For Money.—Chapters I-IV [pp. 25-39]

For Money.
he bent his head to hear her-" I can't, oh,
I cannot."
"I didn't mean to frighten you," said Mr.
Waring, releasing her hand, as if he were
giving her back something delicate and
precious. "Take all the time you want to
think about it. Talk it over with your father
and mother. My dear, I think I can make
uou very happy, and you know that you will
be the one object of my life. No, don't
try to answer me now," he added, as she
opened her lips to speak again, "I have too
much at stake to let your words be final.
I have seen you in your home life, and I
want you to make my home for me. How
could you be so surprised? I thought you
knew it days ago."
'" Why-" exclaimed Louise, and then
stopped. A feeling of triumph over Lily
Swift, that she would not have betrayed for
worlds, mingled with loyalty to her sex, prevented her from yielding to the impulse that
first promrnpted her to say that every one had
supposed his preference to point definitely
in a different direction.
"Will you go back to the others now? I
came to find you and take you to them,"
said Mr. \Waring, seeing that he was to hear
nothing from her on that subject. "All
this is suspended for a few days, remember,
and then I will come for my answer. I
don't want to take any advantage of you; I
wouldn't have you think so for the world; and
whatever you tell me when I see you again,
I shall accept, no matter if you give me the
bitterest disappointment of my life. One,
thing though, you must tell me before I urge
you any further. Is there any one else? In
that case, I could only be sorry that I had spok en at all, and draw back now, once for all."
His voice had grown lower again, and he
had taken her hand once more, as' he bent
down and looked in her eyes.
"No," she distinctly said, lifting them and
looking full at him, while the tears rose slow ly and brimmed over her lashes, and she
trembled from head to foot. "There is no
one else, Mr. Waring. It is only fair that
you should know that. But I cannot, I
know I never can do what you ask, and I
wish that you would give it up and let it go
now."
"Shall I get you a glass of wine?" was his
answer, in a way men have of completely
ignoring the previous subject when they
mean to have their own way. "You are
shaking all over." He placed her in a chair,
was gone and back before she realized she
was alone, and made her drink the wine he
had brought, though at first she refused it.
It took away the nervous chill that was making her teeth chatter, and relieved the desire
to bur) her face in her hands and cry, so that
presently she rose, and said in a steady voice:
"I can meet the others now, and it must
be time to go."
They returned to the group on the veranda, and found the carriages ready to take
them back to the train. Mr. Waring displayed more thought in the distribution of
his guests on the return trip than he had
shown in their coming. Then, he had only
taken care that they should all be safely bestowed in the carriages, and left companionship to chance, which had put him in a
phaeton with Lily Swift. But now he had
put Gilbert and his sister into the phaeton,
and he himself, with most of the others, occupied the char-?-banc; while Mrs. Valentine,
Miss Swift, Phil Carter, and another young
man, who all had the hotel for their destination, went in the carriage that had taken
Louise on the way to the lunch.
"WAhat possessed the child to go away by
herself and cry about being neglected before
she gets home, where nobody would see
her red eyes " thought Mrs. Valentine, im patiently, as she noticed Louise's altered
face. "Well, she must learn better than to
give way before a crowd. I don't believe
there's as much in her as I thought."
But if Mrs. Valentine had known what
really took place on that momentous occa sion, she would have given Louise credit for
a good deal of self-command. Not many
girls of twenty could have received a pro posal from Marion Waring, without having
made the fact patent to all eyes —but their
demeanor would scarcely have been of the
downcast sort.
Helen Lake.
CONTINUED IN NEXT NUMBER.
1886.]
39