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The Brussels Post, 1887-1-14, Page 7} JAN, 14, 7 ova@. aBiYGR7di. MS T k� i4 /, r� 9TCW.FfiiiFlx68 ..:.. 7111tf A VAGRANT WIFE. 13r V. WAxw>DN. Author of "Tae HOME ON TOE NAME," " Ax Tua WOar.n'e Newry," Ewa, nor marketing. She knew that ehe had deserved this severe wound to her self- respect, and she went home miserable and ashamed. But this difficulty was not yet over. At tho theatre a beautiful bougnob was brought to her, with a note—a lover. like unto—from Aubrey. Sho tore up the nolo, and gave the flowers to the dresser, But ou the following night she received another bouquet, another note; and on the third night, this attention having been again repeated, she got a little teased by one of her follow -actors, who know Aubrey and had seen other bouquets of his and other notes. Sho went home mad with shame and anger, and wrote Aubrey a curt note, asking him to call upon her ; and, when the next day the time she had appoint- ed came and she heard his well-known tread upon tho stairs, she felt that hor whole frame was shaking violently, and that sho would have hard work to re- ceive hien with calmness. But bo was experienced in flirtation as well as in love, and he had far too much tact not to kuow that 'her sum- mons had been dictated by some feeling which was not • affection. She was obliged to take tho hand be hold. out so humbly, «nd' pus deferential attitude Somoschat disarmed her. e I got your note only just in time, Mrs. Braithwaite ; 1 was going dowu to Kirby Park to see some horses a friend of mine has in training there.,' I am sorry if my note interfered with your day's arrangements. You should have sent me a line to sny you were engaged." "1 ani never ougaged when you send for mo. Yon must know that by this t13L0' groping blindly for blxo handle, Annie raised horhead ho.nghtily, while Levin forgotten his hat in his excite - he continued— m0111. g meat. " 11 is more than eight months now sinre you told me I was the only person ie, folon't go away like that g1said in the world you could depend upon, lyAnnie, have him and sobbing badly dly; and I have never failed you yet." it was a l through behaved very, very think- This allusion was embarrassing, and it all an conceit in g think- This could only murmur— ing! could not do anything wrung just "You have always been very kind." bo forgive I did not mean to. Will you " And you have put my kindness to me, Mr. Cooke ?" some hard tests, haven't you? You some T won't—I can't, Mrs. Braith. w have snubbed mo, you have confided in aits me—at least, you appeared to do s0; a forgive me, Aubrey c you lies o encouraged me to love you He held her only dna decand longer, , then took her little hands and kissed " No, 91r. Cooke ; I am quite innocent them again and again. of any such intention." You aro the only woman who has " Then your innocence served you ever treated ins badly, and the only y any coquetry served have woman I shall over caro a straw about. bettor n Good - done, Mrs. Braithwaite. Having fano- Itis always like that, I believe. Good- centlyoucouraged me to love you, you moutlx,nand deal aiinbtwo,e aIicxpec t. innocently allowed ins to tell you so, Good-bye." And bo toro a little rose. with only such vague enggestions of bud from the bouquot near hor throat, eyes ou to'het oiaspod hands, ho fell upon his knees beside her, and' from the stern wage became once . more the humble suppliant. "Annie, Annie, never mind what I have said 1 I did not want to be harsh, only to lot you• know—what I. Ought to have kept from you, I suppose." "You field I seas wicked," sobbed anme, womanlike, seizing the advan. tage which his remorse at having paused her tears gave her. " Yes, I know—IT/08 in a passion—I didn't mean it, of course, Annie. You didn't tell mo you were married because —because you thought it hurt me, and you hated him and wanted to forget his existence. Well, you were quite right; I could see at a glance that he was an ill-tempered brute, and that you wore afraid of him." ".He is not ill-tempered," flashed out Annie, with sudden fire. " And all that I am afraid of is that ho won't come back to me, that some one will tell him that I am happy without him, and that he will console himself before I can let him know it is untrue." Aubrey was silent for some minutes. He detected in this speech the ring of genuine fooling ; and anger and coutompt for the woman before him, who seemed to him at that moment the iccaruation of fickleness and deceit, overcame his love for her and raised him to hie feet again. " I have no doubt he will wake sooner or later to a sense of what a precious thing ho is neglecting in your love," said he, in a biting voiue. "Thank you," returned Annie, brought to herself at onoe by this taunt. " I deserve every sneer you can cast at mo; but you cannot make me regret that I have at last discovered the worth of a man who has suffered more at my hands than you have done without cast- iug at me a single taunt." "I congratulate you. I feel—I foal quite happy in having served as a foil to such a perfect creature. I won't take up any more of your time, Mrs. Braith- waite," said be, rushing to the door and ' au obstacle' as served to snake me and was out of the room and out of the more anc,ous to win yon. When you horse before she could answer. mystcrinusly loft the company, you had Tier faults were punishing her bitter- -moistest to leave m0 n01 ,altogether ] now. She threw herself llnOn the wluf,ont hope; when I saw you again, Y hero in town, you managed, without compromising yourself in any way, to make that hone etruuger; and it was only when I met the 'obstacle' for the first time outside your door that I was allowed to discover that it had any real existence. If you had left me aloud bion;" continued Anbroy, in a lower voice, his agitation betraying itself, in spite of his efforts to repress it, in con- vulsive movements of his features and his hands, " I might at'lenst have thought that you felt some shame at the way in whioh you had treated mo; but you wrote me a little note just in the old way, as if the old relations between us were possible. I knew your husband was away again ;,,it was easy for me to see by the way yon met him that you + hated flim. I took your summons, when I at last knew the oiroumatances of your and despised at the time when no self. position and of os d mina to yoa, a pi la, s any ra resell at the faults in her 'Ave non. would have taken it. Yon had deceived p duet had risen to disturb blip placid your oro not you had une od me; 1 superiority she felt over him. you taro not the good, true woman I Shehad begun to fretherself into afavor had thought you. Still, if you wanted I of anxiety at the thought that she would me back, I cared enough about you still never .neat from him a an when,ou to come, but not on the old terms. g That was impossible. You were rather her return home from a walk one after. of coque- reserved ; T thought it a tricknoon, she was told by the servant that try, naturally enough. I sent you a lady and gentleman were in her sit - flowers and notes, B11011 as nave sent to ting -room. other women fur less treacherous, but They cdame tomo together, ma'am. without any of your pretensions to im- ; The lady came , rate and presently the maculate conduct. To my surprise, you gentleman they' bothhsaidythey rd ild assume in return au attitude of the wait for you, So I showed them both most rigid dignity aucl outraged pro. u •stairs, ma'am:' priety—you have sent for me to answer I pIn the sitting -room Annie found Ste - for my offences against you. With lar 1 .plies, whom she had rightly ueseed to more reason I might summon yon—if i be one of the visitors, and Muriel'WTest, Y°11 wore nota woman and theretero whom sho certainly neither expected above laws of justice and humanity—to sofa in au agony of remorse and wretoh- eduees, feeling that sho had behaved badly all round, that sho was abandoned by every one, and that she had deserved every pang which could torment her. She had trifled with Aubrey, despised her husband, and now they both looked down upon ber and treated hor as she deserved. When the first excess of her grief and humiliation was over, her thoughts all flowed into one chanuel, and the ques- tion which absorbed her was, would. I'Iarry ever come back to a wife for whom ho must, in spite of his patience with her through that week at the end of whioh he had run away, entertain at heart so groat a contempt ? She was herself surprised at the persistency with which her thoughts returned to the husband whom sho had so disliked aunnt for yours against me." nor mien u , seemoment Aubrey Cooke stood as erect as Barry This lady, first da coarseness their fort in himself could have clone as he spoke, acquaintanceship Tory h days tour hele gfusted with feeling and with fire, these words : acquaintancnship on disgusted to the woman before him. Anuio, had good-natured shown n s in She had indeed been innocent of the manya much gy ,and nota lky whet in depth of the emotions she had stirred in littleac ways, and notably when the this man with the expressionless face younger as impossible was lwith neuralgia, and hard voice. She had unlimited to j that it was elcfor her not to havo some difficulty fn arguing himinbo receive the unwelcome guest with dor. rmoognising the fact that her conduct duality. towards him had beep dictated by the Miss since had dyed her hair a now host possible Motives, and that any ate colourdsince ring last her face but the s thin parent injustice the had done him was ' and ghastlye was , her gloves were inaboos,. the result of circumstances; but sem .her dross was more haphazard than had not imagined for au instant that ho ever, and her whole appearance sugges. would turn upon her, with reproaches hive of hard times and even of scanty so bitter and well founded that sho would faro. Shegi:eoted Annie with her old bo left without a word in answer. , Mud geniality. Yet it was so; and Annie boat hor' "Aix, Mies Langton,' you're up and e head for very shame as the torrent of . I'm down 1 I Lordly dared to come and 0 his pasafoneto words passed over her, : " 11 b howling ll THE .BRUSSELS POST "No, no, my Boar; you're wren it which the disoovory of her husband's n faitbiessnees had succeeded to Aubrey's r reproaches. How wise she now felt ag bersolf to have been in mistrusting the had d- profeseions on hisfreoovery,ion lintch thel hope of there, No actress wants change of a when once she's gob to Loudon. It's a engagement I want, I've been out fo sir weeks, and see no prospect of bein in again, I don't know whether youc help me, but I've come to ask your a 7100 on one. or two matters." " I will come in and see yon preset ly, Annie," said Stephen, going tower the door. " I have nothing much toss bo you, and I came chiefly to see whethe you had any commissions forme," "Yea, yes, I have! I lave a letto for you to tale, and 1 want to see y0 most particularly. Colne back and have tea with me, will you ?" He promised to do so; and Anuie,wluo was dying to hear all ho had to tell her about ber husband, was obliged reline tautly to lot him go, and to listen in- stead to the long list of grievances and complaints against Loudon managers and things in general whioh Miss West proceeded to entertain her with in language much stronger than was ne- cessnxy. Annie had noticed upon her first en- trance that Stephen and Mies West were in animated converse, and that the for- mer seemed very muoh engrossed by his companion. Ho now turned with eager. nose to her again, and asked whether ho should have tho pleasure of Meeting her ou his return. But Annie did not invite Miss West to stay to tea. So ho left, casting at the Tory last moment an ardent and expressive glance at the object of his evident admiration. { The two women had not been many miuutes alone together before Annie dim covered that the real object of her visitor was to discover Whether her more prosperous folio w.artist.could oblige her with a loan. Annie had some money to spare, and could not refuse, especially as she felt that fate had been capricious in giving her a good engagement and the chance she bad pined for, while Miss West, whom she felt was really the greater actress of the two, was out of work and restlossly longing for an op- portunity of distinction, as she herself had eo long been. Mies West had not been gone more than a few minutes when Stephen re. turned, and Annie asked anxiously for news of Harry, which his cousin seemed chary of imparting to her. " Can't you tell me where he is and how he is, Stephen ?" she asked impa- tiently. ' I can't tell you where he is, because he is travelling about, and I don't know myself where he is at this moment. But he is quite well, and I haven't soon him in such good spirits for a long time." " Oh," said Annie, her face falling in- voluntarily,"I am very glad to hear that 1 Does he—I suppose he doesn't speak of coming to town ?" "Oh, dear, no! Yon know Barry hates town ; ho is not like the same man now he has got back into the country again, and to—" Here Stephen pulled himself up short, and Annie said quietly, with tightened lips— " Go on, Stephen. Barry is happier now he has got back to—what ?" " Oh, I only meant the country air and the country people 1 You know ho is a regular rustic, and Londoners don't suitbim." Anuio gulped down the tears this unlucky speech brought to her eyes, and eaid, with forced chioarfnlnoss— • Yes, he is, of course, much happier in the country." " Of course," admitted Stephen guard. e Ily. " He has seat you this letter." She tore it open. It was only a short' note, very affectionate, but with node- linito word concerning his own move- ments. A sudden impulse of angry pride seized hor, and shame at the long letter she had prepared in exchange for a hurriedly -written note. She took up the letter she was about to send, and, excusing herself to Stephen, went into the next room, torn it into shreds, and, hastily writing a note as short and vague as herhusband's own, returned and gave that as her answer. They were not long over tea, as Stephen seemed anxious to get away, and Amain horsolf was late for the theatre. When he had gone, she dressed very quickly, and followed him out of the house in a few minutes. At the end of the second street the bad to pass through she saw Stephen and Mies Weft standing iu earnest conversation. She had to pass them; but they were too much absorbed in what they were say- Mg ay ing to notice her approach. When sho was near to thorn, sho hoard Stephen say bitterly— " Of course you like Harry better than ms bocaaso lie is such a tall, straight, handsome follow 1" " Handsome is that handsome does. I like him because Ifo likes me. You tell him so, give him my love, and say that he'll see me before very long if he's a good boy;" and Miss Blest, with a laugh aid a roguish glance, hurtled away ; and Stephen, without turning round to BOO Annie, followed slowly in the same direction. Amide walked on steadily, with the hot tears burning iu her eyes. This was what Harry's dosorbioe meant ; and this coarse 5/001011, whom Sho had just been assisting, was the enchantress who hold his•hoart for the time, "What an idiot I wits to imagine for a moment that he was capable of lasting affection, and for his wife ! I wilinevor think about him again !" Bub she thought about him all the way to the theatre, and cried herself to Jeep over her dislike of him and her ontompt for him, g some time after the eventful day ou inducing her to remain at the Grange t' Until his peening fanov for her society ds was quite wore out I If she lied yielded Y to pus entreaties, she would have lost r the chance she had had in Nut/utllr, and r would have been no;v entirely at the u mercy of her careless husband, who had taken the first pretext he could find Inc freeing himself from the restraint of her society, and, under the pretence 0 working for her, returuing to more con genial companionship --perhaps to tea of Susan Green, the blacksmith' daughter. And he bad been so lost to all sense of decency as to use the same messenger to her and to Muriel West. Anuio was wiser uosv than she' had been when she first alma to Londou alone, after the few miserable mouthy of wedded life which had ended in such a terrible fiasco at the Grange. Then she had given way to grieving in secret over tho wreck of her lifo, but now, with the philosophy whioh conies of n riper knowledge of the world, she hid away her regrets as well as she conlcl, and threw herself into the life around her, which presented many attractions to the rising young actress. All ber efforts to find out any of the members of her husband's family ware „vs.l 'i;. She could not leave town, us ane mama nave returnee toBeckham, to see if any of them were haunting the old place yet. She beard from William ; but he was in Ireland, and had heard nothing certain about the movements of i the zest. She wanted to know how George had borne the crash, and what had become of Wilfred, and whether the i shock had sobered him. ,.But she was J forced to wait until Stephen, who had given her no address that she could write to, should again call and fulfil his promise of keeping her informed at least concerning her husband's health. She had began to wonder whether he had forgotten all about it, or whether Harry had forbidden him to hold any further communication with her, when Stephen made his appearance in her sitting -room one afternoon, Iooking very haggard and unhappy. ow ill you are looking, Stephen 1 You have not been taking proper care of yourself. Has Lady Braithwaite seen you lately, or Lilian ?" "Lilian wouldn't care if she did," he answered sullenly. " All she cares for is herself and her own comfort; and, when that is secured, all the rest of the world may got on as it can." From which speech, and still more from waythein h' which it was delivered, Annie came to the conclusion that tho to Iame man's infatuation for his cousin m was at an end. His release did not seem w to have made him any the happier, how- y ever, and it was evident from his ap- w pearauos that he was in a deplorable. p state of ill -health. " Yon have brought ins news of m Harry ?" she asked presently, when she had made him rust on tho sofa and brought him a cup of tea. " Yes ; but there is not mttoh to tell. He is getting on, but he has not written this time." it ca upon, such a low x01 swe as you and she felt that she' was without a de- ! have become. You are not sorry to see ,y `'° CHAPTER XXIV. fem. ' 1an old friend though, I see." Then, shim, hor so broken and Wish- " I am very sorry to see you. looking 1eell before him, she who had always hold eo ill, thouglc,e said Annie sincerely. herself proudly, AUbroy relented—fox =, You need not to look like that in the 11 ale loved her still—and, as he saw the country. You. want change 01010," 0 f,,Mte killers slowly frees her downeasb ., y 'Cho nightly duty Annie had to per. form at the theatre was all that saved er from a serious illness, as the result f the, acute nalsory she suffered for 7 i NYFYI,A4,&Z,aAAVa,dYktOY',�: henna by a solemn promise not to let i�� c./. Harry kuow whom it came from. She i-� sunt a little note to her husband too, (D 104 beggiug ber to write t0 her, telling him p ., (°°'1 all about the renewal of her engage. �I �+. -�i wont, cheering him by all the en0onrag- ,-j c f- 0 ing words she could think of, entreating cp him not to despond if ho were not im. mediately successful in the work, what- l..i. s'� . over it might be, which he lead taken r"tai i op, and saying all that a wife could Li think of to a better husband than Harry. (D7 C She refrained from sueors or sarcasm, for she bad made up ber mind to take her husband as he was, to do her duty as his wife as wolf as he would let her ; P t (b CD f and she tried to throw all her thoughts usa and all hor hopes into her own career. t go that she might escape from the re. It w•. rets which would arise in moments of � depression at the thought that no home v happiness would over bo possible for her. That week during which Harry had devoted himself to proving that happi- ness was possible for them together had left deeper results than he guessed; he (p a)0 had paid her back in her own coin for l'-' W tantalising him during his convalescence by a kindness which was not meant to be more than a temporary effort. It was• not for some time that the thought. flashed into her mind that this had Eisen a deliberately -planned revenge on his part for ber obstinate refusal to stay at �r5s the Grange with him. Such a refine- c+ anent of vengeance did not seem in keep- pre • �+ ing with Harry's character yet it seemed ass' scarcely more improbable than the wild V inconsistency of loving her devotedly 0 ono week and being perfectly happy without her the neat. psi k�+� She tried to solve the problem by `•J YV a�....++ acute questionings of Stephen when she featj (D p—' saw him Next ; but he was more cautious and retioient than ever, seemed uneasy „.4... t` ed ander the fire of her Inquiries, and she 10 r �e soon saw that a contineance of them would only result in his having recourse 0 to falsehood in reply. So she bad to on n c tot herself with learning that Harry d°" had taken the money; but she under- l.,d stood from what his cousin said that bo �� �� was in want of more, and with ready , gem rusisy sue aOAG Aim 8di 0010 rest er �j " Are you sure you can spare all �-+ this?" asked Stephen uneasily, as he �,. �- stood hesitatingly with the money in hie hand. Quite, quite sure. You need not �..M R her savings look so downcast about taking it," said rns she, laughing. " You are to tell Harry 1 have plenty, and whenever he wants u more you have only to come to mo." 1"""i " Toll Harry ?"—" Oh, doesn't he , • a kuow it is from me ?" lam' " No, no—I did not dare to tell him 0 CD have taken it °" "You aro quite right. I had forgot - u. Well, say that George has some ore for him, and will give it to him hen bo wants it. Or stay; couldn't on say, it conies from Lady Braith- alto raith• alto?" asked Annie brightly, more eased than she knew to find that her �, unhand was still too proud to accept! oney from her hands, " 1 -Io would not behove that. My 0 aunt has only just enough to live upon." , Yon told me not to. He would not "Lilian ?" u. 1--i "Lilian is abroad. I don't know 0 whetlior she has beard anything about yet." , Well, say what you like, as long as ' ' ou make him take it." 1...2. " And you aro quite sure the want of I C�lerl , it will not inconvenience you ?" I " You are as sensitive for Harry as he 1 3 is for Himself. Look at the luxury I am , surrounded by;" and Annie pointed 1 gaily to the bouquets and fruit on the g tablo. " Doesn't all this speak for it- . + ti comes from somebody else; but you I eL c -+J nervously trembling fingers she pulled CD out frou. their companions a spray of CD (D jasmine and a crimson azalea, fastgued I- J .�,,, then together, and 'put thein into his hand as ha left the room. tyq "I am afraid that poor fellow is go- ing to duo," sho thought, as she listened l-� 1. his slow foetsteps'aud the -thud of his o ' *, crutch upon the stairs; "I never saw l� him look so ill as he did to -day. I won- der where he lives ? He cannot be in �i waut—I know ho has money. enough to • m .£ keep him, and Harry, even with the �, money I send him, would have enough ] s for them both. Poor fellow 1" She and Stephen had never been very f.I). good friends—indeed at the Grange ho I--.' had disliked her, and sho had never felt for hien any warmer. sentiment than 4,.+ pity, mingled with contempt for the F"--' +'1' slavish nature of his devotion to Lilian, His unselfish worship of the cold proud C'4 girl had its nobler side, she knew; but �d an i An I 0 " Not writteu ? Why is that? Ho might surely have sent me a few lines Y by you, if he did not choose to write by the post. I have been expecting to hear from him every day for at least a week Stephen," she went on earnest- ly," drawing her chair nearer to the sofa and speaking with all the soft persuasion she could put into her voice, "there must be some reason for this, some reason that you know and can toll me if you choose. Do let me know what it means, Stephen. Toll would not keep anything from me that I ought to kuow, would you? I am sure yon could not be so cruel. He is ill, and you don't like to tell me so." "No; he is quite well—upon my honour; lie is 1 It is only that he is not getting on so fast as he wishes to, and he is too despondent just now to write." " But how does he Jive ? I am sure he has no money, and he is used, poor fellow, to havingit for the asking," " No, indeed—it took a great deal of asking, and of a very pressing hind, to get money out of George lately. But it is always difficult for a eau with no capital to gob on." " Look here, Stephen ! •1 have some money that 1 have saved; you must take it, and, if Harry won't have it when ho hears it is mine, you must tell him it is bis share of the prooeods of the Salo at the Grange. Poor old Grange 1 I road about tlio sale the other day. I can't think what has changed harry so much ; he used not to bo over -proud in money matters, and now he is as tiro - some as possible the other way. 'Toll him any story you like, so that yon make him take it." "I shan't he able to, Aunio, Ho is a great deal sharper than you think, and ho would guess who sent it directly." " You must say nothing about it for a few days, as he will know you have just seen me. But in about a week you eau spring it upon him suddenly, and be will be off his guard by that time and bolievv you. Now, don't raise any more objec- tions, for you must take it ; and I eau spare ft quite well. I .know you aro a man of property," said she, langhiug-W' for Stophou had a Iittlo money of his own—" and would be offended if I offer, tel to lond you money; but, if you ever should wattit little ohequo' you must remember that I too am a person of property now—at least as long as my engagement lasts; and I have just signed for another two years at a higher salary." And, before he went away, she put into his hands a little packet containing ten Pomade, which ho took reluctantly, self ? The money, you understand, may take him this from me;" and with sho could not forgive the mei;,nness of the actions to which he would stoop for his oousin's sake. But, now,that Lilian had cast him aside like an old glove, • and he appeared before Annie broken in health and forlorn, the boars came into her eyes as She thought of his wretel ed wasted lifo, and sho would have done • 1.n;i anything in the world to smooth hie 1 rough lot for him by her sympathy or her care. But he shrauk frown both,0 CD and loft hor each time dejected but stub - bone, with the shy reserve which char- actorizeil his attitude towards most pee - pie vet more p e e xna i,.od than nage. in bis GO leu' couveraatious with her. She wee fooling rather heartsick at les) her inability to do auythieg for the monibots of her husband's family, from Cl— P4 most of whom sho had received groat kindness, when one day sho saw Sir George getting out of a hansom in Picca- dilly. I•Ie was looking careworn and p,,,,i (T„1 harassed, Antis thought; but he seemed glad to see nor; and, when she begged him to come to .iuncheon the next day, C°' he said he should be delighted, but slue r�4�,, must be prepared to find him more of a CD horo than over.. I --H• 1 • "Well, if you horo Ins, 7 shall take CD �e..p(u. o CD TO 11)1 CONTINUED,