words: "All right Hester. you'll
know best Of course, but ! think you
better make it a dozen instead Of a
half. It's better to have too many
than too few: and we might ehave
company, you know n@saa
4 Now, of course, Starr couldn't pos
..sibly be supposed to know that it was
"a question of dishes that was being
discussed SO intimately. In fact. she
1SN MT ckNvn Tn <hirE vpho% fhovN rUQVsG
talking about: she only knew that he
had called this other girl Hester
and she suddenly became aware thai
!, during all these weeks Of pleasant in
i%tercourse, although she had addressed
him as Michael, he had carefully
, avoided using any name at all for her
exception one or two occasions, sub
t stituting pronouns wherever possible
She, had not noticed this before bu1
when she heard that Hester" III hi:
pleasant tones, her heart brought the
, fact before her at once for invoice
Who vas this girl Hester? And VIII,
Though he had a Night? Could it bt
! possible that Michael was engaged t.
her? Why had she never thought O
lit before? OF course it would be per
fectly natural. This other girl hat
been down In his dear alley, working
; shoulder to shoulder with him al
these years. and it was a matter O.
course that he must love her. Starr
e bright n7o1ning that but a momen
before had been filed with so mucl
sunshine seemed suddenly to clout
, over with a blackness that blotted gu
all the joy; and though she strove II
; hide it even from herself, her spiri
was heavy with something she did no
understand.
That evening Michael came into tn
library unexpectedly He had BEEF
, !out in the kitchen helping Morton Il
V open a box that was refractory. HI
found the room entirely dark, AM
thought he heard a soft sound lik'
.'sobbing in one corner of the room.
START" he said. Starr, is tina
oiyou?" nor knew that he had calle'
her by her name, though she knew !
, very well indeed. She kept quite still
: for an instant, and then she rose from
the little crunpled heap in the cor
ner of the leather couch where sh
! had dropped for a minute In the darl
). to cry out the strange ache of he
: : heart when she thought Michael wa
: safely in the kitchen for a while.
81 why, yes, Michael, she said. an,
her voice sounded choky. though 81
: was struggling tovmake it natural
: Michael stepped to the doorway AM
! turned or the hall lights 80 that b
. could dimly g her little figure stand
d ing In the shadow. Then he cam
over toward her. his whole hear
tyearning over her. hut q mighty con
2 troll set upon himself. sss
y what 10 the mattef-deAr:." RH
. breathed the last word almost unde
his breath. He actuAlly did not real
!. LIE that he had spoken it aloud. l
!, seemed to envelope her with q dee
e tenderness. It broke her partial self
b control entirely md she sobbed agai1
{ Efor q minute before she could speak.
Oh, II he but dared to take tha
dear form into HIS arms and comfoF
: her. II he but dared! But he had n
Iright!f
Miehasl stood stiIl and struassslls
With his heart. standing quite dlea
Iher. yet mol touching her..
Z sOh. Hiyssdear!" he bfeathed 1
8 lhilHDs1f.e in5an agony ofglovc and rail-
re1tsAtnt. hut she did not hear tn
. brslShS2SHhe was snsagsd 81 = srns
J gid51ksnIkUW1nE.g she SEEMED t6re
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66rg dGty 41em15St rot lei Efls3 IL
{ hDN she fett.sACkz FOR anything IN IN
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