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The Brussels Post, 1889-5-31, Page 66 THE BECTOWS 1)A11GHITER« t 'tette] fag• Vales, .JJI 172:1:a'r. J.'S JJOTipsoVti HxR,Tx x1A 4or , Little Lord .Merunflerny, `Iddith r. Jt er71ut," "That Law: o J')undes,''Through Our .2,tnitnistrottea, .F lc_ Jar, %the i....•tot was. .ten absent, anti, ;is time or no uompuny 'mum to the house, Marjory and her ;smug cntup:ettine lived their live, almost eke ogress and fairy princess. But, after this second visit of Lord Strathspey's a gradual change came about, In the course of a few weeks, hardly a day passed with- out the tall, grin -dui ngguure lounging up the geavel.walk, itis handsome, careless face always touched with 0 sort of amused ad - minutia's of the glove childish eyes and gen. tle voice. Ile calci on tlto reefer to discuss the improvement's he was making on the church ; Ile called in Prue to eek advice ; he called to talk to her about Jamie Macdonnei, with whom he had amok up a eort of friend - :ship ; and last, but b • no means least, ho called to what t i w' a} • a the hours, which now and then hung heavily at Coonmbe-Ashley. Why tat? The innocent little creature touched and amused him with her faithful oonscientiousneee, and truth to tell, some- times thrilled hint not a little with her un- conscious gravity and tender words. He brought her fruits and fiowers, too, sone- times•---1tot-hotsc;.rapes and nectarines, and ilougttets of hot -house flowers ; and when she tbauked him, he would laugh in his care- less fashion, at her pretty gratitude. Don't thank hie," he would say, with a sort of indolent enjoyment of her. 'Thank Lady Strathspey --her hot -house furnishes then;, stotutine, Mise Prue." Bet once h e add- edsuddenly, "No ; thankmo. I belhevel must claim your thanks after all, even if I don't deserve them. They are so sweet to ma." And Prue stopped, with a swift beat of her Widish heart, and looked up at him grave- ly, and then looked down, the soft color creeping upward, oven to the folds of her broivt hair. No one ever uta tzed such words to her be. €iso ; no one had ever smiled down into her eyes with the tenderness which touched thio 'lair, handsome fare, and she remembered the words, and dreamed over then with a childlike thrill of happy wonder at their 'meaning. It never occurred to her that -they were careless words, carelessly utter. ed. Strathspey had smiled to himself, in his amusement at her blush and gravity. As I said at first, he allowed himself to be pleas- ed, and the poor, ignorant child wua pleasing him. He never paused to think where he Was leading her to, he never asked himself what the result would be. It was enough that the days were dull ab the Coombe, and that the rector's daughter made then pass less heavily. The little innocent 1" he said to himself, .as he sauntered home that evening. "How sweet she looked 1 How sweet she is really 1 She almost looked as if she believed me. I wonder if she did But she had believed him seriously and tenderly enough. Now could the poor, ear- nest, coisciontious, truth -telling child do otherwise, Her old pleasure in his kind- ness was growing slowly into something newer and deeper. She never tried to fa- thom rt—she was not eremite enough for that; she only thrilled, anti glr,nred, and dreamed, as if she had been t,. very child, reading a strange story, dwelling • u every word, and forgetting that an end iuuet come. Her ten -tale face, with its bind/ and droop- ing eyes, brought him again and again. A girl of seventeen, who was so thoroughly un- read in worldliness as this young creature, was a novelty to him, even though he had seen women, of all countrie • and cadet*. • litergrave,softly-spoken " M lord " ave My , g Lim a vaguethrill of • r time pleasure it was uttered, it sounded so like t the sweat speech of a child. In time, the people who knew them began to watch for the two figures passing together, the handsome head bend- ing low over the little straw hat as they walked, for it rarely happened that she went out without meeting tum somewhere or other. Sometimes it was upon the moor, with his rifle in bis hand, and itis game -bag .slung over his shoulder ; sometimes it was sauntering through the lanes, with a rather bored c:cpression en his face, end something like a wearied frown knitting his white fore- head ; but wherever he was, or however in- tense the boredom ht.d been, he never failed to brighten when he spoke to her, Some. times he walked on a little by he• side, talk- ing graceful nonsense to her and watohing her bright, serious little face. It was so easy to talk graceful nonsense to bar, and so easy to bring that grave, shy silence upon , her, which amused, oven while it touched • him. Her vary simplicity of belief was her great charm for him. It was such a refresh- ! tug, curious thing to see her droop her brown ` ;eyes over the old platitudes whiuh other I women would hare laughed at, for the rea- son that they bed beard them a hundred times before. But Prue had not heard them ! a hundred times before—she had not even j heard them once. She had read of such: things, perhaps, in the one or two quaint novels else had met with in her father's li- brary, and the men who said them had eI- w.ayb been terribly in earnest in their love- . making. How, T ask, could she be anything i but sweetly serious when this hero of hers, who was,in t r eyes,the most ma +fie t of createbeings, tol her that his heig piett hours were spent at her side, and that she Il"elpod him from the boredom of Coombe • - ,.Ashley when nothing else could? So it w9nb on, and oho listened and believed, and wandered that her romantic happiness was not a dream ; and looking tip at him and sexing with her own truthful, ignorant eyes, , saw no further than the careless, milling lips and grateful speeches. Her father, full of his labors and blindhy unconsoioee, only I sew that her sweet face was growing sweet.' er, the soft voice softer, and the gentle, ten- der ways more winning every day, and so was content in her happiness. She never xdturned after an absence, without stopping ' tin his room for a few minutes ; but thinirin of her only as rho "bairn" he had cherished i in his sad heart and carried in his ems, rt mover struck hitt as singular that she rarely j .name in without mentioning his patron's mama. "1 eaw Lord Strathspey, papa clear," ! !she weird say. "He was atDonaldRoss's," ' Or sometimes, "Who do yeti suppose /met on the Brae? His lordship ; anti he told me ! to tell you that ho world call to see you to- I elighb about the church, if you were at liber- Now and then, instead of bringing his &were himself, SirathepeyRent theni by one of the servants of the Coombe, and in that cake there was always a graceful menage or a dashing note, stamped with his ended a ,,ggrray falcon, and signed, "Your friend, Strethopoy.' And on one of thane oa eeeiehe, the rooter looked up from his amend' after the door had ctoseth upon the messettger, to moo Prue standing at the window with the gravest, of young ft. ''a the flowers in one ancj, tho ono note in • iso other.. • a1 mit is it, boy oann • as ,st,.•a. She turned with alittle -t.ut,not coloring, only honking a simile more thoughtful than was even usual with her. •' 1 was ouly ti;iuhingsite said. "Of eihatY' he asked again, A lingo of voloe toss into her cheeks then. " I hardly know, papa," elle said softly. Perhaps it was the only time she had can. sealed anything from bun in all her life ; nay, 1 ant sure it Was, but it was not an easy, in her girlish ignorance and uncertainty, to tell hint that she was dreaming over the note she held iu her hand. " Coombe -Ashley is boring tau again, Miss Prue," her hero said, " So I send you a bou- quet, as s herald of my intention to throw myself on your mercy for the hundredth time. I wonder if you care enough for me to wear a cluster of these white fuchsias in your hair to -night, 's' Sraa'rnsnasr." Site put the flowers into her prettiest vase, with the tender silence upon her. It was too much for her, poor child, this careless " I wonder if you caro for me enough," over which --if she had only known tho truth -- the writer had smiled at his indolent fancy of how tite_little thing would drop her shin- ing eyes over it, and flash iu her lovable, half -frightened it ened way. g She dreamed of it all through the day, and when night came, she ;vent up to her room to dress, and when she had finished, looked at herself in the glass as she had never look. ed at hesrelf before. The new dress had cone in its good time; but It was net a very grand one, though really the brightest site had ever worn, being a gay little tartan plaid, almost coquettish in its brilliancy of color. It was wonderfully be,oining too— ' the vary contrast necessary to her brown eyes and snowy skin; and the isnot of scar- , let ribbon in her hair was almost artistic. It was not mucic of a toilet, after all ; bus when after fastening the drooping white fuchsias in the ribbon, she stepped back from the mirror to look at herself, I think it quite probable that there was not a woman in the land who mighb not have envied the pure, sweet, dark -eyed face of the rector's little daughter, bi hen Strathspey came, the parlor was bright with fire and lamp -light, and in the rector's chair the slender young figure wett- ed patiently. Such a face as at was which turned towards lnim—softly bright—capes. tent ; everything yet still sobered, as it al- ways was, with that touch of innocent ggra- vity and reserve which always seemed like an unconscious shadow of her father's deeper reticence. "Papa was obliged to go out," elle began, with a faint little effort 'at self-possession. " He was very sorry, and he totd ane to apo- logize to you. ' And there she stopped, for the handsome eyes were smiling her down with their glow of tender pleasure. Inwardly, Strathspey was rejoicing in the absence which Prue had thought required an apology. The bright room and the soft voce, would be more enjoyable without the grave face looking on. Ho took his seat near her, with a certain sense of novel en- joyment of Itis position. He wanted to talk to her, to ylea, her, and make her show her pleasure in her simple way ; he wanted to see the big, dark la own eyes till with that fluttered, toutler timoraasm;ea, and he ad- dressed himself w,11 to his work. It was so easy to please her, poor little thing, and it was so easy to make himself a hero and a demi-god hi her ignorant eyes ; and, besides, her grace, believing ignorance wee sufficient- ly refreshing to him to bit row a novel grace into his manner of describing old scenes, which, i,nt for this sense of their being so new to her, would have been worn out r,nd threadbare. Ile did not speak of the flowers at first ; Ina it was not very long, before rising, from his seat to get a book from a side.table, he estopped near her chair, and touched tate white cluster with his hand. • Diyou Didwear them incense I astir. e asked t 9" to flu in , lin said. Sho did not blush as be had eepected she would ; nay, Let' face was almnai; pule, he fancied, and she did not look up at Min even child. —Duly aiewerud lowly and softly like a ' }'es, my lord." Ho went back to his Beat smiling. Had Lady Strathspey been right, in saying that he must nob talk nonsense to her. W1 -hat would her ladyshipp say if she heard his pretty speeches' For a moment he was not quite contfortalde, through 0 vague fooling, perhaps this innocent a ottenent of bit, was not so innocent after all. Still, there are fees men who would ha e 1 ttutl it easy to resist the temptation, end strathspey was not ono of them. The faint impression was as soon dead as born, and, the next moment, he was smiling at her blushes again, rind making fresh speeches, marc gallant and enrolees than he had ever uttered before, He paused at the door, as he bade her good-ntght ; and, as she waited in hoe shy, silent way or him to relieve the fingers he held, her ftp-raisod speochful eyes tempted him once Mara, Such a soft, slender little hand as it was to hold—such a,soft, slender, fair little hand 1 " Is there a spell upon the room, that I neve' want to leave it," he said, half -jest- ingly, half•tenderly, " or is it that you al- ways make hoe so happy ?" And then with hie good -night, ha raised the fair, little hand to lies lips, and kissed it, CMMAYS.= v. Agrave face old arj or s, at the beet of times—elle s agrave ' aface ; but the thea h came when its grvity was deper than ever, and whets even its many linea and furrows were deeper too. Women are quicker than men in the instinct of seeing danger ahead, particularly when the danger to one of themselves ; and, in the auto of her young nurseling, Marjory had been quicker to 000 the dangerous truth than her master had, dear as this one ewe lamb was to hien in his lonely, laboring life. As the weeks follow- ed one another, and the winter grew older, Prue's Tato had been weaving 'itself out. ! The unceremonious evening visite, the chance ' meetings, the graceful idle speeches, could 1 not be without a result, and tieirresult was , just a 'natural ono. What hath boon easy at; first became easier as time passed on ; for she {sad learned to love this Wan, through ' her vary belief in him. The hours were searcoly long enough to dream bar innocent day -dreams in, the undefined yet iutonse. happiness; filled her from morning till night; the old, quiet life returned to her mina as smoothing boat for ever, something over whiuh a great change had come, something to which she could never go back, With Strathspey it had boon nothing more than drifting on, day by day. It had boon e pleasanter winter than he had expeated, or his rector's deuglrter had trade ft so, Cir. eumstaucs•s had thrown trim in lterway, and circumstances had given her n charm for him, and he was a man whom circumstances governed completely ; sa it was that the spirit of the hour ruled him, and no day passed without ROOM new move being made in the old, gragoftti, iutdolent, careless game. Bid, whoever else was blind, Marjory was not, ;the hnd seen this old model Caine THE BRUSSELS .i -'OST • MAY 31, 1880. tr-r :., vie Ir niS vinanter ls'wAMMAnt r'w u$!TAInt , ..:twYLv t„ul;en t eters', ane ns t•natng naa noel) One dnngnter. lady strathspey atone women whiolt thlh•ti dei•'unmet old Puritan ht•u4, Ssv..been toe omits for Lim 1t s.•pt' a ills. lie with lmrror._ not that the over dreeined of sides, how would the little erect arc took in sn'•1s an ending to leer itnrdhs 'tt story ; but London, among ?semen tete w•s eel envy her " 1he it u n is int a l ot.i.rn alit a'," she :'nisi for her beauty, and sineasst laser humthty. to herself s:+dike, " 1 cetnia tt u, by and Poor, little, itruws-eyed l't u'. , elt t..,, afraid flee her ;'ran,, .1, of Lady Shad!witty, who c ut ' r.a, Iona It wottkl hast• L.'c'u ,t bard matter to speak to her than to any living bring and hnw to the "bairn bereelf ; ay, holt eceilil Y would she Ito tilde to meet the sneers nett The sweet, serums face was so ttaulerly patronage whisk elle would halo to esseouts- bright, in these daye ; the Lrowtt eyes were ter, ea the inferior party, in nmsallinncs, so tall e.1 a new belief and happiness. It in society, to which she was only admitted sera" ft as thnngh a new life hod come to on sufferance. Even hie idle day -dream I her. flow entail she demi it with such a nevereudedwithoutBuell addnticnaltlunuglits n.uniss,5 as these; tad yet he moil nut quite make " I a:mna do it," the fsaithfuiold creature up his mind to flee the temptation. Sts the raid to ],crself, after many sail hours of pom spring came, rand he still lingered ; one day daring. " 1 valuta do it; niy'sel', so I mann half hnlinetl to bring his trilling to ata end, e'en .speak to the t•ecLtsy" the next half touched by tea indolent regret '<•, 11 was that, watuheg her olpo• rani y, thatat his fate had not been it different dna, or rhe came into her dna-tor'% study one even- that he imd not been more. chary, Some wlscn he was elope, and broached the faint twinges of conscience struck hits now subjes't to him, with much faltering and and then, when the shadow of the peshhle grief. result passed through his mind. 1t could She's no a bairn any fanger, nester," not last for ever, and an end must come, elle ended smiling s i s'ntvfially. "Canna ye in the natural course of oveute. I wonder if sec that this craw young laird Itis stepped in it is possible, that but for the i'.l t rpeeition between us ?" of a cooler hand, this quiet story of mina A strong, sudden pang cane upon Iter Wright ever have ended as happily na other ;taste', and he listened, He Int never Merles leave done; if it is possible that the dreamed of this before, and here ha had tender girlish hare would ever have wrought awaken?,i frim Ills fancied ero,•urity, to hind upon hien, an as to crouse his stronger nature that hie child was his no longer. Child ! to its best. (Let ns, at least, give each Nay, this faithful, ignorant woman, who other comfort of believing, that even in the had been quicken' -sighted than he, for all weakest of us there is a "best.") It might his lore, Lail been right in saying that their have proved so ; but it was not to he. The simple life was fated to hold its quiet ire. gedy, and it worked itself out, "I cannot let you talk nonsense to rho little creature,' Lady Strathspey had said at first ; but when, 1n the course of time, she found that her warning hail been die. regarded, and that the wrong was done, her slight feeling of annoyance became some. thing very much stronger. This would never do, she decided, in some matronly trepidation. Men have been led into more absurd things than over this Haight prove, she told herself, us the result of propinquity and country visits. This little daughter of the rector's was a sweet, lady -like creature, and, if no one interfered, Angus might carry his amusements too far, and do some- thing absurd arid romantic. Site was too thoroughly a highbred women, and—let me add—too thoroughly a diplomatist, to let her anxiety and annoyance reveal them- selves to either of their objects; on the eon- trary, she extended her really good-natured g g condescension to the Ronfrswamore cordial- ly than aver. She talkod to Prue about her pensioners as unceremoniously as her nater. al stateliness of manner would permit ; the called at the rectory once or twice, and never failed' to send some graeafni message of re- membrance, through the rector, toles daugh- ter ; but, in the meantime, she did not for. get that she had rather a diliimslt and deli- cato matter to dispose of. Strathspey returned to the Coombe ono evening, 'after a few' lout's' absence, to find ler' ladyship seated at her deals, writinga lottery Ito was not in the most cheerful of humors, and he Seat'ce''y remarked it at first; but, after a few moments' eilme'e, she raised her head. "I am writing fo':;wen,e,li. ' i�rasnley, Angus," she said. "I believer 1 forgot to mention to you that 1 rce'cavetl a letter from her yesterday, in whiuh she speaks of coming to Coombe -Ashley, here It is--• read it." taint hat, Lamont° a woman. .She i. only seventeen," he said, with a new reuarrencu of the widen pain. " And yet-- Hew blind I is. ye been. Poor bairn ! prior 11511, frac ' 11 ss'iery- wont. back to her kitchen, she hearer Ler master's feet, in his room above, pacing slowly and heavily to and fro. She heard then for two long lours, never resting for a moment, only treading back- ward and forward in dull monotony. When his pretty young wife lay dead in her cham- ber, Marjory remembered that she had beard his slow feet through the whole of the dreary winter's day, and remembered, too, how the had hushed the little brown -eyed baby closer to her breast, weeping silent, heavy tears over the sad echo. Perhaps, as he pondered over the grave truth to which he had newly awakened, a sorrowful memory of his child's dead coag mother shirred u is heart, y o t t p h at t, and his old sorrow for the lonely life his little help- meet had led grew stronger as he thought of the difference a mother's care would have made. When Prue returned, after her absence, it was nhanat dark, and, going up.stairs, the opened the study -door, to find. her bathe, sitting in his chair, by the dull embers, rest- ing his head upon his hand. Something in his face struck her sadly, and, with a little pang of affectionate self-roproaeh, she went and knelt beside him upon the hearth. lint it was not so easy to talk nosy es it used to ba, and, besides, she felt half sad herself tuts evening. She scarcely knew why, sometimes such sadness came upon hi/t— hrill-tenderness, half pain ; but the time had not come yet when she could ask her- self its meaning. " I have been to the church, papa," she began to tell him. " It is getting along beautifully. It will be completed by Christ. mos, Lord Strathspey says." " Was Lord Strathspey with you this evening, Prue?" he asked, gently. She did not look up at him, and the. red blood mounted to bar cheeks, as she answer- ed softly, playing with her gloves, • "Yes, papa," For his quiet voice held just the thoughtful sadness of his face. He laid his hand upon the pretty brown hair with a gentle touch—a touch as gentle as ler dead mother's could have beau, and, at last, as if unconsciously, bo drew her hoed to its old childish resting -place upon hie knee. "He has been withou ver often of lets has he not?" he questioned, -'Prue," with the sane thoughtful sadaasa in his tore, "is this grand young laird coming between my bairn', heart and mine?" "0h, papa I" she faltered. "Oh, papa 1" and broke down into a goer of tender, in- nocent tears. There was a long silence then, and the poor child knelt with hidden face, tromulons, r'ar'zowful, happy. 1'Ioty could he s1!fnak, and had aentiinontalizod over them t. W;; tat }As cad :taro': How occi.el he omit pretty, girlish way. her fresh young dreams, by tolling her that It was a very charming letter; graceful, the ethanes were against her, and that if full of protty phrases, and nice little turns might be that a realization would never come; ofspeech ;lady-lnke,elegant—all that could that there was scarcely a hope that a realiz- be desired, and withal, tinged with a little anion would come to a dream so romantic as spirit of delicate .,,tire, which gavo it a hers. The warning had comp too late, piquant sort of flavor. Man as he was, he mw that, and, in his I am weary of amusing stupid people, groat extremity, he could only stroke the end being stupidly :amused, dear Lady bent, girlish head, with at stronger sense of SLeutltepoy," she wrote, " and I holleve that pain. There was nothing more to be said. a visit to Coombe -Ashley would be a means The wrong was done already, anti, through of recruiting me for next season's exertions. his very, tenderness for her trusting love, Even debutantes arc allowed a few weeks' he could only bids his doubts, and hope for rest from their difficult labor of charming the best, and being charmed, arid I am not n debutante, Ho tried testallt:deetrfuhly to her during you know. Pray do be good enough to in- tim remaind or of the- evening ; but it was vite the to spend amoetn among the baroken only the shadow of.cheei'fuhness; and when with you." he bade her good -night, ho hold her in his "I am writing to repeat my old invite - arms for a moment, with a tremor on his tion," said her ladyship, carelessly, as square mouth, which was strangely unlike Strathspey returnedthe missive to her. "I Ins usual reticent aelf•cehtroh. shall be very much pleased to son her, She "Don't lot us forget to trust each other, is a very oharming girl, I believe, thought I Prue," he said. '.Don't let this strange only remember her as a child." lover make us forget what have been to each Nothing more was said at the time, She outer all osir two lives.' finished her latter, and the next dap it was When Marjory came to bring his bed- on its way to England ; but regarded, es a room candle tohi he h gone back d i m had o b c to stroke of diplomacy, the double sheet of his place at the fire, and was seated just as cream•coloiied p per, with its soft fragrance Prue bad found him. of wood -violets had, beena success. For a Sho came to his side holding the candle moment it had blotted out the innocent face in her hand, and witis her usual quaint and tender oyes, the winter evenings spent freedom and sympathy, spoke to ham at in the rectory parlor were forgotten, the once, rector's daughter was a myth,, and Strath. "C an it be helped, master?" she asked. spy had gone back to the tune when ho He ruined his head with a faint ensile— ' sauntered on the shores of Lake Geneva, ouch a mournful host of a smile, talking graceful nonsense to ;wendoli ne "No, Marjory," be mid, "Our bairn fa Tramloy, and carrying her dainty parasol. mire no longer. We were too late." � But still tho impression was not strong The winter ended as it had begun; the enough to destroy the older fancy completely, purple heath began to bloom upon the braes, and in the coffees' of a few days, iso was at and Strathspey was still at Coombe.Ashley. ; the rectory again, The quiet life among the quiet people had actually begun to have a sort of negative ODUAWrstt VY, attraction for him ; and, perhaps, oho quiet " We taro going to have a visitor at the little figura, which set in the groat roatbry. Coombe," he said to Prue, daring the even. VOW on Sundays, held a sort of attraction i ing. "You must aomo and see her, Miss for him too. The sweet young 'face with I Prue. Sino Is a belle and a beauty • as great its belief asi trustfulness, was not a 'face, io n belle as any of the heroine," of the stories tiro a man soon, and, in aomo sort, it held 1 tell you sometimes. I dare so,y oho has him ea tive. Sometimes, in an idle wn,, i even been peeeentod at court " with a light ' And she handed him a doable shoot of thick cream -colored paper, crossed and re• perfumed faintly with wood-viodote, and atanped with a pretty monogram. Strathspey opened it with a slightly heightened color. He remembered the young lady, well, as a superb, fair girl, with whom ho had spent the pleasantest month of his life one summer a few yew, before, when he bad chancocl to sleet her party at a wonderful little, many -balconied ( hotel, on the shores 1 ores of Lake c •a t uct She was wt a beautiful f u young creature,rho hallo of ler first season then us she had Scan the belle of the two seasons sung•; and, in spite of bis claim of a distant relationship, Strath- spey had only been ono of a dozen others who were ready to fall at her dainty feet and worship. Still he could not help feeling a slight thrill, aa the faint odor of wood - violets floated tip to hint, far be rent.. ' 'ted she had been very fond of wood-t•ie 1 crossed with dehicate, owing chirography, he hal even anusrd himself by fansy- taugh, "ancl broken as Many !Marta as there Mg flow it would lank at the stately old are Uuttons on thryt pretty dross of yours." Coombe, and had pictured to himeolf tiro The brown oyes softened into that saber I awoc6, startiod happiness, which would leap , gravity whhoh was so quaintly natural of 1 into the brawn oyes, if he made his oar: demi them, hove.making a truth, and told her their it ' "? tbiuk I should bo fenid of ]torid was so. Not that it had over bean anything a Pruo, staidly. "I am nob aeoastosne' dr to more than an idle, wltilnsieae daydream, grand people, and 1 am always afraid of this fancy of his, it valid have needed 1 them." more aural courage than ever Lord Strath- "So urn I," said Strathspey, laughing 1 (spay ]tad possessed, to have faced but such ' again., "It is quite natural, lass. Prue." a proceeding with the world ---his world, a It was a lovely evening, To this poor, 1 which was a world not nosy to fano, my ignorant ahfici it was the loveliest olio had reader, tater committing a romantic alma. ever known ,'certainly it was the. last in dity. What would Lady Strathspey have which ang'ex orieneed unalloyed happiness. staid,. if the had amsouncod lie intention : of She sat itt a tory baokot-ohahr before alto open r,udinf lthscareer l v inarrvieg ids rector's . 1 i. l` 1 6 t- e. wtrir nut, t e MOP; sit) streammna in .uiOu. tier wane areas anti tint' race --a rate 00 Very fair and para coot 'toted in the myetie light with her great soft eyes, that watehhog her, Sts'alhap„y forgot himself, forgot the world, lnrgot even Gwendoline I'rantley, imd spoke • 1.n her ae men will often speak under fisc itt- ilucttre of it fair faro end a sweet voice. Sho lielened to hint with a wild thrill of happiness, her great, innocent oyes lifted up to his, as ]se loaned twainat the window, and laokeil down at her, more perfect and glorh. cos, she thought, that he had ever seemed helmet .Chelook.t1 -e -e' d to nothing—the future was nothing; it was quite enough to sit in the moonlight, aiel thn'iliat every word he ttttered. `i'lere uses a hos of mignonette Ott the wiudnw-till, and its ire w'ns going away, he beth and broke to spray from it, "Do you know what it meant?" ho naked. He had just bidden her good -night then, and she was standing at his side, a quiet little ghost of a white -rubel figure, with a fair', Nh,c,i"iotitnug tfutasc ,aetots voice n ns verad It moans 'mynah' darling,'" he said softly, "Stay; let ase fasten it in that rib- bon at your throat." He bent to severe it, and she raised her face a little—the fair girl's face, tender, In. noeont, truthful; and as the meonshinu foil upon its pure gravity, it thrilled hint so that everything else was lost to him. He stooped a shade lower ; aha big, geldon tmtstache brushed her lips -..he bud hissed her once, twice, thrice. "Forgive ane, Little Puritan liege]," Ise whispered ; " your sweet oyes were too much for mi., flood -night." And in a minute more Site was standing ' alone, watching his tall, slender form, as he Mantle down tho road, her heart heating in groat slow throbs of tremulous happiness and pan. She carried her mignonette upstairs to the little white had -room, and laid it be. tween the leaves of her Bible, as if it had been some sacred thing, and then she knelt down in the moonlight, and prayed a ten- der, girl -like prayer. There was no single doubt or fear to her pure trustfulness. His sudden, tender kisses could moan only one thing to this young creature, with her quiet life—he loved her—he loved her I As to Strathspey, he wort hone with a alight sense of discomfort upon him. Possi- bly he had made a fool of hunself, he began to think, after a few minutes' deliberation; The temptation had been a great ono; but, perhaps, after all, it had been rather an in- discrceb thing to give way to it. He was not an absolute villain, of course; and the idea thee ha had probably gond somewhat too far had made him feel slightly uncom- fortable. It was not an impression likely to last long, but still it was there for the time being. Once or twice during his acquaintance with Isis rector's daughter, he had actually found him=self almost unwisely in earnest ; and that Ito had born unwisely in earnest to- night, cool reflection slu,we,l hint. A vision of Lady Strathspey rose in his mind, and then—shall I acknowledge it—casae to ro- tnon,bcranee of ale creast -colored letter, with its odor of wood -violets. It was odd stow, as this recollection became stronger, his thoughte veered end faltered. Perhaps a few minutes before he had bean nearer rho dangerous weakness of doing eonsotliug ab- surd and rsmmntic, as Ledy Strathspey pub it, than he had ever been before ; but the memory- of the odor of woad -violets brow ht him bask to the world of realities. This lit tie creature, with her gentle Puritan ways, was not the woman to be Lady Iitrathspey, fair and pure as she might ba ; but llwendo. lire F amley was another eraon. " I nm It oa gtanu p.opto,` l'i'ne ll Mt sato. Gw•ondoline would levo "cut" the Dowager Duchess of ]/uceieugit herself, if she had deencdn necessary, cc Baty, as calmly as the meld have ignored Mrs. John Smith t a charityball. 1 ho windows of the Coombe ware brightly lighted, he saw, on reaching Vito lodge - gates, and, on entering the house, he suddenly remembered that his mother had told him telt her guest would bo likely to arrive at a late hour. It was quite possible that she had arrived a day or so teatime than anticipated. Ho crossed tho hall with a quick senna of expcetatioe, and opened the door. VCR, alio had collie. She wits standing near a table, turning over a iwrtifolio of en- gravings, the light shining upon her hand and delicate profile, even ':hc simple posture which she had fallen into showing the perfection of tlmrcoolt-bred grace, front the turn of sloping shunldors to the sweep of her light dress. dha had been bcaitiful as a girl of seven- teen, ho remembered ; but at twenty, her beauty had moro that fultillos its promise. Her delicate faco had more repose; every feature was as clear cub as a cameo ; her bluo-gray, velvet' eyes, antler their thick lashes, had that almost translucent darkness which no other eyes ever have, She looked up as he approached, unear- t".4t1 a 1:eti;cnt, ane' titer: San ,'rata lighted as only a pretty, graceful girl's can, "I don't think it would be easy for tie to have forgotten each ;other," she said, an- swering his welcome, by giving hint her slender hand. "Tlhat month on Lake Gene- va would be hard to forget" It was nothing more than a graceful, idle, girlish speech ; tint the translucent eyes, and t atriei nt facet d a it r 7n he t nod worth the roman). P boring, Gwondolino Pramley belonged to this world of his, which he feared so much, and probably, the first sound of her clear, nutmeat, thorough -bred voice, staled the fate of the rector's daughter. He did nob enlist too P.enfrows again that week, As Lady Strathspey had oxpeoted, Gwendolino Frawley filled Iris limo, and, fn a oortein graceful holtiotn, held ]nim at her side. Time did not hang so heavily at the Combbe, after icor arrival, he found, A morning apentin the great parlor, with the windows thrown open, tho loreeze from tho sea coning over the hills fresh with an add- ed eoentof heather, and tiro fair face bend+ ing over some pretty work, as he roach aloudy wee nob so wearing after all. Gwen- donne was possessed of the wonderful gift of Witching well—pos bly it had been a part of her young,ladyll to training ; but however that was, she eartamb> acquired the art tt perfection, Sho never spoke at he wrong time, never made remarks unadvisedly, al- ways looked interested, never indii%rent liar interest was a graceful, wolh-trainod, wodlmultivatod interest, mud ever when as• snsmod, as in the course of her experience) had frequently been unavoidable, it had never botei yed Hoff. Sinop she hast been "out' elle had listened to mon who had bored icor, and thou who bored themselves ; bet taloho:dalways Retailed well; and now that she lied encountered it man who was in no danger of proving tedious, she wasuatur. ally very charming. Strathspey found her so in more ways that ono. Even the perfect, elaborate toilets, whieh appeared 00 adafdted- ly at all Ulnas, with their flowerlike fAsh- nese, were an additional therm to him. 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