Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1871-12-15


make him very unhappy" So she spoke.
in girlish, almost childish. out-spoken
way, without seeming to- consider or to
mark the effect of her woros either on the
man she addressed or on tie bastanders.
Il should have known yoG as Tbeo any
where I'd seen you" she went on; you'll
be exactly like Mr. Bligh when you're -
She paused abruptly aud colored little,
but moment she forced herself back into
composure and resumed, ..when you're as
old as he is. was going SAY, but re-
mem bered that young men hate to be re-
minded of their youth, and so 1 buugled
and blundered Can, youiforgive me 2"
Could he forgive her! Was the bonnie
Dundee subtle. or only sweetly simple,
that she asked him this. id that winning
voice of hers? And, blythe way, how
did she, with her Scotch nsme, come with
that touch of accent-that way of softly
resting on the vowels that is specially of
Irish woman's pronunciation of words that
they want to caress? Ashe asked him
self this. he looked at her more observant-
ly, and wondered also how she had come
by that face and that expression.
10 remarkable short time the two be-
came the most devoted friends.
Bonnie Dundee was not mere insatia-
BILE coquette She was rot heartless
fool, ready and willing to play fast and
loose for the sake of gaining little noto-
riety: but she was that even more danger
GUS thing-a woman afflicted with such a
passion for pleasing that it became q fine
art in her hands, and when she was fol-
lowing it she could not stay to count the
cost Of failing or success. It was new
sensation to her to have the right to such
attentions, aud admiration and love as Mr..
Bligh lavished upon her. and as Theo Of
fered at respectable distance, on the score
of being his uncle's nephew. It was a
new sensation to her. and she enjoyed it
to the full; reveling in itsas one does in
sunbeams after long frost. or in dainty
viands after long fast. The idea Of its
being wrong or reprehensible in any way
to gather these roses of love and youth
and pleasure, that were Hooming in her
path, never entered her mind. She was
not false or tickle in realty, she was only
intensely fond of the exciemcnt of being
put upon a pedestal. and being only wor-
shipped in the sight of al umen.
There came day ~ Hs(( Il 4 =. We reraaled
to her suddenly, so suddenly that it made
her dizzy. and then she behaved-like a
woman.
One morning, uncle, nephew and Miss
Dundee met.
"Tbeo has been talking this morning
of leaving us soon; before he goes. dear,
we must know what day be is to come
back and hail you as an aunt" 1t cost
Mr.. Bligh more than a slight effort to
make this speech with apparent ease, for
during the last few days he had not been
blind Of sight. But he succeeded in do
ing so, and only he himself suspected the
pain his own words gave him.
"Going! Theo going!" exclaimed Miss
Dundee, lapsing from fun into surprised
solemnity in moment, and laying her
whip with "a frank caressing gesture on
Theo's arm as she spoke. "Oh, don't
think of going, Theo; I can't spare you
We can't spare him, can we?
The mems eyes met for a moment as
Madge spoke. and in that moment each
read that the other knew all about it.
He knows I love her," poor Theo moan
ed in his heart, land he sees know it, +"
Mr.. Bigh thought with not one whit less
pain. And silence fell on them. and in
that silence Madge saw things clearly at
last.
To recognize the love of one man in the
presence of another man who has right
to feel jealous of her, is to be in position
of the greater danger and delicacy and
difficulty. Poor Madgc 9inched for the
first moment when she found herself in it,
but the next instant she recovered herself,
and, with the generosity of woman,
sought to put them well with one another
without regard to herself.
ut was selfish of me to say wouldn't
spare you, for it must be dull for you
here but the fact is, Theo has spoilt me,
just as my brothers do, and I have fallen
into the way of ordering him about as |
do them, forgetting he isn't brother"
1t was terribly trying work for them
all, weighted with the discoveries they had
recently made about each other. 1t be-
came insupportable to Mr., Bligh after a
short time. and so he sauntered out into
the garden, and Theo and Madge were
alone.
Her spirit rose with her sense of dan
ger. as does that of all finely organized
natures, and she turned to him bright and
brave at once, though he had grown to be
very dear to her, and though she knew
that he was suffering horribly on her ac-
count. 1T seems to me, she said, THAT
we're all very weak and wrong to let a
shadow settle over the last visit you'll have
with us. until I am an old married woman
with household cares on my shoulders that
will crush down my love of visits
This will be my last visit with you,
Mise Dundee
"Theo" she threw such akorld of re-
proachful tenderness into the tone in which
she uttered that one word. that the man
she addressed trembled visibly. His re-
solve, when spoken coldly and harshly,
shocked and surprised her out Of the bright