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Show JSn AN INCLINED PLANE. U BY JOANNA SINGLE. "l fcopyrlght. 1004. by T. C. ttcClure.) ! Henry Carroll's plight was a per- eslns one It drove the young law- 1 It into a dossed determination to 'l it the girl In pplte of herself. He had I d a year of the upy and downs of a 1 ("urtf-hlp such as only Helen Benton "' l liild have made so torturing, and yet j fcetened by the hope of ultimate f fccess The worst of it was that he I; 3 ally believed that she loved him, ,. ough he had no proof beyond the ct that she refused, other men right id left, was suspiciously sweet to fe other girls to whom he paid the jil attention, and treated him in a ivaller fashion that indicated that she msldered him her property. SVhen he asked, as he did all too ten, "Nell, do you love at all?" she kjuUI answer sweetly, "Do I act as If . fTdld?" ,He was obliged to admit that she itvWm Id not- Then slie contlnutrd to laugh 'iccnjf (.-'jjig courting, and to turn him down ' henever rhe i) chose. :' One pleasant Augusrt afternoon he'4 i. rir. luntered to her home and invited et to go golfing: She loved golfing. , ;6 found her under the trees in a immock, in a dress of foamy blue iflles, with a cool blue cushion under :: jfr-dark little head, . i i'Too hot, sho answered, "and I'm ' x lozy Besides, I want to finish my ook." She picked up her novel, leav-ig leav-ig him to Infer that he could take ... imself off. He did as far as the 7,, lie then he turned and walked back 1 ;i i her. , j,"Helen," he said slowly, "do you itecd ever to marry mc or not?" She KoKed nt hlf with apparent eoolner?; r dickered to her eyee, then mavered nway. jttA.'-'! lntend not t0-" sne replied. yiiDo .you love me? Does my love "jean nothing to you?" K"Make your own Inferences. Henry "ij Carroll. Tell me why I should marry k (m.t nil? I am happy as I am; why Vrt ihould I want a man? Unlers." she jpoke meaningly, "I could find one irho could" make me think I wanted ilm." J"NelI," he said sternly, "do you realize what you are throwing away?" JC.'A love!" she Interrupted. "A slmnce to wear the title of 'Airs.'; to Ive in one place always, to eay 'Yen lear, and 'No, dear; to audit the ' io'ut,chold bills; to make and receive - 1N: to" :; flf'To be loved and protected always. To be made happy for I can make jfou happy; now. you nre pimply idle. j Nell, don't you evr look ahead to the" Jl titre when your parent? may leave you. "jvJ jvben von even you will be no longer youne;? Don't you see that you nepd i jjjo nTnct iq mn( og T need you? I j Aren't you aO-Md of old ace. of not br-J br-J lmO? Aron't vmi afraid of any-l&r any-l&r ci-l1' nlrko'i at her sleeve. lpn HfrM serious dark eyes to his iwn blue nna . "V'hnt li it we thwart?" She sprang tJ thif the hmTiock nnd ran into the bjilj' -hon cbo U'rnt out her hend and , "I'm jnvful'y afrnid of the JJ lark'" And he heard the sound of re- , lrptlnv laup-htor. ; jTherenpon Henry Cnrrpll betook hlm- i ijlf n'l hi wrath to the linkp. where -rr K Plaved very bad golf, and filrled ex- iellrtly with pretty Polly Cummins, Toward jninsft. as hp was waiting to I f 1 ?ut hpr into her dashing little trap, he J J J I?7i-''P n question- I , I"MIss Polly, if you were a man. and wanted a girl, and she kept you dangling, dang-ling, but wouldn't have . you, what would you do?" Polly's c-ye9 danced. I She knew Nell Benton'o'ways. "Does she care?" "I think so, but she won't own up: she only torments me. What would you do?" "You big, splendid, helplesg thing!" she laughed. "Why, make her have you! There's nothing women like like being made to do things by the right man. Get her where she can't help herself, and make her promise to do as you wish." Still laughing, the girl drove away. Carroll walked gloomily along the river road, turning over Polly's advice. ad-vice. He looked up to pse a canoe coming swiftly up-stream; the girl handled the paddle with easy skill. As she came closer, he gasped with anger. It was Nell. In her red waist the one he liked. It was too 'hot to golf with him, but Just right for a laborious up-stream paddle by herself. He resolved to make her sorry before she got home. Keeping carefully out of sight among the trees and bushes, he followed fol-lowed the river's course till Nell landed, land-ed, drawing the canoe up on shore. Then she sat down on the grass with her book. After what seemed an age, she arose and tried vainly to catch the lowest limb of the tree above her. Then she brought up a half dozen old boards lying near. With more skill than Carroll thought women possed In matters mechanical, she built a rough sort of an incline plane, reaching half way up the tree trunk; then she tried to climb up. but her feet slipped; after a moment's mo-ment's hesitation, -he toolc off her little oxfords and Then her stockings, which she- stuffed Into the shoes. In lier bare feet she climbed easily up her platform and Into the tree. She dis-po'vjd dis-po'vjd her.elf carefully upon a large, almost horizontal limb, with her back to the trunk, and again, attacked the novel. The sun was sinking, and It began to grow cool. Carroll stole quietly away a few rods and then came striding strid-ing noisily back, whistling Joyfully, and looking straight ahead of him In seeming unconsciousness of anything but the distant landscape He raun-tered raun-tered nonchalantly under the tree, apparently ap-parently not seeing Nell'H scaffolding. Then he sat leisurely down upon tlu grass and her shoes. He pulled out his pipe, lit it. and puffed serenel . while the evening deepened Into twilight twi-light and thn into soft and Indistinguishable Indis-tinguishable gloom. Meanwhile Helen sat breathlosp, with her bare feet pulled up beneath hf-r short skirt, in imminent danger of falling fall-ing if she made the slightest movement She thought he had not seen her and would go away soon. It had been too dark to read for some time, and it seemed ages before he rose; Helen breathed a sigh of relief, re-lief, and then, as he thought better of It, and lay down again, she realized how very dark It was, .and thnt she was nfrald to be left alone. She set her teeth and resolved to conquer her terror; not for worlds would she have him catch her In her present plight especially after her bad treatment of him that very afternoon. She regretted re-gretted the folly of having told him she was afraid of the dark, and only hoped he took it for a joke. If he found her here he would do something some-thing to get even, and besides, she knew that in her present softened mood she almost wanted to stop teasing teas-ing him and let him sweep her into the strong, sweet current of his love. Nervous at the thought, she dropped her book; on Its way to the grass it knocked Carroll's hat from his head and his pipe from his mouth. "Hello!" he exclaimed, as if to himself him-self and in apnarent surprise, "a book descending like the gentle rain from heaven! Bertha M. Clay, too! A girl who would wear such ridiculous little shor." here he picked up nnd whimsically whim-sically examined her oxfords, "would be just the sort of a girl who rends Bertha Clay. Guess I'll take 'em home and advertise 'em. He put them in his coat pocket. |