Year: 1873

strangers.


The dance over, Margaret and Ceci


strolled through the open window int


the moonlit garden beyond, glad to ex


change the heated atmosphere of the


ballroom for the cool night air. Die


their thoughts wander back to that 9th


er garden they had stood together in


long ago, ere sin and sorrow came tc


overshadow their young lives? Per


haps so, for both were unusually silent


and it was not till they had paced the


whole length of the terrace that Cecil


reused himself to say that which he had


brought his companion out there fol


the express purpose of telling her.


Margaret, he said, "Ralph Leices


ter is friend of yours, is he not ?"


can acquaintance would be the more
correct term"


"Why so? have heard your names
coupled together more than once; YET
iu now I myself saw you refuse tc
dance with him. Are offended, like
all the rest of the world, because he
threw mp the shooting at Wimbledon
or, perhaps, because he did so without
telling you the reason ?"


Margaret's only answer was sugges.
tion to go in; the night air felt chilly,
she thought.


"Not yet, Margaret; not till I have
told you what is weighing on my con-
science, if, indeed, such thing is still
left me" said Cecil, with rather a bit
ter laugh. "People are saying that
Ralph Leicester has promised to win
the queens prize for your sake, and that
you have thrown him over for giving it
up. How far that may be true, feel I
have no right to ask, but as /, and
alone, can tell you his real reason for
not shooting, I suppose he would rather
lose even you than confess it himself,
| you must listen to me few minutes
while do so. Long ago was fortunate
enough to save his life in an encounter
with a mad dog. I had almost forgot
| ten the circumstance, but it seemed that
Leicester retained very vivid remem-
brance of it !; and when, the day before
the prize was to be shot for, my uncle's
strange intentions came to his knowl-
edge-how, I do not know, as I had
tried my best to keep the world ignor-
ant of the stake for which had played
and he found that thus something
more than life, reputation and the means
of once more facing the world, were
within my reach if only could be sue
cessful-he generously determined no
act of his should diminish my chance );
and by quietly Withdrawing from the
shooting, paid back his debt to me null
tiplied thousand times. The prize is
mine, Margaret, and with it the new
life that has opened upon me; but I
need hardly tell you how I shall count
it all too dearly bought if Leicest RS
future happiness has been sacrificed to
it's payment"


Half an hour later, as Ralph Leices-
ter was standing moodily in the door
way, his meditatiOns were broken in
upon by a dance programme falling at his
feet, as some waltzsrs few past him.
He stopped to pick it up, not at all
knowing who was its owner, and alb.
sently ran his eye down the list of
names inscribed therein. His indiffer
ence vanished, however, when, toward
the end he came to his own, written in
a remarkably clear hand. It was odd,
he thought, decidedly odd; as, with
one exception, he had asked no one to
dance with him that evening. He was
just beginning to wonder who the scribe
could be, when avoice said at his side:


81 think you have picked up my pro-
gramme, Mr.. Leicester p and turning
round he met tie soft glance of a pair
of gray eyes, which, this time, were
not averted from his gaze.


Now, perhaps, it would only have been
showing proper pride to have repelled
such advances from a young lady who
had decidedly snubbed him at the COM
mencement of the evening, but, if so,
Ralph Leicester proved himself lamen-
tably wanting in such pride at that mo-
ment, though, as a rule, meekness was
not counted among his virtues. His
face soHened marvelously as he returned
theprogramme, and there was an earnest
ness in his voice which Margaret's ear
was quick to discov r, though he only
said:


"No. % is our dance, believe ?"


eff you still care to claim it," she
answered, blushing, and the next mo-
ment her impatient partner had once |
more whirled her off into the dance.


If he still cared to claim it Ay, |
did he not? That, and great deal more
besides, as Margaret found when she
once again paced the terrace, with Ralph
Leicester as her companion and that
such claim had been accepted Cecil was
not slow to discover when he watched
their return to the ballroom after more
than an hours absence.


"There goes for my first attempt in
the good line," said he, looking after
them somewhat ruefully, "and pre-
cious hard one I've found it, too but
as the French have it, 'Ce NEST que Le
premier pas qui cottte , and the next
step may be easier. God knows my
folly has taught me bitter lesson
will try what the other thing can do for
me now"


And he did try, setting his face right
to the battle. Who can doubt
Of his success Verify, there had been
more at stake, that summers day at
than the world in its phi
osophy could guess.