Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/47

 LOVE WINS LOVE.

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��out loss of time and take his departure. His stay at the little red farm-house, or " Glen Cottage," as he himself had chris- tened it, had been most pleasant, and as he walked slowly along he thought of the girl who had met him so frankly upon his arrival at her home, filled his room with flowers, prepared his favorite dishes and picked the ripest berries for him, and involuntarily his eyes rested upon her now walking by his side. She seemed a different being. The former was a happy girl, without a trace of care in the lovely brown eyes; the latter seemed a woman. The erect, even haughty, figure walked steadily by his side, but there was a look of sorrow in the eyes which could not be concealed. The hand which carried a bunch of sweet clover trembled slightly as he took it gently in his own. They reached the " elm tree " at length, and, pausing, Jo- sephine said with a smile :

" Well, Mr. Courtney, I wish you a pleasant journey home, and a pleasant one through life."

Her coolness vexed him, and he made a sudden resolve to compel her to own that she loved him. Where would be the harm, he reasoned. If harm there was, it had already been done, so turning quickly toward her, he clasped both her little toil-stained hands in his own, say- ing softly :

" Josephine, my darling, how can my life journey be pleasant unless you share it with me? My love, tell me that I may return to you, may win you and take you away from this country life to a home you are so much better adapted to adorn. My sweet girl, tell me that you love me."

Withdrawing her hands from his grasp, . ne covered her blushing face with them, while the bunch of sweet clover feel un- . ceded to the ground, but she made no icply.

ne?" said he, drawing her closely to his tde and gently forcing the hands from s_i»r face. At length she raised her head
 * ' Tell me, Josephine, do you care for

uidly, the color coming and going in v.ives of crimson and white, as she mur- mured softly :

��" Yes, Lee, I do love you with all my heart; but I — I — thought you were only amusing yourself at my expense."

There beneath the old elm they stood talking until the coming shadows of night warned Josephine that she must return home. The parting was bitter to the girl, and her evident sorrow touched even Lee Courtney's callous heart and caused him to exclaim to himself, when at length he found himself alone upon the road leading to the village of Glen- ville :

" I am a precious rascal, and no mis- take ! What possessed me to make the girl love me? Well, time will cure her of her folly, and I will stop this business. By George, I pitied her, but it cannot be helped now; so good-bye, my pretty wild flower, and now for home and Nora Weston's bright eyes and golden charms. I wish Josephine had Nora's wealth. I do believe I should like the former best if it were at all prudent to do so. I will write her a dozen letters or so and grad- ually let the affair die away. Confound it ! I do believe I have got a conscience after all ! "

Back again to the quiet home so lonely now, so desolate. One by one the stars came forth, and anon the moon shone down upon the quiet spot, lighting it with a tender radiance, and falling upon the sad face of the girl who leaned from her chamber window, her eyes misty with unshed tears, wandering toward the village whose tall church spires she could just distinguish in the distance — thinking of him who had made so great a change in her quiet life. She could never be the same again, free from care, content to perform her homely tasks, caring for naught but her home, her par- ents and the few humble friends of her girlhood. She must study — must fit her- self for the home to which he had prom- ised to take her. She would go away where she could learn all the graces he so much admired. Her parents would miss her, but they would learn to do without her, and when she had obtained the knowledge she so much desired, and she was Lee Courtney's wife, they should spend the declining years of life with

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