The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-10-08
Ss sIssns sasnsg ss ss sssss SER Sansss

9se.SS-kSEll<Z<
as raising his hat, With mock ceremony,
he turned and gaiIoped toward the house.
Constance pursued her onward way,
but her ride bad now lost allpharnN She
felt really distressed at'what had taken
place, and would have been well pleased.
could she have made him understand
how really grateful she was, but that
even had no Richard Vane existed, CAL
vim Roberts could never have replaced
the ideal hero her heart had enshrined.
He had chosen not to listen, and she ac-
quilted herself of all blame.
'Dear Dick shall know nothing of
this. It would annoy him SO much, z"
she thought. Could She have forcseen
the consequence of her silence, she
might have acted otherwise. When she
reached home, Calvin Roberts had left.
One evening, two years later, in the
parlor of one of the handsome residences
of the city of B, three persons were
seated around the bright conI fire, whose
warm rays, blended with the shaded gas
light, cast soft radiance around the
room. Everything about the apartment
denoted wealth, and that rarer gift, re-
finement, which money cannot purchase.
Works of art adorned the walls, the foot
fall fell unheard in the soft carpets, colors
everywhere were happily blended, while
scattered with lavish grace were those
dainty trifles that speak of woman's hand
and woman's presence; in this case, not
speaking falsely, for in the pretty hostess,
Mrs. Richard Vane, it was easy to recog-
nize Constance Roslyn. Two years had
left no impress on the fair, handsome
face, for her lines had fallen in pleasant
places, and Time deals gently with the
happy.
On her right sat o gentleman, whose
dressing robe and slippers indicated the
master OF the house, handsome, gene
rous, impulsive Dick Vane, while the in
dolent, oH.hand manner of his ris-a- cis,
denoted plainly enough the friend and
hd6itae of the house. Such had Calvin
Roberts really become, although in the
course Of Constance's pleasant, unevent-
full life, no hours were fraught with bit
terer recollections than those connected
with his name; yet she had accepted him
as Dicks friend from the day when her
husband had said, 'Coustance, here is a
friend who claims your remembrance, ;"
and Calvin Roberts, bowling low over her
extended hand, had whispered, "Mrs.
Vnne, let by-gones be by-gones. Believe
me, have sufficiently repentcd of my
gentlemanly behavior" and she had
only been too glad to grant the pardon
craved.
From that time, Calvin Roberts had
become Dick Vanes constant friend and
companion. If, ut times, Constance
looked with m unfavorablo eye on this
growing friendship, she was too loyal to
harbor any ungenerous suspicious of her
husbands guest and the preserver of her
own life. Yet "cAosSe,' le naturel, IL re-
riem du gdlop," and woman's prejudices
are very perverse, and will return when
we believe them most surely exercised.
So, strive as she would, thero were times
when the lurking suspicion that all was
not we'll, and that Calvin Roberts was ex-
ercising an undue influence on the house
hold, would make itself heard.
Such had been the case pre-eminently
to-day: and, accusing herself of treason
to Dicks superior judgment and ingrati-
tude toward Mr.. Roberts, she was en-
deavoring, by increased affability, to
make ''amende honorable" for her un-
generous distrust Something had Just
been said of the price of picture she
desired to possess.
"Moneyl What blest thing it is. 1
do love it," Constance exclaimed, impe-
tuously.
"Why, Constance, what q mercenary
creature you are," laughed her husband.
Had she been less busy with her own
feelings. she might have detected con-
straint in his voice very foreign to it. AS
it was, she only replied:
Indeed, am no such thing, Dick,
although I'll admit am open to tho
charge, what I meant being decidedly
better than what said. I am no wor-
shipper of the golden calf, but I GER
tainly do love him when he makes him.
self manifest in the shape Of desires gra-
titled; i'll word, do not love gold, but
what it can purchase. You Gro none the
less his devotee, but you lack my candor.
I'm very sure you dofr your hat with
greater flourish to Mr.. Moneybags than
to Mr.. Goodman, not because of his per-
sonal excellence, but because his sigma
ture is worth twenty times the others.
although his conscience may be as heavy
MS his own Golfers. Call mo what You
will, I must admit don't know what l
should do without full share of this
worlds filthy lucre.'" While she spoke
her husband had risen, and already boots
had replaced the comfortable slippers,
and tho dressing-robe was laid aside for