Part 27 (1/2)

”Rita,” I put in, ”I believe every word of it, and, what is lad to hear you say it, for the first iood, open, honest face, and his body is a perfect working machine,--a real man after my own heart' But he juht say;--I ju with him, Rita As far as I can see, he has been lucky,--luckier than le set-back He has been what they call a success He is younger than I as and superintends caot to putting down all this progress to his own superior ability absolutely He does not think that, maybe, circuuardedly atthat he has not been clever and has not grasped every opportunity that came his orked hard and all that;--Oh! you knohat Iand no one else is anything It is bad for any ets that way Give Joe Clark a set-back or two and he will colutted and bloated with too hed

”I guess you're right,--Joe used to be good friends withto h Guess he's got too big Tells me all about the fine ladies he meets in Vancouver and Victoria and up the coast

Wouldn't ever give ood, and all that Oh!--I know I ain't good at grairls, and I was best at home

Still, he talks about the ones that has the schooling

”He started in telling ain, to-day I didn't want to know about them, so I just told hiuess He was ainst Joe Said he liked you anyway Then he took my part He knows Joe,--you bet

”He says, 'That'll do, Joe You leave Rita be She's a good lass and you ain't playin' the game fair'

”I didn't hear any o back either, till Joe cleared out”

”What relation is Joe to the others, Rita?” I asked in puzzlerand-dad's only son, who got killed in a blasting accident up the coast Joe's mother was a Swede She died twofor himself, he don't stay around hos Says grandrand-dad make him tired; says they're silly fools,--because,--because,----”

Tears gathered in Rita's eyes and she did not finish

I let her pent-up emotion have free run for a while; probably because I was ill at ease and knew I should look an idiot and talk like an i heard soenerally best to let a woets started

At last Rita wiped her eyes and looked over at uess I am, too,” she said ”Never cried before that I have mind Never had anybody to cry to”

I s sort of s ranted Thinks I don't know nothing, because I'rands and I ain't going to have anything more to do with him Well,--not till he kno to treat me, same as I should be treated Guess not then either I don't care now I ht hate hi of the soft, weepy baby about this young lady, and I could see from the flash in her dark eyes and the set of her mouth that she meant every word of what she said

She was a dainty, pretty, and alluring little piece of feed her, only I did not dare, for like as not she would have boxed irl That's the way to talk”

She smiled, and in little more than no time at all she was back into her ether at theuntil the dusk had crept into darkness and Rita's Isle had becoetting back,” she said at last ”Can you fix up roceries for ether the few hu over, although, I discovered later, that Rita was pretty ent and did not require an excuse to satisfy either her grandrandfather, both of whom trusted her implicitly

Time went past quickly in there

”Rita, it is almost dark Will you let me accompany you across the Bay? I can fix a tow line behind for your little boat”

”That would be nice,” she answered simply ”But I can see in the dark near as well as in the day time I could row across there blindfold”

As I paddled her over, I thought what a pity it was she could not talk , note in her entire make-up But for that, she was as perfect a little lady as I had ever lish? came the question to me;--and I decided I would some day, but not just then I would wait until I knew her a little better; I would wait until I had becoe of rounded on the shore, in front of Rita's home, old Andrew Clark,--short and sturdy in appearance and dour as any Scot could ever be,--was on the beach He came down to meet us and invited me up for a cup of tea

I accepted the invitation, as I had a business project to discuss with the oldthat should prove a benefit to the store and a financial benefit to him