Instead of the Thorn. Clara Louise Burnham

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      "That's what Mrs. Porter says."

      "Mrs. Porter?" Linda echoed him with interest; "but she has left town. I went to the studio yesterday, and she's gone; gone to Maine without letting me know."

      "You've been pretty hard to locate, remember. She told me she was going."

      Linda sighed. "If she could have gone West with Father and me, it would have been perfect."

      "I'm said to resemble Maud very strongly," suggested King.

      Linda regarded him with quick appraisement. "I never thought of it." She turned back to the window. "I can quote poetry, too, when I think of her. The other day I found a verse that fits her:—

      'He that of such a height hath built his mind,

       And reared the dwelling of his thoughts so strong,

       As neither fear nor hope can shake the frame

       Of his resolvéd powers; nor all the wind

       Of vanity or malice pierce to wrong

       His settled peace, or to disturb the same:

       What a fair seat hath he, from whence he may

       The boundless wastes and wilds of man survey.'

      A man named Daniel wrote that. Isn't it perfect?"

      "H'm," agreed King. "A Daniel come to judgment. Maud likes you very much," he added.

      "She loves me, thank you," flashed Linda, against his tepid speech.

      "Then it runs in the family. I've told her how I felt toward you myself."

      "And told her all my faults, I suppose." The girl bit her lip.

      "Oh, I knew she could see those. Maud is very penetrating." Fire and dew flashed at him again. "Linda," he added in a different tone, "Whitcomb can't be much longer. Do you know I'm asking you to marry me?"

      An inarticulate sound from his companion, and continued drumming on the window pane.

      "I came to your father's employ ten years ago. I climbed the ladder slowly, but just three years and eight months ago I reached the rung from which I could see you." A pause. "You've haunted me ever since."

      "Unintentional, I assure you." But Linda, her cheeks burning, could not look around again. In her tumult of hurt pride and indignation there penetrated a strain of triumph.

      "Certainly," returned King; "you had other things to attend to, and so had I. You've attended to them with vast credit, and your father will tell you that I'm not so bad. Now a new chapter begins. Probably no one will ever love you as comprehendingly as I do."

      "I shouldn't think of marrying any one who didn't consider me perfect," announced Linda clearly.

      "Remember the chromo that goes with me—Mrs. Porter. Maud would be your cousin." King dangled his eyeglasses as he made the suggestion, and regarded a short curl of hair that had dropped against his companion's white neck.

      Linda was silent for a moment. "I suppose you'll poison her mind against me now," she said.

      "No. You've poured hot tea and cold water on my budding hopes, but I'm strictly honorable; and besides, I'm going to remember that both douches are good for plants. Ask your father if I know how to hang on to a proposition."

      Silence. Linda's strong heart beat against her ribs as the man came a step nearer to her.

      "Don't you touch me!" she exclaimed.

      "I wasn't thinking of touching you, Linda. I just wanted to fix your hair. Something has fallen down here; just wait, I see a hairpin."

      The girl preserved her pose under the caressing hands for a second, but he fumbled the soft lock, and she suspected him.

      "That will do," she said, jerking her head away.

      "Oh, well, I fixed it. You might thank me, going out as you are."

      "I should think Fred had fallen dead!" she exclaimed.

      "Yes; Maud prescribes Maine for me. She knows the lay of the land pretty well up there. She says she has known it for thirty years. I think that's an exaggeration, don't you?"

      "I don't know how old she is, and I don't care; I only know that it must have nearly killed her husband to die and leave her."

      King rocked back and forth on his toes. "I've heard that it did, entirely," he responded.

      Linda gave her head a quick shake. "No wonder I say idiotic things!" she exclaimed. "It's catching!—Fred! Fred!" The sudden call was a cry of relief, and the girl quickly stepped out of an open glass door upon the piazza, and hurried down the steps. A motor had stopped beside the walk. King caught up his hat and followed her.

      "I thought you'd never come!" cried Linda, to the joy of the distracted chauffeur.

      "Great Scott! I thought I never would either!" he responded.

      "What have you been doing? Climbing trees?" asked King. "Linda and I had nearly decided to be reckless and go to a movie."

      "Nothing of the sort," averred Linda, "but I had begun to believe all four were punctured."

      "One was," admitted Whitcomb, "and I've had a dozen delays." And he gnashed his teeth over a wasted hour of June as he handed his fair one into the front seat.

      "Whither away?" inquired King.

      "To the North Shore," responded Whitcomb, with fire in his eye which portended speeding.

      "Drop me at the club, then, will you, Freddy?" And without waiting for the assent Bertram landed in the tonneau as the car started.

      In front of the University Club he descended, and stepped forward beside Linda.

      "I may not see you again," he said, standing between the wheels, hatless, and holding her hand. "Have a good time. If you send me a picture postal, it will be all off between us."

      "What did he mean?" asked Whitcomb, as with a whirr and a jerk they were on their way again.

      "Why, I'm going to Colorado with my father; or he's going with me. He's tired."

      "Well, he has nothing on King," remarked Freddy. "Never saw any one run down as that chap has the last month. He'd better get some smaller collars. Don't you care, Linda! Send me a picture postal, and I'll frame it."

      The look that accompanied this outburst was lost on the adored one. She was trying to remember if Bertram King's collar had looked too large.

      The University Club was a lonely place!

CHAPTER IV

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