Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1932-04-22
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am only just a very ordinary man?'
mo, because you're not; not Ike
the men I've met, anyway"
I'm spite of -. the thing you were
so anxious to find out about me?:"
'You won't forgive me for that?
eve really believed it, even though
"And if it's true?"
She came a step nearer to him.
"Is it true?"
He moved back a little way from
her and laughed.
Your faith is not SO very strong
after all, you see. Well, l must CO."
So he would not tell her; she knew
that he would never tell her.
! She put out her hand, and after
the barest hesitation he took it.
And then he was gone.
CHAPTER XII
Rathbone was away four days.
1t seemed a long four days, and
then, on the fifth morning, a letter
came from Dennis Waterman.
She took Dennis's letter with her
out into the woods.
1t was with a little sigh of r%eluct-
ance that at last she opened it.
my darling:
"You have lot written to me,
though every mail l look for a letter.
| am always thinking of you and Won
dering how and where you are. New
York is like a fiery furnace; the pave
ments seem to burn your feet. These
lawyer fellows are keeping us hang
ing about, and Linda will rot leave
until everything is settled up, though
| rather fancy l shall come home be-
fore she does, perhaps sooa. Wasn't
it some poet fellow who said tina. alb
sence makes the heart grow fonder?
Well, that's how l feel about you.
There are times when the longing to
see, you again is almost unbearable."
Diana closed her eyes and tried to
visualize how Dennis must have ios k
ed when he wrote those words. She
knew every line of his face so we'll,
and yet somehow she could not RECAP
ture them.
She went on reading:
life is a queer thing, isn't it? 1t
seems absurd that you and l are fore
ed to be separated like this, when if
we were together we should find per-
feet happiness. Do you still love me?
But | know you do, and when l come
Diana stopped reading, and hurried
ly folded the letter.
Somehow she felt she could not bear
any more; it was the voice of the past
coming back to claim her, when for a
little while she had thought to have
escaped from it.
A wood pigeon flew suddenly over
head with a great flutter of wings, as
if something had startled it, and look
ing up, Diana saw a girl standing on
the narrow path before her.
She wa standing very still, almost
as if she were a figure in a picture
and not a real person at all, and stand
ing beside her was a big dog, a rough
haired Alsatian with a red collar round
his shaggy neck.
They were both looking at Diana.
and she looked back at them with an
odd sense of unreality, as if this was
something she was seeing in a dream:
till the girl moved and spoke.
"What were you thinking about?'
she asked.
, Thinking about?" Diana felt a lit
l tie bewildered. II don't know; just
things.
The two girls looked at one an
other, and it was Diana who spoke
next.
. II know who you are," she said
"Your name is Rosalie." Then she
flushed and wished she had not spok-
en-.
But the other girl only smiled.
Eyes, my name is Rosalie," she said.
There was a little silence, then she
, asked, "Do you mind if l sit down.
:. Diana moved a little to make room
for her.
"Are you fond of music?" Resale
asked suddenly.
"Yes-yes, l think I am" Diana
, said, feeling rather bewildered.
DO you sing?"
j! NO."
t II do. Listen" And suddenly she
began to sing, quite naturally and as
if it were nothing out of the ordi-
nary suddenly to start singing to a
perfect stranger.
{ She had a charming voice, rather
| small, but wonderfully true and clear: