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Show Ilennlngton kanked trior Lucy Al Ion retreating fnrin with aniaiomenl. Only the night before aha lii promised prom-ised that ah would marry him In the prlnf end hud eoaled the bargain with kiss. Bhe td been tender and loving then. Thli morning aha walked past him with DO sign that she wu aware of his presence save hauxhty "Mr!" when ha bad ralaod hli hat In saluta-Hon. saluta-Hon. Tbe nor Ttennlngton thought It aver tha mora Inexpllcabhle It became, lis and I-ucy had limn mora than friends fur a couple of year. Hhe bad ao cloerly ahown her preference for hla aoclntr that none had sought to dispute hla position. Ilo could lmsglno no rival who might have poisoned hi'r nilml against him In an tirl.-f a time an had elapsed since Ilia nlKlit before. Ilo puxslod hla brain tint tl It whirled, hut mill no satisfactory explanation presented It alf Than ha decided upon a Tory fixillub action. Ilo left town. Not even hla most lutlmato friends now where he had gone, and f'ir see-aral see-aral weeks tha aot In wlilrli ha moved wondered at hla hurried dupartura. Then thay decided that Uicy Alton had refused him aft or all. and lliay ava tha matter uo furthar thought. Aa for Pennington, ha waa seeking to dispel hla annul In ('aria, and only succeeded In discovering that (ay capital to ba a moat dispiriting placa. A weak latar ha waa alanine with tha euatoma officials on tha familiar plor . ta New York. Ida man waa too well trained to ex-. ex-. kll.lt any surprise whan hla master walked In. Ilo ellmitly placed a buna pile of lottnra tiKn Hie lllirliary table and went out to attend to tha trunk. Pennington turned the lottnra over Idly. rliiddculy he gave a start. There waa one llttlo square envelope addressed ad-dressed In a hamlwrllliiK. the slitht of which made hla heart beat laator. Ha tore It open. "Dear Jack," It ran. "what haa become be-come of you? It Is not nice, sir, to leave one'a Banco In this abrupt fashion. fash-ion. Have you already repented your proposal? I don't like to think that. Come In, Jark, and tell ma what tha trouble la. I did ao want to see you last night" It waa signed "Uicy." and bora a data one day later than hla expert-ancs expert-ancs on tha avenue. A aecond note waa In Mr. Alton's handwriting. This was dated a week later. In vigorous terms her father told Ilennlngton what ha thought of hla actlona. "I learn that you are abioad, t'r." he wrote. "I should advise you to remain re-main there. I cannot ba answerable tor tha circumstances should wa meet" If Lucy's letter had been a punle, j iisi S "8lrl this waa even lens understandable, j There was no inla!.nK the cut direct I la had received. In the fure of Ihut, why should shu wiltu a Uuy luter, as ' thouKh mithltiK' lia.l happened, and j why shouM her (uthor braud hlci aa a j aouiindrel and a cud. j Tha nulelieaf way to flrd out would ba to drivu uroutul to the AltniiM. lie I ' ciUled a cull and In ten niLuutes ho ! was holdlm enliven-. with Jnds n. !. ' Altons' butler. Ju.l.;on u polllo. but i vary avIJi inly fenriul. j "I'lesaB don't limlat, Mr. Tlennlni- j ton," he (ileadid. "Mr. Alton Is nut trims:, sir. If ha were to see you. the rirliemnnt mil; lit kill htm." "Hoe here. Jtnlson," persisted Hen-nlngton Hen-nlngton hotly, "what's lha matter? Why should tha eiellement kill Mr. Alton? What have I done?" Judson coughed ever so sllahtly. Ha waa loo well trained to admit that ha knew the family secrets. "I'm sure I don't know anything." declared Judson respectfully. "Only Mr. Alton declared that you were not to see Miss Alton, and Dr. Boinmers ordered mo to be careful that Mr. Alton Al-ton did not see you. I am very sorry, sir " There wss a slight psune, and before be-fore be could gather hla aensea lion- ill "Are you aura yeii wilt never make tha aame mistake again?" nlniiton found himself outside the rkiauil door. It would never do to make a scene on the front steps. Ilennlngton wss determined to get at the bottom of the mystery, but this was not the place. Ilo Jumped Into the esb again and waa driven around to Mrs. Graves', who hiid been hts mentor sluce his mother's desth. "I'm sure 1 don't know what tha matter Is Jnck." aha said sympathetically. sympathet-ically. "There la a report around that I.ucy would not have you, and that you took a broken heart out of sight until It mended again. "How can I find out?" he urged. "I can't go along Ilka tbla. It will drive me craiy." "Come to the tableaux vlvants to-tight," to-tight," said the matron. "I.ucy will be taking part and we will try to see -her." It was hard upon Dennlna-ton to face the curious gaie that evening at the charity onlertalnmenU It aeemed to him aa though every one In the room wore discussing him. Bllll, he bore It bravuty, sustained by the hope of seeing Lucy, She was to appear In the last picture, and tba program line read: "llotlacttona. Mlns Alton, Mlsa Carter." Car-ter." Miss Carter. That must bo Mabel Cnrter, Lucy's cousin (rum the west. When the curtnln went up, there was no alKn of Mlsa Carter. It merely disclosed Lucy standing In front of a mirror admiring her reflection. Then, suddenly, the reduction stepped through the mirror frame and a great light dawned upon Ilennlngton. He remembered re-membered now that Mlas Curter was supposed to exactly resembln lucy. The roHcmblance must have bean ao strin g aa to bava deceived even tha ejea of love. Heedless of Mrs. Oray's dotalnlni hand, ho pushed his way through tha crowd to the door loading to the Improvised Im-provised stage. I.ucy waa Just coming com-ing down the steps from tha torn-porury torn-porury platform. He caught her wrist "Lucy," ha cried, "can you aver forgive for-give me for having buen such a fool! I thought your couala was you, and she cut mo. 1 did not have tha heart to stay and sou you again. If you will fnri-Jve the error I promise never to do so aguln." "Are you sure you will never make the same mlsiake again?" "I assure you that It will not happen again," he declared encerly. 1 to sought to tikk-i her In bis arms, hut she skillfully evaded him and a voice from tho platform cried out: "Heo here, Juek! I don't mind your making lvo to Miihnl If ynu think it's mo but I draw the line at proxy kisses." Then Mik Carter very thoughtfslT l urried to her ilnolng rofitn. will Jack hs'l to make apologies agtil ' the ri al l.ucr. Him k.is aeeepted a ring as a certain nu-nns of I'li-ntinratlnn. It la a clrf!"t j of plain gold. Huston riloho. i |
