Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1869-05-07
STORY
AFTER MANY DAYS.

AFTER MANY DAYS.
you'll spend Christmas with us ?" John
Mellish had said to his cousiHs;s and Brian,
remembering how very gloomy last Yule
tide had appeared as v~iiewed4srom the soil
tude Of his chambers, gIadlysaccepted. Il
he had accepted the invitations that poured
in he might have passed his days in hunting,
shooting and dining, but being of an ambi-
tious turn, and having from his earliest boy
hood heard it asserted that he would "do
something" and attain some position above
the ordinary herd, Brian had laid down a
course of hard law-reading to which he had
hitherto stuck honestly. Perhaps there
was not much merit due to him yet; the
plow and furrow may have been as ~fascina-
ting as the outer world. He had run the
gauntlet, it is true, Of many ofthose tempta-
tons which most easily beset a man, but he
had never been in love; that trial remained,
and we shall see how he met it; of flirting
he had done his share, possibly more than his
share. LAWS, We know, at best, dry work,
requiring counter excitement now and then;
and Brian, being indolent in his amuse-
ments, took that which was at hand. But
the woman with whom he Airted said he had
no heart.
1t is written that there is a tide in the
affairs of men. This particular tide had not
as yet set in upon the even shore of Brian's
life, bnt the crisis was not far off, and, as is
generally the way, fate came concealed by
the most innocent of DISCUSSES and SO it
was, that being in a fair way to become Q.
G., if nothing more, Brian, running against
his cousin, John Mellish, in the Strand,
was summoned to meet his fate at .sThe
Cedars," where, q week before CHRISTMAS,
we find our hero, sitting by the squire's
young wife, but looking with all his eyes at
the young face Of his wife's younger sister
Kate, and trying with all his ears to catch
the murmur Of her low, soft voice.
I'll marry that girl or none," Brian said
to himself, as he undressed the night after
his arrival and SO he repeated still more
passionately when, on the footman rousing
him next morning, he became conscious that
Kate's gray eyes had been shining upon him
in his dreams.
1.-The hounds meet at the kennels, sir"
said the servant !; land master says you'd
better be down soon, as he and Miss Kerr
are going to ride to the cover
"All right" quoth Brian; and having
luckily come provided with breeches and
tops, it was NOT long before he had descend
ed to the breakfast room, where he found
Kate presiding, and the squire and a couple
of strangers from the other side of the coun-
try busy in fortifying against the chances of
a long day.
"Pve ordered the young chestnut for
you, Brian," said John. II want him shown
off, and I am too heavy for the country we'll
most likely cross to-day besides, you handle
a horse better than any man I know Then
the conversation turned upon the merits Of
the horse and the prospect Of having a run.
For the first ten minutes after starting
Brian had his hands full, AID not until the
chestnut quoted down had he a fair oppor-
tunity of looking at Kate, who, like all
pretty women who can really ride. looked bet
ter on horseback than anywhere else; and
as Brian watched her Frightening color, and
1.-THE figure swaying with every motion Of her
horse, the remembrance of his chambers
came up like q nightmare.
What had green leaves, laced with dew
laden gossamers, caroling larks and full
throated robbins to do with dusty tolios and
blue lined foolscap? Brian thought it over
that night, while the picture was well still
fresh in his memory, and he thought it over
every night, till as the reader will see, the
odds against the Q. G., become longer and
longer.
What the riding, dancing and games had
left undone, the dressing up of the church
and house for Christmas day completed, and
by the time the greenery was gathered and
hung, Brian knew hat s'the tide" had set
in, and that the full waves were beating
down every obstacle in the course.
And yet he had not by word of look be
trayed himself to Kate. He was much too
deeply in earnest to risk asking to soon. He
knew it was life OR death, so to speak and
so. though he haunted Hates steps, people
did not see what the truth was, partly be-
cause of the mask ne wore, and partly he
cause OF q very special reason which I shall
explain presently.
Christmas was over +; some guests left and
others came so that going into the drawing
room one evening, and being r%aSiler late,
Brian found every one assembled, enjoying
that pleasantness Of all times, the cleaning
half-hour before dinner. Kate was sitting
near the fire, and consequently in the light
est part of the room, and by her side a
stranger, not a young man, but old enough
to be her father; so Brian stood aside, con-
tent to worship his divinity at a distance.
Presently she caught his. eye, and beckonipg
him to her, introduced him as General Am
berly, who held out his hand, saying:
81 have just been telling Kate that your
father and I we're comrades in early days,
and saw some hard times together with the
Duke Of York. You have heard him speak
of Jessy Amberly ?" And then turning to
Kate, he went on, "Jessy was my nick name
when | joined I; l believe in those days was
considered a pretty boy, and, coming fresh
from my mothers care, my ways and wants
we're different from those Of public schoo
MON Tb;e uo,,np uent1eman'S father ION