The Wingham Times, 1885-08-28, Page 3I'll Tell You Your Fortune, Pretty Maid.
"1'i1 tell you 'your fortune,' pretty maid i"
';yqu may, if you tell iA true,"
"Well; ',can see that•yor{"lova right well
A'lad In eailor'e blue.
A sailor lad with a bright blaok eye,
And a heart both kind and strong."
"Nay, gossip," she said, with p merry laugh;
"You never were further wrong,
"The lad I love has A bright blue eye ;.
A better lad never was born
Be isn't to match behind a plow hl
Nor yet in the hay or corn.
He never was in a tossing ebip ;
He never was near the era ;
Hie home, it stands in a fleld of wheat,
And under an apple tree,"
"A farmer boy ! And you lova him well?
.Ah, that le a better fate.
Just °roes my hand, and oil tell you, child,
How long you will have to wait
Ere you shall emile at the wedding ring,
And the bridal morn shall see,
And go to the home In the wheat field
Set under the apple tree.
"It is not long, if the stars speak true -
And when do they speak in vain 1—
You will marry the farmer ooy you love
When tho Summer comes again"
Then merrily rang a mocking laugh-..
' • Ab, gossip, how little you know l
For my farmer boy and I were wed
A year and a halt ago l
"'Whatever of good may come to us,
Whatever grief or ill,
+Comes not from any planet or star—
It comes from ourFather'e will.
The Joy or sorrow of the future years
No mortal could ever show;
He knoweth the way that we shall take,
And that is enough to know."
STORM AND SUNSHIME.
' CHAPTER IV.-(CONTINIIED.)
Late on the following afternoon I am rac-
ingthrough the fields as fast as my limbs can
carry me, my hat in my hand, the basket I
am supposed to be carrying to old Mollie a
.quarter of a mile behind me, stuck into the
hedge near her cottage, aflush of haste and
pleasurable excitement burning in my
cheeks. I have only two hours to get to
the Vicarage and back again, and I have so
much to tell Judith 1 I shall not be able to
say half I want to say before I am obliged
to run home.
Fortunately I overtake her in the very
last field next to the road, on her way from
Mollie's cottage.
" My dear child, you have raced yourself
into a perfect fever 1" she exclaims the mo-
ment ehe looks at me. "Do put on your
hat and sit down for a minute or two ! You
will make yourself ill,"
"Oh, Judith, I have had such a delight-
ful time 1"
"I am glad to hear it. But do not try to
tell me while yon are out of breath,"
", And I missed you so much: Judith,•
the next time I goto Velfry you are to come
too."
" Who said so ?" she asks,- smiling incred-
ulously.
" Erroll •says .so, and I say so ; and we.
oan make Mrs. Rutherfurd do anything we
pleaae."
" Is it 'we' already 1" she says, pushing
the curls back from my hot forehead. `z .
" Oh, Judith, I like him so much, and he
likes me 1"
" If the first is true, the last is very fora
tunate."
"It is quite true. I liked him the very
first evening, and now—"
"Acid now?"'.Judith finishes, 'looking e.t
me.
" Now i love him. And, oh, Judith,„ it
has made me so happy 1 •I never knew
what it was to be really happy until now i"
She turns her head away. I fancy she
frowns a little. It is cruel of me to thrust
my joy upon her -she whose . love has not
been so fortunate as Mine.! „
"Judith, I have told you My secret, and
I think 1 can guess yours." '
She looks at me swiftly, the blood rushing
into her face. • •
" You care, for Ralph, don't you ?"„
" For -Ralph ?" she repeats monotonously.
"Erroll told ale. He guessed it long ago
-before he went to China."
"Erroll guessed it ?"
"Yes. And he thinks his mother guess-
* ed it too -that was why she did not ask you
to Velfry any mora."
" Erroll told you all this ?"
' " Yes. You do not mind me, Judith,
Erroll:would net havo said it to any one
else."
" I think he might have found something
better to say to you!" she exclaims, with a
bitter touch of soorn in look and voice. " To
go out of his way to tell you a thing like
that 1"
"He did not go out of Ms way. It was
partly to excuee his mother for not having
asked you there, I think,"
"Excused her? There was no excuse for
her 1 Why should we not like each other,
just as -as you and Erroll like eaoh other ?
Why should I have been turned out of the
house any more than you ?"
Her scorn frightens me -the flash of anger
in her great golden -brown eyes,
"I will tell you why," she goes on, with-
out giving time to answer, " Because you
are rich and I ant poor ; because you
have money and dress and jewels, and I have
nothing -not even enough to dress inyself
decently without patching and darning and
twisting old gowns till there is nothing left
of them to turn 1 If t had been an heiress
like you I ebould "not havo been put out of
Velfry. Oh, no! I should have been netted
andmade liiuoh •of, and 'nolle.; and parties
would have been given fpr fele, and expedi-
tions organized; in whioh I Was al,Ways put
to walk and row and dance, and play tennis
with the son of the house, But I am a no-
body, and yon* you are Mies Warburton,
,an heiress 1 gust a good, pious, high -prin-
cipled woman like Mrs. Rutherford "to And
out the difference between us,"
"But you are not angry with me, Judith?"
"Angry with you, you poor little thing?
No. But I am angry with them, and -and
with myself."
" You hays no reasen, to be angry with
yourself.' f'f they'ere an blind—"
" They don't know hoiV blind they are I"
she laughs quite heartily-Jadith'e moods
are as changeable as the wind, "I will out
wit them yet, poor and obscure as I am ; I
will teaoh Mrs. Rutherford that .even a
worm will turn when it is trodden upon."
"Bdt,'Judith, she never said a word
against you. She as much as said, this
morning at breakfast when I mentioned
your name, that she was sorry any stop had
been put to the old intercourse. And she
said to me afterwards that the fact was she
had always thought you too pretty and
attractive to have you much at Velfry, as
Erroll had absolutely nothing -at present;
and marriage with a girl equally poor would
aiinply have ruined him."
"Must every girl who sees her sons fall
in love with them?"
" I suppose.she thinks so, But I think
she was more afraid of their falling in love
with you."
" Ralph has money enough to marry a
beggar girl, if he pleased."
"She did not' mention. Ralph's name, She
only seemed to, 'think of the danger to
Erroll."
" She only cares for Erroll. But she will
give her darling to you! If you were old and
ugly, she would give •him to you just the
same -she would encourage you to run
after him; she would force him to make
love to you. And all for the sake of a few
paltry thousands. Bah 1"
"Judith, you frighten me -you make me
miserable 1 Don't let us talk about her any
more," I sob, leaning my face down on her
shoulder.
"I am sure I do not want to -talk about
her. Tell me all about your visit, and how
much you enjoyed it. And what did she
say to your aunts when she brought you
back ?" • '
•" I don't know what she said," I smile
through my tears; "but I think it was
something they all liked. Tney think there
is nobody in the world like Mrs. Ruther-
ford."
Judith,'s. red,lip.ourls, but,she. does not in-
dulge in any more invective -she seems
anxious to make me forget the burst of pas-
sion whioh had so distressed and frightened
me by bestowing upon me an extra amount
of pettingv end smoothing the tangled curls
out ofmy eyes, kissing my tear -stained
'cheeks; blaming herself for having given
me such, a'reception'-I •:who had hurried
•over to sealer first of all,
"You poor little thing !" she says, with
an odd mixture of tenderness and something
:like cruelty which makes her so puzzling to
people who do not know her as well as I do.
"It:wen a shame not to have listened to your
love -story, wasn't it, and to have 'tried to
make you belieVe'that they only wanted
your money? But you love Erroll ; and,
if you thin/ heleven. yori, what are the odds,
Whether he 'does or not? Girls like you
never know. If a man tells you once he
loves you, you go on believing to the end
of the chapter -ay, and die happy in the
belief ! And Heayen knows you are more to
be envied ti amass mieeiable.'creatures who
want so muoh' more th'Lhvy8aare aver likely
to get l"
"Erroll loves me," I say simply. "He
would,,never have, kissednle as 'he did last
night, if he hadnot lo'edme more than any
one else in the world."
" Did he kiss you ?" she asks, but with-
out iboking at me. We are walking back
slowly through the fields towards Osier -
brook, my arm round. Judith's waist, her
hand on my shoulder -she is so much taller
. than I that w.e generally walk like this.
" Of course he did. Judith, will you tell
me one "thing ?'Do yon care as much for Mr.
Rutherfurd as I bare for Erroll ? I will never
tell any one -not even Erroll -if you will
Only whisper it tome."
"If I oared -for any one else, Lisle, I should
care more for them a million times than you
could ever pare. I am not made of such
slight elements as you are child -to love
any one with Inc means to love them with
every pulse of myheart, with every breath I
draw, so long as my life shall last,"
I love Erroll like that," I say, looking
up into her dark flushed face,
"I hope not."
Why do you hope not?"
"Beoanse it is not a happy thing to love
any ono like that, Such idolatry brings its
just paniehnient with it always, But I am
not unhappy about yeti, Lisle, You will
never love any one more than is good for
you,"
CHAPTER V,
"' Well, Judith, didn't I tell you I would
have you here? You Can't say Mre. Ruth-
erfurd isn't good-natured now 1"
She oan afford to have :mehere now
that Erroll is out of harm's reach," 'Judith
laughs;
She is standing before the glom' in her
room -we have both come over " by invi-
tation" to spend a couple of days at Velfry.
It was very kind of Mrs, Rutherfurd to
ask Judith just to please me, whioh I am
sure was her reawon, .,t,13o ,eeema to think
she can never do enough to make me happy.
I know she likes me for my own sake, not-
withstanding Judith's hateful insinuations.
But I am sure she will be glad if Erroll
and I marry each other, as I suppose we
shall some day. I know the dearest wish
of her heart is to see Erroll settle down in-
to a steady respectable member of society ;
and she has told me, smiling, that I shall
make ",a dear little wife."
"You look very well tonight, Judith,"
I say, watchingher as she puts the finishing
touch to her dress.
I thought I had looked very well myself
when I left my room a few minutes ago;
but my faith in my{own appearance Is just
a little shaken ast look at the tall slight
figure in the simple blank net dress, with
the square.out bodice and knots of gold-
ooloured ribbon, and the cluster of over-
blown faint Gioire de Dijon roses on her
shoulder.
Judith dresses in a bold picturesque style
which would not suit my little "figure and
childish face at all. She can wear more
effective bouquets; and larger hats, and
longer trains, and higher ruffles, and a ming-
ling of colors which my auntswould call
"audacious" and yet they always look well
upon her, though they would make a per-
fect fright of me. Her dress to -night is
quiet enough, and yet its effect is not quiet
as she comes into the drawing -room and is
introduced to Erroll by,hie mother as "your
old playmate," though I think they moat
have met before, forneither gives more than
a casual glance towards the other, and, a
moment later,Judith is talking to Mr. Ruth-
erfurd, whom she has of oourge been in the
habit of meeting at church on Sundays and
occasionally at other houses, since those
old days when he was a grown-up young
man and she a child who came to play with
hid little sister, and to tease his, younger
brother with threats of excluding him from
their girlish games.
Erroll of course takes possession of Ine,
and, though I cannot be blind to the fact
that Judith is athousand times more attract-
ive than I am, he at' all events does not
seem to see it as he leans over the back of
, my chair whispering tender speeches into
my silly delighted ears. He seems so glad to
have me bank again at ' Velfry, and I am so
glad to be back -the evening seems to fly past
as if it had wings.
Mrs. Rutherfurd is fond of music, and
Mr. RalphRutherfurd also seems to enjoy
it, though he generally listens from a chair
in some distant corner, and never either
thanks the performer or makes any com-
ment on the performance. Tonight Mise
Irvings singe and plays for hours with the
most indefatigable good nature, both Mrs.
Ratberfurd and Ralph listening with
thorough appreciation tb classical " arise
and "a/1.oras," which give Erroll an oppor-
tunity of whispering a great many sweet
speeches to me that the accompanying music
only seems to make sweeter, if we heard it
at all.
" Perhaps I ought to ' do the pretty '
to Mise Irving now for a little while,
since Ralph has taken himself off," Erroll
' says at last, "It won't do to neglect her
altogether, will it?"
" Oh, I don't think Judith minds 1 She is
not that kind of girl,"
"No ; she seems quite willing to cover
our ' asides' with any amount of fortissimo
chords, and to endure our whispering through
her songs with the most philosophic jinni-
- ference 1 But I really must go and turn over
her music for a little while -noblesse oblige/'
He saunters across the room to theiano,
looking very, tall and :fairs ane insiadiidrie in
his simple evening dress, with a moss -rose-
bud in his buttonhole, his crisp hair care-
fully parted, his blond • moustache carefully
curled. As he bends ober Mise Irving I
cannot help thinking---" What a handsome
pair 1"
"I think you must all be tired'„ of my
music 1" Judith declares, turning round on
the piano stool. •
.
Mrs Rutherfurd had left the roma with
Ralph, and I am constrained tia say I am
not tired, though I do not ore to sit by
myself on the sofa 'while Erroll turns an.
other girl's music, even though that other
girl be my own familiar friend,
c"Sing something," Erroll suggests, as
.Judith's hands 'wander at random over the
keys.
"What shall I sing?" she asks, looking
up at him absently, while she plays on in a
slow, dreamy fashion, as if she were coin.
posing.
"Anything you like. I don't know your
songs."
She is still looking up as he looks down,
with that far-off expression in her great
gold -brown eyes. I do not think she knows
she is looking at him, she is listening to her
own muaio with an odd half smile on her
red curved lips,
As she turns her profile towards me she
makes a pretty .pioture-the olose.olinging
Meek gown, the cluster of creamy overblown
rosea, the odd, fascinating face, the soft
cloudy dark hair, I wish I could paint her,
but not with Erroll bending over her, though
hie fair head oontraste so well with her
dark one as he looks up and he looks down.
"I will aing you a song whioh you may
perhaps be able to explain, but whioh has
been an enigma to me ever sinoe 1 got hold
of it," she remarks at last, smiling, as she
turns over the sheets of musio on the floor
beside her.
After some searching she finds the song
and sets it on the desk; it alips down,, and
Erroll pinks it up and makes it remain up,
and then she plays the prelude, and, when
the prelude is finished, begins to sing in her
full mezzo-soprano voice.
" The heart I ask from thee, loge,
A secret gift must be ;
The world must never see, love,
a he links'twixt me and thee.
"'dtili, when our hearts are aching,
We two our pain must hide ;
Nor, when our joys are waking,
Can tell them, side by side."'
" I' do not see anything very diffioult to
understand in that," Erroll declares, as she
runs through the interlude in her clear,
crisp way.
"Do you not?" she smiles.
The thought thy heart holds nearest,
Keep it from others' view ;
Enough for thee, my dearest,
To know that I am true.'
That iasimple enough," she laughs, as he
turtle the page.
We may not watch like lovers
For stolen glances sweet ;
Envy around us hovers,
We dare not smile and greet.
"Go, hush with stern reproving
Thy heart, whose throbs I eee,
And tell it that our loving
Must still a secret be "
"Ie that all?" Erroll asks in a low tone.
" Not quite all. Do you like it ?"
"I cannot say I like it; but—" -"But
what?"
" I will tell you some other time. Go en
with the song."
"'A word, a look unguarded
Has oft brought danger nigh ;
Scarce is our secret warded
From search of jealous eye.
"Still must the warning be, love,
That era I gave to thee ;
The heart I aek from thee, love,
A secret gift must be.
"Thank you," Erroll says, as she rises
from the piano. She crosses the room to-
wards me, and he follows her ; and, for a
moment, I fancy he looks paler than usual ;
but Judith is laughing,
" My poor little child, who has banished
you to this distant corner ?"
" I have been here all the time."
"And how did you like my song?" she
asks, sitting down beside me on the sofa,
" It is an odd song ; I did not like it
much."
"I do not care about it myself. Is it
really eleven?" -as the little time -piece rings
out the hour in its musical chime. "How
quickly the. time has passed 1"
"Thanks to you," Erroll says, looking at
her as he stands before us.
"To my music, you mean. It is a plea-
sure to me to play upon such an instrument;
my own piano saw its best days more than
twenty years ago."
"How shall we amuse ourselves to -mor-
row?" Erroll asks. " Do you play tennis ?"
"Not well ; I have had no opportunity
for practice."
" I will give you any odds you like,"
" Thanks ; I like a fair field and no favour
n the games I play," Judith laughs, look-
ing at him. I cannot see her eyes, but his
look handsomer than ever, I fancy, as they
meet that laughing glance..
"Then shall we pull down the river -or
rather float down, and pull ourselves back
again? It is a long time, since • we, explored
the abbey ruins together, is it not ?"
"A long time. What fun we used to
have on that island when wewere children!'
" Yes -when I was Robinson Cruse', and
you were Friday, and we made May be the
savages !" Erroll laughs. "" Then !et us ar-
range to go to the island ; we can easily be
back by lunoheon-time, if we start directly
after breakfast."
" What does Lisle say ?" Judith asks,
looking at me.
" I like whatever you like," I answer at
once. " I only want you to havo a pleasant
time."
"Oh,I am sure to have a pleasant time at
Velfry ! It is enough for me to revisit the
places where I was happy as a child."
"Have you never been happy at Velfry
since you were a child ?" Erroll asks,
smiling.
" None but children are ever really hap-
py," Miss Irving answers carelessly,
"I do not agree with you there. I am
happier now than I ever was as a child,"
I do not know why Judith should change
colour at this speech, but change colour she
certainly does.
" I suppose you have a good reason to be
happy," she says, looking not at him but at
me.
" I have a very good reason,"
" There is only one thing that can make
a man or woman really happy in this
world,"
" And what is that 7"
"To know that the person Otte loves re-
turns that love in kind,"
"But if I happen tohave that knowledge?"
"Then doubtless you are very happy for
the time being."
I am intolerably happy."
She does, not iltnab, f rens tris steadfsist look.
There Is passion as well net pleasure, in 'my
lover's handsome eyes as he looks .down -s
what there fa in here I cannot say, ,
"You are very fortunate," she laughs in
her cool, negligent way, +' It is not every
lover who is happy, exoept by flta and
starts."
"You seem to know all about it --this
' rose of love, the wasp inside, and all."
"I know so muoh that I do not want to
know any morel Doesn't somebody say -
"'For lovebleed is a thornyandsmaflrtower;. it breaks, and' wa
The nloseom fallsthe athearthet'fairest? , and the thorn rune
•
into
I afn•not surprised that Erroll should be
•fasoinated by ,the cleverness, the fearless
expression of opinion, the strong individu-
ality, which had fascinated me in this ,,girl
from the very first hour in which 1 made
her acquaintance. But at the same time I
am rather glad. when Mrs. 'Rutherford. Fames
baok and Judith goes away to talk to her;
I• had said once that I had never been
jealous, but I am childish enough to be
jealous now of every word and look ' Erroll
gives to anyone else.' '
" You do not hate her now, Erroll, do
you ?" I ask a little wistfully.
"I do not like her" -sinking into the
chair beside me,
"You do not 1 I thought you looked as if
you liked her very much, just now."
" You little jealous thing !" '
" Oh, I don't mean as if you love her, of
course !" -
" Love her !" he echoes, shrugging his
broad shoulders. "I. love no one but; you,
Lisle, and you ought to know that very
The assurance comforts me. I , admire
Judith so much myself that I can scarcely
believe any one could see her without' fall-
ing in love with her. But, afberall, if Br-
oil re lily cares for me, however he may be
interested .or amused, he can never • love
any one else. •
I would not be interested or amused by
any other man, let him be ever so attractive,
if Erroll were in the roo n; but men are not
like women -love with 'thern is only part of
their life, whi'e with us it ie the whole o
existence. If Erroll loves me better than
any other girl, in the world, surely I may be
very well co:.' •.'.t !
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Why Indians Love the. Warpath.
Colonel Royall of the army is cne of the
best known Indian fighters in the service.
He is now on leave, his health being
muoh impaired by many years' life on the
frontier. Speaking of the present dist .rb-
anoes and the love for murder whioh
every Indian seems to possess in a greater
or less degree, he said : I once asked a re-
markably intelligent Indian who was known
to have killed a white man some years ago,
why it was that his race enjoyed so muck
going on the war•path and killing people.
The cpnversation which ensued ran some-
thing like this, the Indian 'beginning : ' Did
you ever shoot a rabbit ?'
"" " Yes.'
"' Did you ever shoot a deer ?'
„ r Yea.'
"' Didn't you get more fun out of killing
.the deer than the •rabbit ?'
"' Yes, I guess 90.'
4" Well, there's a heap more fun for an
Irdian to kill a man than a deer.'
"That was Indian logic, and pretty good
logic, too, I should say," Colonel Royall re-
marked, and added: " My experience has
been that the minute an Indian sheds human
blood, 'it seems to affeot the whole tribe in
the same way that the smell of blood would
a pack of wild beasts, It intoxicates them.
They become devils. They are bereft of al
reason. They must satisfy their lust for
murder, and the settlers on the trail they
take become their victims."
Wire S� lege (inns. •
Siege guns built of wire aro the newest
description of ordnance for the national
service. A very tough steel wire is used,
having a breaking strength of 100 tons to
the square inch, which is wound over a
steel tube as tape may be bound on a reel
being f equently fastened off to secure its
cohesion, and so neatly put together! as to
look precisely like solid metal, An experi-
mental howitzer has been made upon this
principle, and passed a satisfactory proof at
the Royal Arsenal It has a calibre of 10 ins ,
but weighs only about 70 cwt. In its trial
this howitzer threw a shell of 360 lbs with
a charge of 28 lbs, and attained a velocity
of 1000 ft per second -a result may be com-
pared with two guns of a similar weight
whioh are at present in the service. One of
these is the 9 in. howitzer, whioh fires a shell
of just half the weight -viz., 180 lbs -with
a velocity of 950 ft; and the other is the 100.
pounder gun of 6 6 calibre, which, with its
light shot of I00 lbs, manage to reach a vel.
ocity of 1300 ft per second. The trial
weapon, eeema in no way impaired by the
strain to which it has been subjooted.
In all things throughout the world the
men who look for the crooked will see the.
crooked, and the mea who lock for the
straight oan bee the straight,