Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-11-11

Some OF the Old folks could not refrain from
expressions of triumph that 'sthe Lord had got
hold OF that Frenth infdel;" and old Sister
Goodenough seized his hand, and, with many
signs and much upturning of the eyes, exhorted
Give mp everything. and come out from the
world and be separated" Which led d'Entre-
mont to remark to Stevens as they walked away
that " Madame Go0denough was ware Gurus in
deed" And Brother Boreas, the exhorter, who
had the misfortune not to have a business repn-
tation without blemish, but who made up for it
by rigid scruples in regard to a melodean in the
church, and by yicarious conscience which
was kindly kept at everybody's service but his
own,-old Brother BOreas always remarked in
regard to the Marquis. that 'as tor his part he
version" But the gray-haired old Scotch class
leader, whose pety was at a premium every
where, would take d'Entremont's hand and talk
of Indifferent subjects while he bedmed on him
his affection and Christian fellowship.
To the Marquis, Priscilla was a perpetual
marvel More brilliant women he had known
but a woman so gifted and so devout, and above
all a woman so true, so modest, and of such per-
feet delicacy of feeling he had never known
And how poorly these words describe her! For
she was Priscilla; and all who knew her will
understand how much more that means than adj
tectives of mine. Certainly Henry Stevens did
for he had known her always, and would have
loved her always if he dared. 1t was only now
as she interpreted him to the MARQUIS and the
Marquis to him, idealizing and elevating the
thoughts of both, that he surrendered himself to
hope. And so, toward the close OF the summer
a1alrs came to this awkward posture that these
two sworn friends loved the same woman.
D'Entremont discovered this first. More a
man of the world than Henry Stevens, he read
the others face and voice. He was perturbed.
Had it occurred two years before he might have
settled the matter easily by a duel, for instance
And even now his passion got the better for
while of all his good feelings and Christian reso-
lutiOns. When he got back to the LIE Vert
House with his unpleasant discovery, he was
burning like furnace: In spite of rain storm
and walked he knew not whittier He found
himself, he knew not how, on the bank of the
river SEEKING an old board for paddle, he un-
loosed skif and pushed out into the river.
How TO advance himself over his rival was his
hrst thought. But this darkness and this beat
ing rain and this fierce loneliness reminded him
OF that night when he had chung desperately to
dian Creek, and when the courage and self-pos-
session OF Henry Stevens had rescued him.
Could he be the rival of a man who had gone
down into that flood that he might save the ex
hausted Marquis?
Then he hated himself. Why had he not
drowned that night in Indian Creek? And with
this feeiing OF self-disgust added to his general
rain brought to him, there came the great temp
tation to write Fla" in French fashion. sy
jumping into the water. But something in the
influence OF Priscilla and that class meeting
caused him to take q better resolution, and he
returned to the hotel.
The next day he sent for Henry Stevens to
"Henry, am going to leave to- night on the
mail-bOat. L am going back to New Orleans,
and thence to France. You love Priscilla. You
are noble man; you will make her happy. /
nave read your love in your face. Meet me at
the river tonight. When you are ready to be
married, let me know, that may send some to-
ken OF my love for both Do not tell mademoi-
selle that am going but tell her good by for me
afterwards. Go now, L must pack"
Henry went out stupefed. What did it mean?
And why was he half-glad that d'Entremont
selfshness. In fact, he had the habit of keeping
his selfishness under i'm little things 80 that the
victory in great thing was not so difficult.
MARQUIS dEntremont,' he said, breaking
into his room, .you must not go away. You
love Priscilla. You have notwithstanding
money, travel. have nothing"
Nothing but a good heart, which have not,'
said d'Entremont.
will never marry Priscilla" said Henry,
"pslless she deliberately chooses to have me in
preference to you"
men unselfish in an affair OF this sort, is i'm
possible. / should never have written it but
that this incident is fact.
To this arrangement, so equitable the Mar
quis conser ted, and the matte was submitted to
Priscilla by letter. Could she love either, and
If either, which? She asked week for de-
liberation.
1t was not easy to decide. By all her habits of
thought and feeling, by all her prejudces, by
all her religious Hfe she was drawn toward the
peaceful and perhaps prosperous life that
living in her native village, near to her mother
surrounded by her old friends, and with the best
OF Christian men for husband. But by all the
clamOr of her intellectual nature for something
better than her narrow life-by all her joy in
the conversation OF d Entremont, the only man
her equal in culture she had ever known, she
felt drawn to be the wife of the Marquis. But
if there were roses, there were thorns In such a
path. The village girl knew that Madame la
0orqaise must lead a life very different from any
she had known. She must bear with husband
" a tot a nf Il
skeptcism, and ahe must meet the great world.
In truth there were two Prscillas There
was the Priscilla that her neighbors knew the
Priscilla that went to church, the Priscilla that
taught Primary School No. 3. There was the
other Priscilla, that read Chaucer and Shakes
peare, Moliere and de Stael. With this Pris-
ella New Geneva had nothing to do. And it
was the doubleness of her nature that agra
waited her indecisiOn.
Then her conscience came in. Because there
might be worldly attractions on the one side
she leaned to the other. To reject a poor sutton
and accept a rich and titled one, had something
of treason in it.
At the end of week she sent for them both
Henry Stevens fiat-boat had been rea ly TO start
for New Orleans for two days. And Challeau,
Lafort & Co., were expecting the Marquis, who
was in some sort a ward of theirs. Henry Ste
vens and the Marquis Antoine d'Eptremont
walked side by side, in an awkward silence to
the little vine-cOvered cottage. OF that inter-
view L do not know enough to write fully. But
/ know that Priscilla said such words as these
- HIS Is All awful respOflsiDl ltN. suppose a
judge trembles when he must pass sentence of
death. But must make a decision that in
wolves the happiness of both my friends and my
self. j cannot do it now. God does not give me
TO see my duty clearly, and nothing but duty
should speak in making such decision. Will
you wait until you both return in the spring? /
have a reason that cannot explain for wishing
this matter postponed. God will decide for me
perhaps"
/ do not know that she said just these words,
and know she did not say them all at once.
But so they parted. And Miss Nancy More,
who retailed ribbons and scandal, and whose
only effort at mental improvement had been the
plucking out of the hair contiguous to her fore
head, that she might look intellectual-Miss
Nancy More from her lookout at the window
deserted the two friends walking away from
Mrs. Haines's cottage, and remarked, as she had
often remarked before, that it was absolutely
for young woman who was pro-
fessor to have two beaux at once, and such good
friends, toO!''
l have noticed that gifted girls like Priscilla
have background in some friend, intelligent,
quiet, restful. Anna POindexter, a dark,
thoughtful, and altogether excellent girl, was
sometimes spoken of as 4" Priscila's double;
but she was rather Priscilla's opposite; all her
gifts were complementary to those of her friend I
The two were all but inseparable; and so, when
Priscilla found herself the next evening on the
bank of the river, she naturally found Anna
with her. Slowly the lat-boat of which Henry