1901 
347 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Alicia Gale’s Final Choice. 
"There was a long time that I did not 
know as I ought to ask you, Alicia.” 
Mark Washburn looked fondly at his 
sweetheart. “Then I thought that if it 
was possible that you loved me, we 
could do the waiting together, and if 
you didn’t—well, 1 could begin to get 
used to it. To think that you really do, 
Alicia! You don’t know how hard I’ll 
work. I’ve planned it all out. You see,’’ 
he hesitated—“well, there’s no use in 
our beating about the bush. There 
needn’t be any keeping things from each 
other now. You know what Mother is 
like just as well as 1 do. 1 wouldn’t ask 
you to live in the same house—it 
wouldn’t be right. The other boys have 
tried it and it hasn’t worked, and no 
wonder when her own daughter can’t 
stand it. My plan is to build another 
house- right near, with a covei’ed pas¬ 
sage between, and maybe a telephone. 
’I’hen I could look after her almost as 
much as I do now and you wouldn’t have 
to be bothered. The shop being right 
across the road makes it handy, too. Of 
course it will take some time, though 1 
have saved up something towards it al¬ 
ready, but I am afraid we will have to 
wait a year or two at least. I’m help¬ 
ing Hugh and he will be through college 
by that time. Do you think you can 
wait as long as that?” 
“Yes,” said Alicia slowly. “Unless—■ 
oh, don’t look at me that way, Mark! 
You don’t know how horrid 1 am, but 
1 will tell you. I’ve thought about it a 
good deal since 1 began to think you 
liked me. You see, living off in a coun¬ 
try place like this I never have had a 
chance to get acquainted with many 
nice men. 'fo be sure there are the 
neighbors, and the boys I went to school 
with. Now I am sure that I like you the 
best of any of them. You are honest 
and steady and intelligent; you do your 
work well, and you are strong and man¬ 
ly. I haven’t the least doubt that you 
are the very best man 1 know. But I 
suppose there are lots of other nice men 
that 1 don’t know, now, and one of them 
might come along that I liked better 
than 1 do you, and then what should I 
do? Of course I don’t mean after we 
are married. I’m not quite so bad as 
that, but while we are just engaged.” 
“If you found a man you liked better,” 
Mark spoke with an effort, “1 think I 
care enough for your happiness to be 
able to give you up—but 1 don’t know. 
1 hope I won’t have to be tried that 
way.” 
A year went by, and it was July again. 
Mark stood in the doorway of his 
blacksmith shop. He was looking over 
across the little lake to Mrs. Mayhew’s 
large house on the rising ground be¬ 
yond. His face was sad and anxious, 
and the cause of his trouble was over 
at that house. It was three weeks since 
Mrs. Madison Drake and her son Theo¬ 
dore had come there to board. Mrs. 
Drake had been a school friend of Ali¬ 
cia’s mother, and almost at once, upon 
her arrival, she had sought out the girl 
and made much of her. Nearly every 
day the three were together, and lately 
Mark had, several times, seen the young 
man rowing Alicia across the lake, that 
being a nearer way home than to go 
around by the road. Over and over 
again the last few weeks Mark had re¬ 
called every word of what Alicia had 
said the day they became engaged, and 
as he saw how happy she seemed in 
Drake’s company, all hope left him. 
What chance had he, a country black¬ 
smith with a cantankerous mother, 
against this handsome, well-bred city 
man? He saw that the time would come 
when he must give Alicia up. It took 
all of his strong self-control to keep 
him from betraying his feelings to her. 
but thus far he had acted just as he al¬ 
ways had done. He had even shown a 
friendly interest in the Drakes, and lis¬ 
tened attentively to all Alicia had to say 
about them. 
Mark’s reverie was interrupted by the 
arrival of Mrs. Mayhew with one of her 
horses. While it was being shod she 
went in and visited Mrs. Washburn. As 
he worked, Mark’s thoughts were still 
of Alicia. When the shoes were set he 
led the horse out and harnessed it into 
the buggy again. He was just going 
around the other side of the horse to 
finish the harnessing, wnen Alicia and 
Drake went by. For a moment he look¬ 
ed in her face, and then they passed on, 
and a little later Mrs. Mayhew came out 
and drove away. When Alicia parted 
from Drake at her own gate, she stood 
looking after him. When he turned in¬ 
to the path leading to the lake, Alicia, 
with a light, quick step went down the 
road in the direction from which she 
had just come. When she reached the 
olacksmith shop she went in, but the 
place was deserted. “I’ll wait for him,” 
she said. She picked up Mark’s ham¬ 
mer and rung it on the anvil, listening 
to the sound. There was a smile on her 
thoughtful face. She was dressed in 
white, with blue ribbons at neck and 
waist, and her figure stood out strik¬ 
ingly against the darK background. 
Mark coming in paused and looked at 
her in surprise. Sh.e glanced up, and 
witn a little laugh laid aside the ham¬ 
mer. 
“I wish you would come over to-night, 
Mark,” she said without looking at him. 
“There is something I want to say to 
you.” 
“I will come,” he answei’ed, and stood 
aside so that her white gown would not 
brush against him. 
There was an awkward constraint be¬ 
tween them as they sat in the sitting 
room that evening. Alicia did not raise 
her eyes from the floor and there was a 
pause before she began hesitatingly. 
“I don’t know how to say what I want 
to, it is hard to make you understand, 
but I wish you to know all about it. It 
is about Theodore Drake.” She waited 
for him to speak, but he said nothing. 
“The Drakes have been very kind to 
me, and 1 have seen a good deal of them. 
I got to know Theodore vei-y well, and 
the more 1 saw of him the better I liked 
him. He is really an unusually fine 
man, kind, thoughtful and cultivated. 
She hesitated, then went on again, 
speaking more quickly. ‘Aou remem¬ 
ber what 1 told you a long time ago 
abouu what I should do if I found a man 
1 liked better than you. Well, the more 
1 saw of ’I'heodore Drake the more 1 de¬ 
spised myself. I wished at first that 
they had never come here. Then 1 
thought of you and it did not seem as 
though I could stand it. 1 really trieii 
at first not to like him, but he was so 
nice 1 could not help it, and after a time 
I just stopped trying. He liked me, too, 
though lie did not act silly or anything 
of the kind, and his mother was lovely 
to me. 
“Well, this afternoon I decided I must 
see you and have a talk with you. 
Theodore rowed me across the lake, and 
GROWING TOO FAST 
Child ren growing too fast 
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Scott’s Emulsion of Cod-Liver 
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supplies that need. It has the 
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All sickly, delicate children, 
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A fifty cent bottle will prove 
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then he walked up here with me. Just 
as we got to your shop you stepped out 
from behind that horse and I looked you 
right in the face.” At the last words 
Alicia raised her eyes and looked at 
Mark. With a little cry she started up. 
"Oh, Mark! What have I done?” Sue 
looked at him in a kind of terror. 
He turned away from her. “Go on,” 
he said in a strained voice. “Don’t 
mind me.” 
She went to him quickly, and laid her 
arm about his neck. “You don’t under¬ 
stand, Mark,” she said tremulously. “I 
was only thinking about my own con¬ 
fession and I thought you would under¬ 
stand from the first. Don’t you see? I 
looked right at you as I went by, and 
for the first time I saw you two men to¬ 
gether. Then I knew in a flash that 
you are the only man in the world for 
me.” 
He turned quickly and looked in her 
tear-filled eyes, then he understood. 
“When are the Drakes going away?’ 
he asked a little later. 
“In two days.” 
“I shall be glad when they are gone.’ 
“But Mark, it would not make any 
difference if they stayed forever.” 
“Nevertheless, I am glad they are go¬ 
ing. You don’t know—but I have been 
horribly jealous. What are you going 
to do about him?” 
JNothing, said Alicia demurely. “1 
told him this afternoon that 1 am en¬ 
gaged to you.” 
“You did?” 
“Yes. And as he has been such a good 
friend I told him when we are to be 
married.” 
“Alicia!” he cried reproachfully. 
“I know, Mark, that it was very im¬ 
proper to tell him before 1 told you, but 
I made him promise that he would not 
speak of it. I wili teli you now if you 
would like to know.” 
Mark sighed. “I am afraid it will be 
a year yet. Hugh has needed more 
money than I expected, and Mother be¬ 
ing sick last Winter. 1 suppose I might 
borrow—” 
“No,” said Alicia with spirit. “I’ll do 
a good deal for you, Mark Washburn, 
but 1 won’t live in a mortgaged house 
with you.” 
“That’s my feeling, too, Alicia, and so 
I don’t see as there is anything to do 
but wait.” 
“Yes, till the fourteenth of next Sep¬ 
tember, my birthday, you know.” 
“But Alicia, we can’t do it—on ac¬ 
count of Mother.” 
Alicia went and stood looking down at 
him. “Mark,” she said earnestly, “I 
have been thinking lately about a man 
who is well-to-do and who could give 
his wife advantages, and whose mother 
is very fond of me. But Mark, I would 
rather marry you and help you to give 
Hugh his education, and help take care 
of your mother, even if she does not like 
me. What is more, I cannot wait any 
longer than I said, and if you are not 
ready then, I never wiil forgive you.” 
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