Spy stories; Washington (D.C.) -- Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
Kathleen crimsoned to the roots of her hair. "Did he tell you that I
indignantly refused, escaped from him, and started out to walk to the
nearest railroad station. There I met John Hargraves, told him of my
elopement, then accompanied him to the hotel in the next town where his
cousin was stopping and spent the night with her, returning next day
under her escort to the school. She explained to the principal that I had
been visiting her, and smoothed over what promised to be a scandal."
"Yes, Karl wrote me of that also, but he did you the tardy justice of
never mentioning your full name. When I met you at Chevy Chase I
realized suddenly that you had mistaken me for him and--" Miller
hesitated for a brief second--"I followed the game. Kathleen," his
hitherto clear voice faltered, "I followed it to my own undoing. Each
time that you repulsed me, you inspired me--first, with admiration;
then, all unbidden, came love--love, so faithful and unswerving that not
even the toils of treachery and false witness which threatened to
envelope you, could alter it." He hesitated again, his face white and
strained. "Tell me frankly, Kathleen, did you accept me on Tuesday only
because you thought me Karl?"
"No." Kathleen's face was rosy with color and her eyes shone with a new
radiance. Eagerly Miller clasped her hands and, bending his head, kissed
them. "Whatever schoolgirl affection I cherished for Karl was long since
dead before I met you. To you alone I gave my heart."
"My love, my love," he murmured softly. "May God aid me to atone to
you for the sorrow of the past!" and looking up into his eyes, as his
arms stole round her, Kathleen read there that the glory of life was
hers at last.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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