Evening star., 1922-06-04

: office. mo, 1 reckcn I'll size up how
the matter stands with Lora." =.
Along the slow river which was
| checked by the Davenport dam he
| walked under the arched elms until
he came to the Davenport mansion. a
big, square house in the midst of a
the ugly village.
T INDER the shelter of an ,arbor a
girl sat in a hammock chair, busy
with embroidery. A young man
lounged in another chair near her.
The girl was pretty. Her companion
was smartly garbed according to city
fashions.
The judge did not respect what ap-
! peared to be a tete-a-tete affair. He
marched across the lawn, swinging
off his hat and waving it in CHEEKY
greeting when the girl looked up
from her work. He bestowed on the
young man mere brush of side
glance and a Hello. BlaisdelI!"
After time Blaisdell made an ex-
cuse of business and went away. The
Judge had been monopolizing the girl
while the young man scowled and
| fidgeted.
| "Phew" sighed Winn when the
young man was out of earshot. I've
wasted more breath than l would use
| ordinarily in arguing a case in court.
| But 1 reckoned l could drive him
I he confessed frankly.
| that you purposely and cruelty drove
away my very nice beau who tells me
| such wonderful stories about the
city," she demanded. She kept her
eyes on her work. and he did not un-
| derstand whether her tone OF indig-
nation was mock or real.
That's what" he returned placidly.
j"I looked out of my window and
saw him coming this way. 1 made
| up my mind all of a sudden. Since
he came to town I have been wor-
| ried, but I have been allowing mat
ters to run along, hoping they'd
| swing around right. Now. keep your
eyes straight down on your work,
just as they are. If you look at me
can't go on. When I was thirty
| you were only fifteen, and l couldn't
say anything then because l was
| twice as old as you. But now you're
twenty and I'm only thirty-f1ve-Id
| have to be forty to be twice as old
now
And when I'm thirty I'll be two
thirds as old as you," she suggested
demul ely-"and so on
| Yes, and so on" he agreed whim-
sicalIy But / find I can't wait till
you catch up with me. at that rate.
The thing was working along all
right but that fellow from the city
has thrown a monkey wrench into
I the gears.
'Lora," he went on desperately,
breaking from his self-repression.
I'm a slow-moving old fool. l know.
d. But you have seen in my eyes how
I I have loved you right along. l can't
keep it back any longer. Today
decided that I'd come out like man.
I'd feel pretty mean il 1 should walt
till some other fellow had lodged In
,, ahead of men and then have you say
II ought to have spoken earlier. Oh.
1 know I'm not talking the thing out
right. But it's only this, Lora: love
you, Now. I'm going to conflde some
, thing to you" He was wisttuliy
eager. They don't think I know
much law. these poor folks up. here.
/ OF course. they have no, way Of un-
! derstanding me orSpAL EHe
have been put in fcharxes q resfsin g
the statutes of this state. The gov
ernor tells me that when that work
has been finished he is going to ap-
point me one of the Judges of the
supreme court. 1 have stayed up here
on the edge of the woods to have
plenty of time to study"
LIE had been looking away from
IL her while he talked. He felt sure
that she was rejoicing, just as he re-
joiced. He feared that her delight
at the wonderful news would cause
her to look up, and he did not dare
to meet her eyes just then.
"And L stayed because you were