Bob Hampton of Placer

"I am so glad you have spoken in that way," she confessed. "I shall

never feel quite so much alone in the world again, and I shall see

these matters from a different viewpoint. Is it wrong--unwomanly, I

mean--for me to question spiritual things?"

"I am unable to conceive why it should be. Surely woman ought to be as

deeply concerned in things spiritual as man."

"How very strange it is that we should thus drift into such an intimate

talk at our second meeting!" she exclaimed. "But it seems so easy, so

natural, to converse frankly with some people--they appear to draw out

all that is best in one's heart. Then there are others who seem to

parch and wither up every germ of spiritual life."

"There are those in the world who truly belong together," he urged,

daringly. "They belong to each other by some divine law. They may

never be privileged to meet; but if they do, the commingling of their

minds and souls is natural. This talk of ours to-night has, perhaps,

done me as much good as you."

"Oh, I am so glad if it has! I--I do not believe you and Miss Spencer

conversed in this way?"

"Heaven forbid! And yet it might puzzle you to guess what was the main

topic of our conversation."

"Did it interest you?"

"Deeply."

"Well, then, it could not be dress, or men, or Western romance, or

society in Boston, or the beautiful weather. I guess it was books."

"Wrong; they were never mentioned."

"Then I shall have to give up, for I do not remember any other subjects

she talks about."

"Yet it was the most natural topic imaginable--yourself."

"You were discussing me? Why, how did that happen?"

"Very simply, and I was wholly to blame. To be perfectly honest, Miss

Naida, I attended the dance to-night for no other object than to meet

you again. But I had argued myself into the belief that you were Miss

Spencer. The discovery of my mistake merely intensified my

determination to learn who you really were. With this purpose, I

interviewed Miss Spencer, and during the course of our conversation the

facts of my first meeting with you became known."

"You told her how very foolish I acted?"

"I told her how deeply interested I had become in your outspoken

manner."

"Oh! And she exclaimed, 'How romantic!'"