The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1926-07-08
dark pathway to meet Peter.

dark pathway to meet Peter.
She felt rather than saw hat his
arms went out to her, and she shiv-
cred away with q little movement
Of fear
"oh. no no." she said in a
whisper.
She turned away from him to-
wards the gate.
LET us go out can't breathe
she said with a sort of wildness. He
walked beside her silently till they
were out in the road.
Everything was very still here
there was a family iridescent light
as if somewhere behind the clouds a
noon was shining, and when Nan
looked at him Peters face looked
gray in the eerie light Of it..
rive so much to say to you he
began incoherently. Il don't know
where to begin feel feel
as if I've walked through the world
blindfolded for the past weeks and
that today-only today someone has
torn the bandage from my eyes.
He stopped suddenly-he stood be-
fore her.
ut was not %playacting, Nam he
said h~oarsely. II swear if l eve
sneak again that it was not
He was shaking all over; his voice
was wrung with agitation
Nan could not speak-uncon.
sciously she put put her hand and
caught at Peter to steady herself,
and the next moment she was in his
arms.
He held her to his heart as if he
could never let her go. He spoke
foolish, ~incoherent words Of love, to
which she listened like one in a
dream. And all the time she kept
telling herself that that was all 1t
was-a dream-a dream; that she
must keep her head, or she would Gle
when the bitter awakening came.
Presently. with an effort. she
wrenched herself free.
"Oh. don't. please-please."
They were close to the stile that
led into the wood now. Nan leaned
her arms on the top bar and laid
her head down on them with a
dreadful feeling of faintness, and
for a long moment neither of them
spoke.
"If / raise my head, or look up,
shall find that he isn't there at all"
she was telling herself despairingly.
IT know that it's only what I've been
imagining. Oh. how shall bear it.?
And then she felt his hand on hers
the close pressure Of his fin
gers and heard him speaking to her.
"You don't believe me, Nan,
know-and you've got to! I've got to
make you. l don't know how TO be
gin-I don't know what to say-its
its as if I've been through a long
illness. I'm so ashamed, but it hasn't
been my fault. Oh. I beg of you 10
believe me.
II know know" She spoke
b~reathlessly. She hated that note OF
pain in his voice. but as yet she
could do but little to help him.
ut takes some forgetting" she
said in a stifed voice. Il will try
oh, 1 wilI-but you don't know how
hard it's been. ! thought
have died"
II could kill myself with shame
remorse, Nan. you know how
I loved you We We're 10
have been married when came
home" He let her hand 60 sud
denly and forced her to turn 10
him. The pale moonlight shone full
on her face with its tortured eyes.
and with a little stifed exclamation
put his hand over them. as if
he could not bear to see taeir pain.
He remembered her as so brave and
plucky-why ever at the very last
moment when they said goodby he
fore he went to France she had
at him with her little crooked
smile though her eyes had been
drowned in tears.
Then all at once the came to
Nan with Overwhelming relief. wash
ing the last trace OF bitterness and
hardness from her heart.
Peter kept his arms round her
tightly: he did not speak. but from
time to time he kissed her hair and
the little bit of face which was all
he could see, and the slim trembling
hand that clutched the lapel Of his
coat as if even now she war efrafd
to let him go.
He had never known Nan TO break
down like this before, and It cut him
TO the heart. She was always 80
CHEEKY and brave-it told him only
too surely what she had suffered.
ITO BE Continued
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IN fact, everything-yeasts, molds