"
"Oh, John, how stupid of us! Why, of course, it was Josiah."
John was in a state of mind to enjoy the game, and shaking his head in
negation said, "No, Josiah passed me long before. He had a lot of frogs
he caught in Lonesome Man's Swamp."
Miss Leila having exhausted all the possible explanations, said with
sweet simplicity, "Did you ever find out the origin of that name? Who was
the _lonesome man_? You see, John, lonesome seems to stand for lonely and
sad, as Mr. Rivers said." This was rather too clever, but the young woman
was so near detection as not to think wisely.
John repeated her words, "Lonely and sad." He had been humorously sure of
his prey, but the words she used had the effect of bringing into direct
speech the appeal she had been trying to evade and knew was near at hand.
He stood leaning against the mantel, his crippled arm caught in his
waistcoat. Repeating her word "lonesome" "more than merely alone"--he
put aside his pipe, the companion of many camp-fires. His moment of
after-silence caused the blue eyes to question timidly with upward glance
as their owner sat below him. He was very grave as he said, "I have come,
Leila, to a critical time in my life. I loved you in a boy's unmeaning
way; I loved you as a lad and a man. I have said so often in one way or
another.
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