" Yes," she interrupted again, " I remember ; but it wasn't
your fault. That blundering waiter shouldn't have dropped that
banana peel on the floor. I felt so sorry for you."
" You do not seem to understand. I was going to say that dur
ing the evening I became much attached to --"
" Yes, how unfortunate. It seemed as though fate were against
you that night. Not satisfied with your fall, it caused you to be
come inextricably tangled in the window curtains."
" Confound it," he exclaimed, half angrily, " why will you
li - ever understand what lam driving at ? Listen, now. At first
sight of you, I
" You mistook me for an acquaintance, and spoke to me, and we
had not yet met. Well you need not have minded that, for you
know I pardoned the mistake at once. It was simply another
case of mistaken identity."
The young man was silent for a few moments, at a loss to know
how to begin again. She seemed to be trying to keep him from
speaking of the thoughts that were nearest his heart. He resolved
to make one more attempt.
" Nell," he said, slowly. " I believe you are playing with me;
that you are amusing yourself at my expense."
He could not see her face, half hidden in her hands, and con
cealed by the darkness, but he felt the seat give a queer trembling
motion.
At the same moment, the moon appeared over the top of the
great bronze monument, casting a halo of light on the head of the
Country's Father, and brightening up all the surroundings with
its silvery sheen,
Instinctively he glanced at his fair companion, She was slyly
watching him through her parted fingers, and her face was con
vulsed with suppressed laughter. Hq saw it all in an instant,
and then spoke again.
" Nell, darling, I love you. That is what I have been trying
to tell you all this time. May I hope that it is returned ? "
As if in answer, she gave a little, suppressed scream.
" What's the matter now ? " lie inquired anxiously, moving in
voluntary closer to her.
"My hair," she replied, " Somehow it has become tangled in
the twigs on this limb behind me, and I can't get it loose."
" Let me undo it," he said quickly, suiting the action to the
The Free Lance.
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