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Show 46 PRINCESS MARYS GIFT BOOK The young man turned his eyes-he dared not move anything elseiand, at sight. of the stricken maiden, his tanned face grew the colour of a healthy beetroot. i " Getting on fznnously, Kit." remarked Mr. 'I‘horold in a preoccupied manner. " Arm a little higher, if you please, Captain- I'ardon. didn‘t catch your name." "' Barnard." said the model, in a small \‘oiee quite inconsistent with his fine and manly proportions. "Ah. thank you 3 Could you-erfi put on something of a scowl .' You're wounded, you know, and you're leading a forlorn hope, or something of the sort." The young man's aid-looking face assumed as much of a scowl as it was capable of don '. and Mr. Thorold dashed it on the paper. "Capital! Now you can rest a minute. I've got to go and get some more ochre. I'erhaps you‘d like a drink 3 " "Thank you; I should," confessed the young man, with a slight huskincss. " All right ; I‘ll bring it." said Mr. Thorold : and, as he was leaving the room, he said over his shoulder, " My daughter; Captain Barnard.‘~ i L ttttttttw Kitty closed the door carefully ; then, seating herself on the divan, she rested her chin in her hand and, regarding the young man severely, she demanded sternly: I " I‘erhaps you‘ll be kind enough to inform me of thevthe meaning of this 2 "' He had seated himself on the edge of the dais and was wiping his face, as if he were just going through a dangerous action, with the enemy pressing on all sides. " I beg your pardon ? he faltercd, with meekness in his voice, mien, and eye. I asked you why you are masquerading here I? " she said, uncom- pronnsingly. _ " Well, come to that, I'm not masquerading. This is mV own kit '. I‘m a soldler, as you know. This is a genuine wound, not a'fake; and Im really hard up 2 had a run of bad luck lately. No harm in earning an honest shilling." I " But why come to my father, this particular studio, to earn it ? " demanded Ixitty, cutting short his feeble attempts at plausible explanation. '"‘()h, well," he replied desperately: "you see, when I met you at the lhonisons the other night, and asked you if I might have the A MODEL SOLDIER 47 honour of calling on you, you said that your father was a very busy man and that you yourself had no time for receiving visitors." " \Vell ? " demanded Kitty, as icily as before. "IVell," he resumed, looking down and then up at her, as if he could not keep his eyes from her face, stern and almost ferocious as it was. "well, I asked the Thomsons who your father was, and when they told me, I thoughtgl thought \Vell, don't you know, it seemed to me that he might want a model. \Var pictures are all the go now, aren't they? And so " He broke down, made a little gesture with his unwounded arm, and blurted out, " Of course you know why I‘ve come. I wanted to see you again. I told you so the other night ; like my check, of course, but-I don't know how it is-I feel as if I'd got to see you, to know you. Look here, Miss Kitty-I beg your pardon, all the Thomsons call you that~iI hope you won't mind my saying that I've fallen in love with you ? " "Excuse me; I mind it very much," Kitty informed him with distressing promptitude; but her eyes wavered and the colour came into her face and made it, in the unfortunate young man's opinion. more maddeningly fascinating than ever. " Oh, well, I'm sorry," he said, but without much penitence in his tone; " but the truth should always be told, shouldn't it? And it is the truth." "Is it ? " queried Kitty. " You've seen me only once before, and then only for an hour or two." " Two hours and tln‘ee~(piarters," he said, as if he were a stiekler for accuracy ; "' and I fell in lore with you after the first quarter of an hour. That being the case-as it certainly isvwhat was I to do! I shall have to go back to the regiment as soon as this old arm of mine is right; and it‘s getting right quickly; and I felt that I couldn't go without at any rate telling you what-what was the matter with me." " You speak as if-as if love were a disease," said Kitty, with an attempt at mockery which was an abject failure. " So it is," he declared, "and I've got it bad!very bad indeed. I'll ask you to believe me, Miss Kitty-l mean Miss ThoroId-that I haven't had you out of my mind for one moment since we parted." "‘ It's a pity you haven't something better to think of," said Kitty. "There I disagree with you," observed the young man stoutly. "I couldn't have anything better to think of, and I don't want to. I shall think of you for the rest of my natural life. Miss Kitty, before you refuse me. One moment, I ought to tell you that I'm a poor young captain, in a marching regiment, with no prospects." "WU uncut i! |