The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-11-05
The StOokbrOker at D~inglswOOd.
CHAPTER III.-tContinued.l

The thing had happened half a cen.
fury before, and the Admiral had not
been at sea at all for half that time,
and here was q present tragedy going
on beside US, and the messages OF
fate crushed up with my fan In my
hand. LOttie Stoke made her ap-
pearance in the doorway several
times, casting appealing looks at me.
Once she beekoned, and pointed en-
erCetically to the drawing room In
which poor little Mrs. Gresham was.
But when / got time to think, as /
did while the old man was talking, L
thought il was best, on the whole, to
defer giving my letter, whatever il
was. 1t could not be anything trihipg
or temporary which made the master
ofthe house steal away in the dark
ness. / have had a good many things
put into my hands to manage, but /
don't think l ever had anything so
difficult as this. For l did not know,
aud could not divine, what the sud-
den misfortune was which / had to
conceal from the world. All this
time Mr.. Forts went on ~complacently
with his talk about the old salt
water lords who were dead and gone.
He stood over me, and was very
animated; and l had to look
up to him. and nod aud smile,
aud pretend to listen. What
ghosts we were, as Lottie said I
My head began to SWINE at last, as Dir.
FOTtis's words buzZed In my ear:
Ny Lord / said, my brothers
VerUices-nOt to speak of my OI0R fani-
. in f~uence.'" This formed a kind
Oh Chorus to i, and came in again
ana 1gain. He was only in the mid
die o. bis narrative when Lottie came
up, making her way through all OBJ
s~tacles. She was trembling, too, with
much excitement, which had less
foundation than mine.
Il cant find Mr.. Gresham any,
where" she whispered. He is not
In any of the rooms; none of the SER
wants have seer him, and it is time
for supper. What are we to dor
is Ada alarmed2" said L.
No; she is such a child" said
LOttie But she is beginning to
wonder. Come and say something to
her. Come and do something. Don't
sit forever listening to that tiresome
old man. L shall go crazy if you do
not come; and she dancing as if moth
ing had happenedl"
Mr.. Forts had waited patiently
while this whispering went on. When
/ turned to him again he went on the
same as ever. This was all to the
senior sea lord, you understand, Mrs.
Mulgrave. AS for the other"
Il hope you will tell me the rest
another time" / said, like a hypo-
critic. 4 must 20 to Mrs. Gresham.
LOttie has come to fetch me. | am so
sorry"
Don't say anything about it." said
Mr. F)rtis. Il shall fud an oppor-
tu0ity," and he offered me his arm. l
had t walk with him, looking quite
at my ease, through all those pretty
groups, one and another calling to me
as / passed. %, please tell me if my
wreath Is all right" Nellie Forts
whispered, brewing me from Ler uncle.
" Mrs. Mulgrave, will you look if [
am torn2" cried another. Then pair
after pair of dancers came Whirling
along, making progress dangerous.
Such a sight at any time when one is
past the age at which n takes a per
sOnal interest in it, is apt to suggest a
variety Of thoughts; but at this mo-
ment Lottie lowered about me. a kind
Of dUOnt courier. clearing tho way for
me. There was something amazing
to me in her excitement, especially
a., just at the moment when she was
lsboring to open a way for me, Ada
Gresham went flying past. her blue
eyes shining, her cheeks more
like roses than ever. She gave
me a smiling little nod as her
white dress swept over my dark
one. and was gone to the oppo-
site end OF the room before | could
say 4 word. Lottie drew her breath
hard at the sigh. Her sigh SCUM led
shrill as it breathed past me.
"Babyl' she whispered. DOLL"
And then the tears came to her
eyes. | was startled beyond de-
scriptiOn by her looks. Had she come
to care fur Gerald, in the midst of that
worldly dreadful scheme Of hers or
what did her agltatio u mean?
It was time for supper, however,
and the elders of the party began to
look for it; and there were a good
many people wondering and iuQuiring
where was Mr.. Gresham? where were
the brothers? Young ladies stood
with injured faces who had been en-
gagged to dance with Harry or Gerald;
AlA Alt ntL5tll WlEu 2 MalNA was
ov. :, began to look about anxiously.
By this time L had got rid of Mr.. For
It's. and made up my mind what to do.
I went up 10 her aud stopped her just
as she was asking one of the gentle
meo. had he seen her husband?-
where was Harry? 1 kept Harry's
bit OF paper fast in my hand. L felt
by instinct that TO give her that would
only make matters worse. / made up
tho best little story | could about
Mrs Gresham's illness.
They both went off quite quietly,
not to disturb the party" l said. u
was to put of telling you as long as l
pleasure. They could not help them
selves. They were very much put
ont at the thought of leaving you.
But Sir Thomas will take Mr.. Gresh-
ans place; and you know they we're
Obliged to GO"
Tears sprang to poor Ada's eyes.
oh, how uukind of Harry. she
cried. " to go without telling mel As
If I should have kept on dancing had
/ known. l don't understand 1t at
ALTO tell you, and go without a word
to me"
Ny ueaI. ne "Oulu uOI spun yNUA
pleasure" [ said; " and it would have
been so awkward to send all these
people away. And you know she may
get better after all"
That is true" said easy-minded
Ada. p" 1t t10uLd have been awkward
breaking up The party. But il is odd
about mamma. She was quite we'll
yesterday: She was to have been here
to night"
30, it must have been something
ll-- % I n-.nA AL.l -.