The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1870-07-08

dcrcd that out Of the question in he
case. Again, there might be mel
who would think (and who could af
ford to thinll) lightly Of marrying
brgSar; and among them there mi gh
be ono whom she could love. Bu
wise in her generation, Mrs. Wybrow,
built no castles in the air Of this sort
| She. accepted the situation tclc qucli
etait; shut herself up no longer; wen
among her kind; encountered hcl
basilisS with an impossible visage
and tortured her tormcntor by all in
geniouSly arranged sequence. Of fir
tations which passed masters of tho
art.
l knew it in that moment when on,
eyes met. l knew that I, Francis
Drasdyl, world-worn, case hardened
pccocorantc cynic of f.scvcn-and-twcn
ty, was to love this woman; that |
did love her already.
Rather tall, graceful as Diana in her
statucsquc summer draperies,
"Ilelen of the low arch'd brow
And amber hair, and dewy violet eyes:"
a woman with child's face, stamped
before its time, with the mark of pas
sion or Of pain, q little thinner and o
little paler than it should have been,
perhaps, but with all the stronger,
subtler, attraction for me that it was
so-this was Mrs. Wybrowc, rs saw
her that day.
l don't remember what she and I
talked about when wo left alone. or
how long we sat under tho big beech.
know she spoke, and that every
now and then tho great violet evcs
turned slowly upon me; and, wien
she was silent,
''Filled with light
The iutorvat of sound"
[ was in Elysium, and lost tho
count of time. A step, soft and cat
like, that neither Of us heard, como
down the waln. A dry branch crack
cd under the cautious tread, and then
we both looked up. A man passed
US. l knew him instinctivcly. The
ficrcc black eyes, contracted in their
wrath, which met mino in one brief
vindictivc glare, could only belong to
ono man.
That 1.-the, dark parsonage with tho
fcline tread, and the ugly, yellow
physiognomy, must needs be tho hero
Of Charlie Twistlcton's story, the
man who had bought up the arbitra-
mcnt Of Helen Wybrowc's fatc-Al-
varcz Smith.
liz never looked at her this time,
only st nc. [ wonder whether the
mans instinct told him, even then,
that I loved her?
Mrs. Wybrowc roso q little pale :
the dark circle under her eyes moro
| plainly visible, . sort Of hunted look
upon her face that made my pulse
throb angrily.
amy seems TO havo forgotten NO."
she said, "lct us go and look for her"
We walked across the croquct-lawn,
for while silently.
Then sho said, "You know that
man who passed us just now"
II know him now," answered 81
never saw him before, and only heard
Of his existence two hours ago"
Her pale check flushed painfully.
"Thcn you have heard -Y
"Evcrything," l answered, stop
ping her. :Thcrc is Lady Oswcstry
yondcr."
Mrs. Wybrowo qnickcncd her pace
and said nothing moro till she was
safe under Amy Oswcstry's wing
again.
The season was over; London emp
tying fast; duns pressing; tho heat
intolcrablc. 1Iowbcit, I abode still in
the Sahara Of Bruton street. Aunt
Nledusa had gono down into Kent
with tho Boobies, having extracted
from me q promise to como down fol-
tho September shooting-a promise
only intended to keep If -
Tho eff" was in Park lane. Lady
Oswestry had not yet mado her move
hcsitating between Buxton and Lin
denbad; and was watching tho
turn of tho scale. For with Lady
Oswcstry would 60 Helen Wybrowo
, And where Helen Wybrowe went
; meant to follow. Ihad notspoken yet
, though nearly month had passed
since that day at Fulham I had mark
ed with q white rose. She had hard
/ ly given me o chance. And yet sh'
knew, who knew me as was, that
loved her-had loved her from tn
I. moment our eyes met for the frs
time. And I knew my strange, will
full passionate darling-my Helen
, who was like NO othor-I knew sh
loved me with the ono love Of he
:. lifo. Only between her loving M
. and my winning her, there was much
: Nevertheless, the mask we both wor
r before each other as before others
{ was getting too sitting to be wor
i. much longer. 1t fell from both Of u
2 at last. ~ .t5I aye !i2 .sJgta. -
t Ihad been sitting with her in Lad
Oswestry's morning-rooms, under tn
q shelter Of tho sunshades, among tn
: flowers, ono day for nearly on houl
! Ny lady was hoavcn knows where
d and we had been alone all the TIM
4 Commonplaces had languished an
8 died. There had been d. silenc
!, which thoso heavy violet eyes afille
|, divinely enough, but which both of .
Q know must be broken; and only