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Show Mrs. Meredith's I Method I By TEMPLE BAILEY I (Ooprlglil, Itlt, bj UmUHd UUnrf Prw,)" "It you think," Kathleen stretched her white arma above her head, lazily, lazi-ly, "If you think that I am going to lose ray freedom, my caso, by marrying marry-ing a poor man you are very much mistaken." "Have girls lost all romance" Little Mrs. Meredith's forehead was puckered In an anxious frown. "Why, then I was young, Kathleen, I thought only of love." "And so you married dad, and you're had to scrimp and Bare and work and twist and turn. Oh, mother, has tho game been worth the candle!" can-dle!" Mrs. Meredith flashed a reproachful reproach-ful glance at her daughter. "Don't you think dad Is worth everything?" "Of course Hut he's tho ono man In the world. All tho rest aren't worth making sacrifices for." "Walt till tho ono man comes to you," said llttlo Mrs. Meredith. "When you caro for any ono you aro generous to n fault, and I'm half afraid that If you ever do fall In love you'll be. positively too meek for words." "Yet a" moment sgo you said I had no romance," Kathleen told her. "You haven't yet, and I feel that you may make tho mlstako of running run-ning away from sentiment." "Nover fear. Donald won't let mo run. Why, mother, he simply moons around and makes eyes at me, until I'm almost crazy. He's so silly." "He's In lovo." Bald Mrs. Meredith, gently, "and. ho doesn't moon. He's genuinely miserable), and you don't gtvo htm credit for any depth of feeling." feel-ing." Kathleen shrugged her shoulders. "If being In love would make me act "Donald Will Get His Revenge Some Day." like Donald does,' sho said, "I'd I'd want to disappear from tho faoe of tho earth." "Donald will get his revenge some day," said Mrs. Meredith, wisely, "you wait and see." , But Kathleen had no forobodlngs. "I don't want to get married, Donald," Don-ald," she said, airily, that night, "so please don't ask mo any more." He stood before her pale and un happy. "I shall not ask you," he said, sternly. "I am going away to get over this." Kathleen stared at him. "Why, where aro you going?" sho domanded. "Abroad. My Aunt Betsy sent mo a thousand dollars yesterday. She said sho believed In giving money to people when It .would do tho most good, and not wait to dlo to let others got tho benefit of wealth. I shall use my llttlo fortune in learning to forget for-get you." "But I don't want to bo forgotten," cried Knthloen. "I want to be friends you know, nlco good friends, Donald, Don-ald, without any silly sontlmcnt." Her tone was coaxing, but he did not smilo. "Sentiment is not silly to me," ho said. "My lovo for you Is a part of my life; It will be llko cutting off nn arm to gtvo you up. But I'm going to do It, Kathleen I can't be a man and hang around you as I have for tho past few months." Ho held out his hand, "Oood-by and God bless you," ho said. "Oh, good-by," sho responded In a dazed fashion, and laid her hand In his. Then sho drew It away. "I won't say 'good-by,'" sho Insisted mutinously, "not right this mlnuto. Let's have a last walk together. You know Browning tolls of a 'Last Rldo Together.' It always sounded dreadfully dread-fully romantic." "Have you no heart?" he asked, looking down at her, severoly, "or aro you so heart-wholo and fancy free that you do not understand how I suffer?" For a moment she was shaken out of her frivolous mod by his earnestness, earnest-ness, "Oh, I didn't mean to hurt you," Bhe said, "but pleaso let's go for a walk." And bo ho yielded, aB ho bad always al-ways dono to Uor whim. It was at a turn of tho road that they met Arnold 0 ranger. "May I walk with you?" ho asked, In his easy fashion. "Surely," said Kathleen, and her . smile flaohed out. But as Arnold I Joined them, Donald stopped, "I must leave you now," he said, "I I have-eo have-eo many things to do." And when Kathleen protested, his I stern glance closed her lips. "It was I j to bo our last walk," he said. In an I undertone. "But you could not keep It sacred to our parting. Can you keep anything sacred, Kathleen?" He left her, but she comforted herself her-self with tho thought, "Oh, he'll see me before he goes." But ho did not s4 hr. Ho did not even wrlto a note of (orewell. He simply slipped out of hsr Ufa. Tren she loved him. "Why, ho's always been a part of my life," she sobbed on her mothor's shoulder. "How could I know I was going to miss him?" "Wrlto and tell him," her mother advised. But Kathleen was a proud llttlo lady. She could not bring herself to confess her chango of feeling. But ho did write a contrite llttlo letter, asking pardon for her unklndncsa on that last day. But no answer enrao to the letter. "It serves you right," Bald tho wise mother, and that wns all tho sympathy sym-pathy that Kathleen received. Shu became n changed little maiden. Sho wob very quiet now, and pale. "I know what ho suffered," she cried, and when her mother found her ono night weeping In the darkness of her room, "Oh, mother, pleaso bo sorry . for me." j And her mother gathered her close, I and said, "I can't bo as sorry ns I might, for love has made you feel, and that to the most wonderful thing that can happen to a woman." But that night tho little mother wrote a letter. "She loves you, Donald," It Bald, "don't punleh her any more. I knew , that If you went away she would I wake up. That is why I told you to go. Come back, come back now but hold your own for the man who I grovels at tho feet of a woman muBt 1 expect her to tramplo on his heart." A month later Kathleen in the twilight twi-light was playing tho old song which has such a sobbing cadence. "In. tho gloaming, oh, my darling, When the lights aro dim and low, And the quiet shadows creeping, Softly como and softly go. "When the winds are sobbing faintly, With a gentle, unknown woe, Will you think of mo, and lovo me, As you did once long ago?" Her Cngers left the keys and hor head went down on her armB. Then In the stillness she heard a voloo: "Kathleen." "Donald." Sho sat up, listening. i"I have come back." His voice seemed to sound from tho center of tho room, but In tho darkness dark-ness sho could see nothing. I "Donald." She groped her way to- I ward the voice, and suddenly 'she was In his arms. j "I shall never let you go," he said, masterfully, as ho bent his head to kiss her. Sho tried to regain hor old dominion domin-ion over him. "You must leave It to me to say whether you shall go or stay," she said. 1 He laughed. "You shall have nothing noth-ing to do with it, Knthloen," ho told her. "You may think I am a cave man or a savage, but anything Is better bet-ter than being a slave. And I'm going go-ing to carry you off and marry you whether you say 'yes' or 'no,' sweetheart. sweet-heart. And It you don't como willingly, will-ingly, I'm going to pick you up and put you on a horao in front of mo, and run away with you." Then she laughed. "Oh, I should love that, Donald. What do I caro where I go, so that I-go with you?" |
