Show 0 ENGLISH UNDEFILED by HOPE DARLING you know ashes a widow woman ind fand lives oh jasper eh what Is it jasper dunning asked looking into the faco face of tho the girl who shared apo the road wagon seat with him margaret caught her breath it might hurt him but what he had just said hurt her would it daany good god she looked reflectively along the country road that stretched away in front of them did you ever hear bear of a widow who was not d a woman what an idea I 1 dont git you oh plea please so do not say git and the other Is such b a colloquialism it if you say a woman iff a widow enough jasper drew up on oil the lines until his spirited bays reared see here margaret before you went away to college I 1 talked good nough bough for you he blurted the girls eyes met his she was waa conscientiously honest even with herself it always annoyed me a little but I 1 had heard people talk in that way all my life not until I 1 went to girton did I 1 come to see just what such things mean sherald she said sald 1 I 1 wish never gone you see I 1 so much mind waltin cause I 1 planned to fix up the farm s BO itebe a good bough nough home tor for you but them thein two years selled you the silence endured so long that jasper thought the victory was his with a superior smile he be said it dont matter why could he not have hava said margarets Margare tB brown eyes hashed it does matter to me and to all who care for really good things she declared and if you cared for me ja jasper sper try to please me espell especially ally when im wholly in the right why I 1 would be ashamed to have professor lamed hear you talk sometimes that last word was added almost desperately when she ehe saw the color fade from jaspers face before he could reply they were at the gate of the village homo home boarded A half dozen young men and girls who were sitting on the veranda came trooping down the walk to meet them laughing talking making plans forthe evening those plans plana were so well carried out that jasper had no opportunity for further words with his betrothed shamed to have that professor near hear me falki jasper said to himself as he rode homo home under ta tha is calm stars 1 I spose I 1 could do a little better but I 1 aboin to stand it to be nagged all the time at that same sama hour margaret was crying softly her head on the window sill bill to go through life blushing tor for a husbands nus mistakes ashamed to have people pe 0 hear him talk could she do it could shel she hold fat fast to her own ideals if she were jaspers wife for three days she pondered these questions qu est ions then she did two things she promised the school board that she would teach another year and she arule wrote a note which ran dear jasper there has been no nd change in my feelings I 1 love you but I 1 cannot be happy with a man who disregards the tha things I 1 hold essential therefore I 1 must take back my promise to be your wife sincerely yours MARGARET jasper made no reply to the note no effort to see margaret A month went by he began to hear rumors of the many letters she was receiving from one of the girton college professors fes sors when on overtaking jane harris plodding along in the rain jasper too took k her home the story was reported to margaret so many times that she became convinced that it was a matter of dally daily occurrence the grange picnic came early in july for years jasper had taken Mir margaret gareL ill not go this time everybody would look and smile even athey it they did not say anything ill work in the harvest barvest field he found his task a wearisome one recollections of past joys crowded on him suddenly he strode off resolving to go to the farm woodlot wood lot it was there in the shadow of a grovo grove of birches that grew on the bank or of a stream thal tha he be had told margaret of his love she never loved me though ha be tho thought as entering the dim coot cool woods woodsy he slackened his pace it if shed shad really loved me how hov I 1 talked w a made any difference just then ho he came in sight of the tha birches and margaret seated on the tha ground herdack her dark head against a trees silvery brown trunk A breeze stirred the branches and the waving mosaic of light and shade that fell across her face showed that she had abeen been crying As if in some vague way aware of his presence she lifted her eyes and their gaze met it was but a moment that each looked into the others face yet the fragment of time lima was long enough to enable each of them to glance ahead seeing dimly what the future might hold bold tor for them esi estranged ranged neither of the lovers thought of the word comptom compromise ise but both were swayed ed by the idea the word depre margaret spra ng to her feet her face tender and wistful ahil jasper hurried forward to hold bold her lii his arms copyright 1916 ty by tho the mcclure nw news Ss paper syndicate 4 |