Show HARRIET HARMET CLARKSON sho waited and hor truo lover carno at last mrs cl clarkson only smiled she was wa given iven to on y dillar Dill Rr N ly whenever tylle e cr her daughter I 1 set fact tier her head on orie side and R RL let L fall some wise little do chion from froin her over ever busy brain so as miss harriet leaned forgard for vard an ana CA complacently ill 13 sur surveyed voyed th tip of her now new slippers blip pers ns she said sal d 1 I that I 1 had a lover im sure that I 1 could jul d tuana manage re one the mother took another stitch in tho dainty cambric cun bric and remarked there is plenty of time yut harriet mine unmet harriet started up tip in such mich hac hate ac that the little cha chair r was as tet set violently rocking groin to the mantel she raise lier her pretty art y arm arin above her brown heat bea and contentedly studied tho froba young face in the mirror well aie he laughed in the midst of a faint yawn tm in it anxious for him lam to come im tired of this do nothing life let him come alen wl en lie he mav and let us pray that he be come in joy and p pace ace wits was the quiet rejoinder that had 1 been en less than a month arro ao I 1 and now harriet blood before the same mirror but it was a different dif face that the pictured now a 0 perplexed brow a naul lip and yet a baist of pity L fing to the eatlo uray eyes eves A note v vas as tit tin cause of it all it a little hastily scrawled note but lot hot with tin an untrained passion and its it frank deguair was what hurt her mot 1 I know that you cannot forgive roe me but I 1 eat krep from it I 1 haac ha vo tried but I 1 am not strong etron enough to beat it back ball it Is burmeff rao me up linnet even it if I 1 am a boy I 1 think that will malc i nian man of me at least it will p pat at a maua mans mart cart b tn in met I 1 I 1 harriet read it over and over and elicit each time there rose before irr a vision of an honest young youn face and tears lying in tho eyes eyer hardly dry m ns yet from the p grief ica over the lost ball mrs clarkson haid never a word for she knew that the confession aou d conie come in good at atlant laba arriet 11 tossed her the note and throwing herself on the c tich jhc thc buried her face in the oft pil tows and sobbed sol bod olt oh awby did I 1 ever want a lover and why did he do it I 1 knew that he liked me but 1 never dreamed of his loving me mrs clarkson read the poor little note with a sigh then di awing dialing the brown biown head to her shoulder she said 1 I 1 too um am sorry from the bottom of my iny heart beart but lie he anil and you are only the instruments of aate every boy toine some time in his boyhood losca his heart to a woman older chaj himself him belf it is irs ills his first love rind and lilt girst first great reat sorrow borrow it does put it a mans heart in him but lip he gets over it that ln li tho aing in gone but he al always way i remembert it for bothe the first arst love lk in out th sweetest this is your flatt arct lover love r and he hua haa not como in joy mid kvid jeu cuce cc lie be a woman and dea gently with him harriet dried her eyes as she went tri to her desk but womanhood seamed to lauve Midd duly opened within her oud bu was surprised r p at her own gentleness ente women are both wom womanly atily strong and womanly weak dealt and the tender almost motherly note that she wrote in reply was an example of the first firs while the big round tear which splashed unexpectedly on the addicts was only a n betrayal of the latter and so harriet in her twentieth year cried over her first lover anu sant hini him away four bour years went by the curls had become a little moro more controllable and dignity 4 had begun to soften the old ohl time girlish joys it was tile the day before tier her graduation as she was hurrying through thu the liall hall wa on her allerway way to the library when prof palmer lip pearce before bor A little paro paroxysm ism of pain seemed to go over his old face as he hesitated A puzzled light r PrIc p amed in harriets eyes for she blie did not under understand statia why ills his face pale mins clarion on lie he nt last cakl if you have time tillie I 1 s bould like to bee bec j jou oil in my iny a motu moment ent 11 the followed him wonderlin won wonderingly derin 1 7 rind nn yet lia f in dread but etwas it ans nut not till h 7 rad had held open the door for lier her to p in ill that stately elegant old style of hi that lie he said 1 I fear it is wrong but I 1 cannot help licup it 1 cannot let you go away without telling you all that it I 1 love you I 1 know that I 1 am selfish hut but I 1 am ain not so old after all only sixty rive five and unconsciously a deep I pleading r crept into his soft old voice and b his is trembling hands cl clasped aped I 1 again a mighty pity filled lier her heart how she loved the kind old niall man t ith his handsome brad and wide opening r hearal and yet not at all a as r husband but as an instructor an owr a friend whose gentle conceio had done so BO much toward making her college life a success iier her lips hp trembled as she faltered dr palmer I 1 am truly sorry I 1 cannot be thankful enough either for I 1 am not worthy of such a licit lich love as yours but I 1 shall be franic I 1 do rt rot love you and I 1 never can love you as you wish ile he s sink into a chair at his lit de desk delc lc while already a cal calm in resignation had begun to steal over WE hie features 1 I see ice you are right it was wicked for a mn m n of my ae to avi wish sh to possess so youny young and beautiful lul a woman ca as couo you harriot harriet remonstrated at this but he only said no go now and forgive the weakness ness of an old man hit head fell forward on his arms and harriet waited only long enough to reverently press presa her lips to the snowy hair then she pi ded s swiftly if aly out with lier hands pressed presed tightly 0 to lic her r throbbing D t aples tm ples murmuring ta 1 I once thought m that it vv was ras a artin ars hour of triumph when a man told her of his love it so harriet wept over her second love arid and turned irom him however no one dro dreamed arned how her heart a allied hed as she was saying baying t goodby good R by to it a group of when the hand handsome young 0 grant conway took her hand with the same ease and pure friendliness s nothing more nothing I 1 less as the ret rest A travel ilig veil hid a very pale tear stained d hee face aa a 5 tho the train drew away from the little college town but twenty four is au an a ao ae o at which woman is ia strong r and no none ne of them gue guesse guese se 1 I they marveled thou though at as two three years stole by and still she be li hd d all men inen back it was her fault entirely that slie sin was not married for her ber quiet sweetness i had a certain a r of guarding about it which barred them from tho critical point twenty leveni her birthday tomor to mor row and twenty seven bho tried to smile a as she leaned toward her mirror and noted the gray hairs beginning to be hinted over her temples but some way she foung instead that the whole ima image ra 0 was suddenly blur nd turning ole dropped on her knees and buried her head in her pillows there it was till all thou olit over the boy and the old man inan and the others noble and true brud men too who V ho might have loved her J if sh she a had lot let them she did not choose a lonely existence on tho the contrary bho ho shuddered at tho ilia narrow one sided life that thai she che awas iwas iving but still there rose before her that handsome prowl face which ahe bbc loved better than rall all the tha world und and she could not forgot forget it ablie had seen been him twice since bince they had bad left school arid and lie he had been gracefully ith her but then lie ho was just as cordial cordi il mth of his other old tim thiu friends and ills his oron frank lit at lention fention made poor heart bleed more thau than eoll coll indifference would have done daw why did dai site she cherish such tin an empty lon loning longing ing why could she not forgot for gotis ts did the boy wa r se throe three romping ow sho had fondled the r da NN hy y ys 3 x why hy could not the evon even bo bc like doar dear dr palmer veloso hosu kavc biad 0 grown ill all scot with fresh ii grasses aad chite panic pan ies that very tpring A and tid as t lie lic murmured over agrain again the I 1 tic I 1 attic jl prayer alvr who Q purt pun simplicity silo she had nevi r outgrown outgrow n her now I 1 lay me don down donn n to sleep leep avain almo almost A a pleading for the alit sleep which blet bletch os us forever and forever the nat diy daiy passed uneventfully the usual amount ol 01 of present a anti anil v vall oll dihe wl elslie vi slie he but st 11 II its aadnes fillod lier heart to overflowing tife life had leeomo sorely serious to IC glicr r would it ever bo be come sorely it was after nin nid and fortunately the la lat last t caller had oft left early uhei ha i nori nor iipp irod ired at the door and muttered ll 11 c i was vas her custom an giblo n name ame harriet turned mechanically for site was weary but lit the form advancing from the hall mada lier catch bt her r breath how lia handsome iiII was but hh he quickly recovered herself anki and tried to smile a as ai i sho she held out her liand 11 arn am fr lad to keo eo y you ou mr ir conway yos yes thank you harril harri L Harric tl his air of confidence startled her and yet overpowered hf irr r bo when ben it ho went on calmly holding boldn her liand hand with it gentle g S thou though rh not ate amro she could only wait 11 harriet larriet I 1 have come for you vou at last has the waiting been ion come for her she cot aoud u d only trean ble at which N aich he h smiled quietly and calmly continued 1 I could not speak to you yon sooner for I 1 had not my life settled bottled now I 1 nin am certain as to my future and I 1 have come coine for you not a word love not a question not a of fear on his part and this was wa the way that she was as to bo be wooed blie bhe whom all the entre atia and avowals of youth and abc aff could not affect yet she wavered she was angry with her pride because it aid not come tj lier her aid and yet she could not even withdraw her hand hd nd he saw lie he evidently understood for lie ho quietly took her other land hand han hacins ha hinr ri nr passively at other her side and amiling ly repeated 1 I have come coine for you yon fl harriet arriet 1 l V hat sho she do or better what could the he do nothing but bland there till her lips bagran bag an to quiver and the tears welled up in her search in ingray ing gray ray eyes 1 alien I lien the man of the world N orld this man inan who know so well his power bent down clown wid and labed once her upturned face and lau laughed clied there harriet dont doat cry tt is only a man who has come for his wife v even the caress though like all his actions the quintessence of graceful ness only half fed the starved heart tho the long lonely years of lovlie loving and longing won von at last and the bowed her head and sobbed jd d dont you lovo me even a little then it ho ga gathered her up tip in his arms and said in a low hurt tone did you think that I 1 could ever marry a woman whom I 1 did nut love more than all else of this life thus tho the last lover had cai come me the least passionate the one who had bad caused the most sorrow and the one who had filled her past years with bitter longing and this was the one of them all that the fahe chose but then women are mysteries and maybe to no one so much as to ther chi cago Newa |