Year: 1878

"Your Cousin Helen is coming next week."
Robert Braith's mother said, when he came
in from his work aud sat down to read for
few minutes. "There's the letter on the
window sill, if you'd like to read it,"


He took up the letter and read it through
slowly. One passage he read over twice,
before he laid it down.


al never spent pleasanter summer in my
life than the one spent with you. And if
Robert is the same dear old fellow that he
was then, shall enjoy this one quite as much,
for you know Rob and | were the best of
friends, and have seen no once since that
| liked half so we'll"


He sat there in the door, with the letter
in his hands, and he looked away across the
meadow where the grass was crinkling in the
wind like a sea of emerald, and thought
about the summer gone by and the summer
coming In that vanished one he had
dreamed such sweet and beautiful dream,
and its memory had never left him. But
he had hidden it in his own heart, and no
one had ever guessed what it was. Now she
was coming back, and the old dream must
be lived over again, or crushed down and
kept out of sight, if it so be that his will
was powerful enough to do that. But he
doubted his own strength. There had been
times, in the dead summer, when it seemed
as if his heart must speak out and be heard.
But his pride kept him silent Here was
he, farmer, and she was child of wealthy
parents, city born and bred, and he argued
that he no right to say anything to her of
love, because their stations in life were so
different and so far apart. 1t she had been
a farmers daughter, or the child of poor
parents, or he had been rich mans son,
with culture and education equal to her
own, then But always the off" in the
way came up to stare him in the face,
aud so he crushed back the words he had
almost uttered so many times, and Helen
Hunt had never discovered his secret, he
felt sure.


He could not help feeling thrill of keen
pleasure at knowing she was coming back
but at the same time he was sorry. 1t would
only make it harder for him after she was
gone. lie knew that her voice would hold
the old dangerously sweet fascination in it,
and her eyes would only make him feel more
keenly what he longed to claim for his own
and what was out Of his reach. But-and
something of that same recklessness which
comes to all of us at times came to him-she
was coming, aud he could not help that, and
he would let the future decideits own affairs
He would drift and dream, even if the wax
ing up at the end of it was bitter with loss
and lifetime's regret.


The next week brought Helen Hunt. Rob
ert drove down TO the depot after her. She
was standing on the platform, with her face
turned another way, when he drove up. But
it did not need the sight of her face to tell
him that she was there. He would have
known that tall, graceful figure anywhere.


/" am glad to see you back, he said com
ing up beside her. His voice was not quite
steady. He had tried to make himself cool
and self-controlled, but the presence of the
woman he loved unnamed him little.
Robert" she cried, turning quickly at
the sound of his voice, with glad, eager
light flushing up into her beautiful eyes.
How they thrilled him She held out her
hand and there was no mistaking the gen.
uineness of her welcome. 1t spoke in words,
and made itself felt in her face.


81 hardly expected to see you back here"
he said, feeling that she would expect him
to say something, and knowing nothing else
to say. Just then words failed to come
readily at his command


~ have been looking forward to this for
MONTHS" she said. ~ was so happy here
that have been longing to come back since
| went away hope this summer will be
as pleasant as that one was.


~ hope it will, for your sake" he said,
and his face had grave, panied look in it
which her keen eyes detected at once.
"What is the matter with you, Robert ?"
she said, putting her hand on his arm. "You
look as if something troubled you. My COM
ing has nothing to do with it, has it ?"
" How could it have 2" he said, with lit
tie forced laugh. 81 haven't felt quite we'll
+. g., 10, hot oil Rut I,ll
round right by-and-by. Don't say anything
to mother about it--she doesn't know, and
there's no use in her worrying over me. She
couldn't help me il she knew"


"Is it serious, Robert p Her eyes were
grave now, as they rested on his face.


"Dont ask me to tell you anything more
about it," he said, turning abruptly away.
" Men have lived through it before now. and
| SHALL" he added, with another laugh.
Don't bother your head about me, Helen,
but enjoy yourself as best you can"
1t was a pleasant ride home, in spite of
the thoughts that would keep coming into
Robert Braith's mind. She was by his side,
and he loved her.


The old summer seemed to come back
again, with its "light which never was on
land or sea-" to Robert. The dream of his
heart was Just as sweet as it had been in the
vanished days. She had not changed at all
since then, but was the same winning woman
who had won his heart away, and would
keep it forever


The days passed like charmed ones, with
rows upon the river, and long, delightful
walks at sunset time; with songs in the brief,
delicious evenings, and quiet talks about
books and the men and women who wrote
them. Robert was not her inferior in the
culture which comes from reading good
books because he was farmer was no
reason why he should be ignorant and un-
cultivated. He had studied, and formed
wide acquaintances with earnest, thought
full men-through the books they had writ
ten-and in this way he had educated him
self to a much higher level than most of the
young men Helen Hunt met in her own circle
of society at home. But, because he lacked
their self-esteem and conceit, Robert always
thought of himself as lacking something in
mind and manners, which those she came
in contact with in her own sphere OF
life ought to have, and did have, for all he
knew to the contrary. Perhaps he was right
in thinking that they ought to have it. But
she could have told him that they did not
always.


One day Jerome Alstyne came out from
the city. Robert had heard that he was
lover OF Helen's, and he was sure of it when
he saw the mans face at their meeting. But
Helen showed no such gladness as ought
to express itself in the face of woman
when she meets the man she loves, and Rob
ert felt satisfied that she did not care for
Alstyne as he did for her, and the thought
brought sense of exultation 10 him.