Page 43 (1/1)

He did not press her for her reason "You have been ill, I believe you

said?"

"Yes, very ill indeed, and there are not irl Oh, I ao----" She broke off wildly, and

the tears filled her eyes

"Miss Anna, when one is ill, it's hard to knohat is best Don't

ive us a trial,

and just call onelse

that taxes your strength"

She tried to answer him but could not They were the first words of

real kindness, after all these months of sorrow and loneliness, and

they broke down the icy barrier that seemed to have enclosed her heart

She bent her head and wept silently

"There, there, little woiven anything to put his arm around her and offer her the

devotion of his life But Dave had a good bit of hard common sense

under his hat, and he knew that such a declaration would only hasten

her departure and the wise young e

her to stay for hiswoman to find the proper kind of a hoe of as best for her

And Anna, whose storainst the

rocks, listened and made up her ood people, for a little while at least