ISO-; 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER.^ 



313 



lu iier pretty wnite gown oi some sniin- 

 mering luateriul, and so her lover evi- 

 dently thought, for he suddenly caught 

 her to his breast and rained passionate 

 kisses ou her brow and lips. Then, just 

 as suddenly, he thrust her from him 

 and stood facing l::r in the moonlight. 

 The girl was half iiightened at his man- 

 ner. 



"What is the matter, Alan?" she 

 asked timidly. 



"Nothing, my pet, "he replied in his 

 old manner; "only you looked so be- 

 witching I think I lost my senses." 



"I rhiuk you did," she retorted co- 

 quetti-lily. "Alan," she continued 

 earnestly, "do 5-ou really and truly love 

 me?" 



He looked at her curiously, then, 

 recollecting himself, replied: 



■'Wiiut a foolish que.stion to ask! 

 How many hundreds of times have I 

 told you the old, old story?" 



"But, "she persisted, raising her face 

 to his, "'I never, never can believe it 

 MUtil you tell me that secret." 



His face darkened at her words. 



"Did I not tell you last night that 

 your persistency was worse than use- 

 less?" he retorted, looking coldly down 

 at her. 



"Well, then," she answered passion- 

 ately, "until you do tell me I will 

 never marry you — never!" 



There was a long silence between 

 them. Finally the man broke it. 



"Do you mean what you say?" he 

 asked in a low, tense voice. 



"Certainly, " she responded in a hard, 

 determined tone. Then, changing her 

 inauuer to one of winning sweetness: 

 "But I know you will tell me. You 

 could never, never be so cruel as to re^ 

 fu.se. " 



He turned awaj' and began pacing 

 the lawn in an undecided, wavering 

 fashion, quite unlike his usual firm 

 step. The girl followed him and laid 

 one hand on his arm. 



"Tell me," she whispered beseech- 

 ingly. Then she raised herself ou tiptoe 

 and kissed him. 



"I cannot r :^ist, " he murmured, then 

 stooped suaooiily and whi-spered some- 

 thing into her ear. 



"Is that all?" she asked, in evident 

 Surprise. He nodded. 



The next afternoon Elsie refused all 

 offers of companionship and went oil 



for a solitary ^;troll. As she approached 

 a little wooded copse about half a mile 

 from the house a young man sauntered 

 slowly toward her. 



"Well, what success this time?" he 

 demanded, without troubling to make 

 any preliminar}' greeting. 



"Wait a minute, Hugh," the girl an- 

 swered. "I am quite breathless with 

 hurrying. That tiresome Enid wanted 

 to come v.'ith me. And I wasn't at all 

 sure of Alan not coming too." 



The man stood for a minute or two 

 in silence, then glanced at his compan- 

 ion impatiently. 



"I have got it," she answered quiet- 

 ly, returning his glance. 



His whole face changed and glowed 

 with triumph. 



"You little darling, you clever little 

 darling," he exclaimed, and then took 

 her in his arms and kissed her passion- 

 ately. She lay quite passive in his em- 

 brace, her dark eyes gleaming with teu- 

 derest love. 



"Now we can marry," he whispered. 

 "But you have not told me yet, Elsie. 

 Are you sure you have got the exact 

 details?" 



"It is all written here, word for 

 word, as Alan repeated it to me," she 

 replied. 



He read the paper greedily which she 

 banded to him, then placed it in his 

 pocketbook and drew a deep breath of 

 relief. 



"So that is all the secret of De- 

 maine's wonderful purple dye," he 

 said. "Well, I rather think now that 

 the monopoly is destroyed. Won't the 

 old fashioned firm be astonished when 

 they find themselves undersold in the 

 market by a dye exactly like their own. " 

 And' he laughed a cruel laugh of tri- 

 umph. "I always hated Demaine," he 

 continued, "always. This will be splen- 

 did revenge, besides making all our for- 

 tunes. But come, Elsie," he added, "it 

 is time we were moving. I'll see you to 

 the park gates, and then I must get 

 back to town. " 



A month passed away, and Elsie was 

 still visiting the Demaiues, still out- 

 wardly engaged to Alan, of whom nev- 

 ertheless she saw very little. 



"Hugh," Elsie said to her lover one 

 evening, "don't you think" — and then 

 she stopped in confusion. 



