ur-leaf clovers grow.

A LEAP IN THE DARK

BY JAMES T. MCKAY,

Author of "Stella Grayland," "Larcone's Little Chap," and other stories.

The Windhams and Mandisons were old neighbors, and Phil Windham had
always been very much at home among the Mandisons, and especially with
Mary, the oldest daughter, who was like a wise, kind sister to him. Now
his own house began to break up--his brothers went West; his sisters
married; his father, who was a chemist and inventor, was killed one day
by an explosion. In these trying times the Mandison household was his
chief resource, and Mary most of all.

Then the Mandisons moved away. That seemed to Windham like the end of
things. He was awfully lonely, and thought a great deal about Mary in
the months that followed, but was not quite sure of himself; though he
was certain there was no one else he liked and admired half so much. But
in the following winter he went to spend the holidays with the
Mandisons, and when he came away he and Mary were engaged.

The next summer the Mandisons took a cottage at the shore, and Windham
went to spend some weeks with them. Idly busy and calmly happy in the
pleasant company of Mary and all the friendly house, the sunny days
slipped by till one came that disturbed his dream. An aunt of Mary's
arrived with her husband, Dr. Saxon, and his niece, Agnes Maine. At the
first glance Miss Maine challenged Windham's attention. She was a tall
and striking person, with a keen glance that he felt took his measure at
the first look. She piqued his curiosity, and interested him more and
more.

One day he saw her and Mary together, and caught himself comparing them,
not in Mary's favor. Panic seized him, and he turned his back on Miss
Maine and devoted himself to Mary. Miss Maine went to stay with some
neighbors, the Colemans. One night she was caught at the Mandisons by a
storm. Mary asked Windham to entertain her, and he went and asked her to
play chess. She declined coldly, and Windham turned away with such a
look that Mary wondered what Agnes could have said so unkind. And the
next day Miss Maine spoke so gently to him that it warmed him all
through. Still he persistently avoided her.

The Colemans got up a play in the attic of their large old house. On the
night of the performance the place was crowded. The first two acts went
off smoothly.

Windham had been helping to shift the scenes, and was standing alone,
looking over the animated spect