Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-04-29
In THE CLOAK-ROOM.

| eve, so OF course the mlstlet0e had q
right to be there; but ] don't think il
ever hung over anything more fierce
looking that night than the face of Col.
Verschoyle, a great, tall, soldier-like,
brown-bearded, brown-faced hero from
Abyssinia.
Colonel Vivian Verschoyle, G. B., and
V. c., had done his country good service,
and laurels had been amply heaped upon
him; he was honorably mentioned
and duly Landed, receiving his fill OF
adulation and alteration from all the
county round. His handsome face was
as bronzed as it well could be, but all the
mischief the African sun had done his
complexion, had not spoiled the beauty
of those deep, dark eyes, or the perfect
symmetry Of those noble features
Yes, he was wonderfully fine fellow,
this Abyssinan hero, and great lion in
his way; all the girls about Harrington
had fallen down before his shrine and
worshiped; but their alteration was
shortslived; it died away with faint
struggle when they heard the gallant
colonel was engaged to be married. 1t
was all lup with our hero thenl Abys'
sinia was no longer an interesting topic
of conversation, and | don't think the
colonel was considered as handsome as
he had once been. tk
There was a grand entertainment at
Harrington Hall on Christmas eve, and
Colonel Verschoyle and his fance were
at it.
The evening was more than half over,
and the colonel was in the cloak-room,
standing under the mistletoe, looking
with great, dark, angry eyes into the
glowing fire. Let me tell you this brave
warrior was very much put out jsst then,
| and about as angry as he could be; you
could see he had a hot temper, and that
something had occurred to render it
hotter than ever. The colonel was
man who would not stand being triAed
with, and he considered that he had
been trihed with in the most shameful
manner; he was there to learn the cause,
and he was waiting for Enid Vavasor to
come and render an explanation.
meet me in the cloak-room in a
quarter of an hour" he had said to her,
in low, determined, hard voice, as she
was whirled away in waltz by tall,
dashing young officer, whose name the
colonel did not know, and whose un-
commonly handsome face he had not
seen until just few minutes before,
when he caught sight of it in the con-
servatory, amid orange trees and came
las, in very close proximity to the love
ly, laughing lips of Enid Vavasor.
The storming of Magdala was nothing
to the fierce warfare in the heart of
Vivian Verschoyle as he witnessed that
kiss. He walked away to the far end of
the long drawing-room at Harrington
Hall, bewildered, maddened, furiously
angry, fiercely jealous. This great
strong, noble-hearted man had given all
his pure, true love to that girl, and she
had made fool of him. Another mo-
ment and she was whirled past him in
the arms of this stranger-waltzing too,
thing she said she had given up be-
cause she knew he disliked it. The
colonel was beside himself, and then it
was that he went up to her and told her
to meet him in the cloak room in quar-
ter of an hour; and now he was there
awaiting her presence.
She was long in coming. He pulled
furiously at his great tawny beard in
his restless impatience, and yet he had
not made up his mind what he was to
say to her, though he felt that girl who
could act as she had acted that night
was no fit wife for him. He was bitterly
disappointed in her; for he believed her
to be all that was pure and womanly,
having lively aversion to the fast, free
girl Of the period"
They had been engaged about a month,
and her fathers estate Joined Harding
don where Colonel Verschoyle was now
staying on visit to Lord Marlborough.
Enid Vavasor was the only girl in
family of nine sons, most of whom were
in the army, and she was the very idol
of her doting parents.
Hal she was coming now-and Vivian
Verschoyle turned his naughty face TO-
ward her as she passed through the door
of the cloak-room.
Enid Vavasor, how shall | describe
you, with your strange, fanciful name
and your strangely sweet face2 1t was
not in beauty and excellence of feature
she excelled, for beyond those rare blue
eyes she had not single good feature,
and yet-strange contradiction was
a lovely face, and Colonel Verschoyle
knew it to his cost as he turned to meet
it, with its winsome smile, its exquisite
colorings, and its halo of chestnut brown
hair, ripping and waving over the
broad, low brow Bright scarlet holly
berries shone out amid the brown ripples
with Just the faintest sOupcOR of mistle
toe, and another bunch of the same
Christmas berries appeared on the breast
of that snowy dress of softest lace. She
looked almost as if she were enveloped
in a white cloud as she came forward,
and met the naughty gaze of the colonel
bent upon her.
A little mischievous smile parted her
coral lips For a moment she looked
about to laugh outright; but she con-
trolled herself; and, looking up with a
dancing light in her blue eye, she asked,
"What is the matter2"
Now our Abyssinian hero did not ex-
pect this effrontery, so he came to the
point at once with soldier-like brevity.
Enid Vayasor, you are coquette-
and-I won't stand i'll lwon't be tritied |
with
Of course he meant to say much more,
and make a longer speech, only the pretty |
face looked so mocking that he stopped |
short in abrupt contempt. She came
step nearer, and for some minutes they |
stood there under the great bunch of mis-
tletOe together.
"What have / done7" she asked.
The lovely, laughing eyes we're raised
inquiringly to his, but as he felt the spell
her beauty was casting over him he grew
more fierce.
What have you done2 What you
shall never have the chance of doing