CHAPTER XV.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 212, 23 July 1887, Page 6

CHAPTER XV.

MR (.OIIDOK AND RUBY RETURN TO THE CITY. Tin: next morning, during breakfast, Mr Gordon asked Ruby, with a sly smile, if she wa^ quite ready to go home. She glanced up, caught his look, and almost unconsciously her eyes turned upon Walter. A brilliant flush rose to her cheek when she found that ho was rogarding her earnestly ; then with an effort she recovered her self-possession, and ropliod, in a matter-of-fact tone : ' ' Of course wo must go to-day, Robert. Estelle will return and be expecting us ; and besides, I have a dressmaker for to-morrow." " Oh, a dressmaker, "repeated Mr Gordon, dryly ; " that settles the question, then, for 1 never knew of anything that was allowed to interfero with the arrangements of that important personage." Mr and Mrs Ruggles received earnest invitations to visit the Gordons at their city home, and they promised to avail themsolves of the kindness. j Breakfast over, the carriago was brought to the door, and tho Gordons, bidding their friends good-bye, turned their faces homeward. Walter was to drive them to the station, as Mr Ruggles's prcsencc^was demanded at the mines, but neither he nor Ruby was in a very social frame of mind, for the thought of pat-ting oppressc-d them both strangely. Both hearts were full of Avhat had occurred the previous day. They knew that they had betrayed, in the moment of danger, something of the tenderness which they 5 had been learning to feel for each other during the past week ; while Walter reasoned within himself that he had no right to claim anything from Ruby. His sense of honour and pride forbade his making any formal declaration of his love, until no should attain a position that would place him above the suspicion of being a fortune-huntor. Upon reaching tho station Walter took Ruby's bag and wraps and found her a comiortable seat in a car, while Mr Gordon remained outside to smoke his after-breakfast cigar. The road was a branch, and the train they were to leave- on was obliged to wait for another to pass, and thus the young people had about fifteen minutes to themselves before the final adieus would have to be said. " I hope your trip home will bo an enjoyable one," Walter remarked, after they were seated, and anxious to break the silence that seemed to haunt them so persistently. "It was very pleasant coming; the scenery is exceedingly fine all the way. But there is nothing like what I have seen here : this has been a week ofiveeks to me," Ruby said, with a little sigh of pleasure, as her mind wandered back over thoße beautiful days. , _ Walter's face lighted, and hU face glowed with pleasuie. They had been together almost constantly, and surely, if the time had passed so delightfully, sho must have been happy in his society. "I cannot help being exceedingly gratified to hear you say so, ho added, in a low

foKty*' "'fW f felfc very much' like 1 an? fh> .trilder uporo th«» evening* of my rttftivaL" 1 so ??s'lsaby? ?5 'l5aby asked, -with sul-prisse*. '•Be&itise'lftaxl come without # special' invifcsrtfibn}' although I have always* had' a* standrnjt; dne> foot I feared I .might- ihttsi^ fore wisfli 1 youl* p&rns, and thun mair jjbtnr enjoymeiKx'' "Oh, todeed,. you have notj do liotrthink thafy you h?w© — " Ruby had'beguili impulsively, wishing^ dissipate any- such iitncy, but she suddenly stopped short,' as- it she might say tew» much. " What haye 1 I' dfone, Miss Gordon ? please finish wliat you' were going to say," Walter pleaded. The young girl was T ,»ery truthful, as we have already sei*n; She- despised anything like deception or' prevarication, and so she felt obliged to complete 1 her sentence, even though it caused her&oraoeraibarrasment to do so. " You have added* very* nxmAi to my - our pleasure," she confessed*, wiofo heightened colour. There was a moment's- pp^nse. Then Walter said, in a low thrilling uone : "Thank you for telling. in© this, Miss Kuby ; you have mado • me- 1 veay happy ; ami — may I tell you somcghmg iia return ?" " Yes, if you wish." '* The past week has beemtthe happiest of my life," the young man. said,, in a voice that made her heart leap • with) a strange joy. " Whatever comes to» nne later, whether I fail or succeed in life; immy plans and hojycs for the future, it will'.beadelightful memory — a green spot -an oasis to look back upon as long as I live." Ruby Gordon knew from those ft>w words and the tender, wistful tone in which they were uttered, that Walter Richardson loved her with a love that would last as long as his noble heart should beat. She' undorstood, too, from what he had said about failure or .success, that he would not feel free to toll her openly of it until h& should make for himself a position worthy to offer her. A happy little smile quivered about her red mouth, and she felt that she shonld not mind waiting until he should be ready to speak. What did it matter ? - they were both young. She knew that he would never fail— no one could fail who had a tithe of the courage and energy that he possessed, and H&e believed ho would yet stand a peer amongst the noblest and most honoured. She loved him. Yes, she was fully i conscious of the fact now, and she could be patient until he should feel free to ask her to be his wife. Walter saw that little smile, and it made his heart leap for joy ; for it, together with the blush which crept, up to her brow, told him that ho was understood. The boll rang just then, and there was no more time for anything further, for Mr Gordon came forward to take his seat- with Ruby. He shook hands cordially with Walter, saying ; " I suppose you will soon return ?" " Yes, by the end of another week," the young man replied. " I" hope we shall see more of you then," continued the elder gentleman with a. sly glance at his sister, whose- heightened colour and drooping eyes he had not failed to observe. " Thank you, sir," said Walter. " We are all fond of young company," Mr Gordon pursued, " and I, for one, shall be glad to become better acquainted with you. Ruby, can't you second my inn'itation ?" Ruby started. She had scarcely heard what her brother was saying. Her thoughts had gone back to yesterday —to her peril, her rescue ; to how, for a few brief moments, she had been clasped close to Walter's terror-stricken heart and he had called her his "darling," and she had felt that he was all the- world to- her. But she looked up as her brother put his question to her, and met Walter's earnest eyes reading her face wistfully. "Certainly," she paid, trying to throw off the embarrassment of the moment, "do come to see us, Mr Richardson, when you come back to Philadelphia ; my brother is, as he says, very fond of young company." Robert Gordon laughed. She- had spoken very demuroly, but' he felt sure- she was labouring undor an unnatural restraint. " I think I have proved that beyond a doubt, by allowing this young lady to drag me wherever her sweet will lias prompted this summer," he said, softly pinching the rosy cheek next him. "But," he added, " the train is ready to start and I must not detain you. Good-morning ; we shall look for you some evening shortly." Walter bowod a smiling acceptance of this invitation, lifted his hat with one last lingering glance- at Ruby, and hastened from the car with a very happy heart, and yet feeling, as ho watched the train disappear around a bend in the road, as if half the sunshine had been blotted from the day. {To be Continued.)