Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1872-09-12

ial turn she had fully intended to a.
dopt Why had Mr. Bligh gone away,
leaving them the prey Of this mis-
chtevous opportunity?
eyes; for Heavens sake don't
speak to me that way, or you'll drive
me mad !" and then he got up and
went to the window; and poor Madge
saw that his face had grown very pale,
and that an expression Of hopelessness
had settled upon it. She could not
bear it. He had been so thoughtful
for her always gentle and devoted,
and sympathetic-that she felt as if
she must comfort him, let what might
come of it.
"Theo," she said again, with that
same pathetic cadence in her voice,
"you have been so kind to me always;
| can't bear to see you so, Can't |
make you happier, Theo?'
He turned round quickly and caught
her hands, as she was standing near
to him.
"Madge, do you love my uncle?"
Ha'f frightened she drew back from
him, and II am engaged to him!" she
stammered.
" Yes, but you have made me love
you; you knew your chance, and you
have used it. If you love him, let me
60 without another of those appeals
that you know how to make so mad
deningly if not-Madge, Madge?"
He had taken her hands again, and
was looking down into her face with
a CLEAN of such intense pleading afec-
ton, that for moment he was the
world to her.
"If | had known you first, she sob
bed, "but didn't, you see; and we
Dundees never break our word And
%! you had better go after all; but
forgive me-"
Forgive her. 1t was easy enough
to say he would, and to make an end
Of this miserable scene, but it was very
hard to do it. Had she not spoken
his name with all her heart in her
voice only minute ago, leading him
on by the tone she used to tell his
secret to her in the hope that she
would be brave, and avert eventual
misery from them all? And now she
was telling him that if she had known
him first, she would have loved him
best and that she could not for her
names sake break her word to his un-
Gle!
1t was a ghastly state OF affairs,
and as soon as he could Theo Bligh
made an end of it, by going away.
The two men had no verbal explana-
ton on leave-taking, but they parted
as comrads who had been wounded in
the same fight might part. And then
Theo found that, though existence was
not embittered to him, the SAVIOR had
gone from the old pleasureses.
lie banished himself 50 effectually
that he heard no tidings from the
Chase for six months, and then he
ventured to send his address to his
banker, and to have letters forwarded
to him; but before these letters are
read a retrospective glance at the Bon,
ME Dundee must be given.
She bore his departure very brave
ly. Remember how many other in
terests were claiming her attention at
the time, and remember the ardent,
impressionable, changeable nature Of
the girl. There was a good deal of
the chameleon in Bonnie Dundee, and
a dash OF the peacock, and an immense
deal of the woman. She had the
faculty of feeling intensely for the
time, and Of getting over things. Is
not that last characteristic of the secret
of many women keeping right, and of
many others going wrong?
1t brushed the bloom of the peach
roughly when he went away, for that
yelled idolatry of his had been very
pleasant to her; nevertheless she bore
it bravely, and made the best of that
which remained to her. 81 am so
sorry for | was so fond of him." she
said to her lover with that disarming
frankness which women of her calibre
know so well how to use. And Mr..
Bligh hearing her, did not wonder
that his nephew had been scorched by
the fiery ordeal through which he had
been passed.
There was this about it, too, that it
was such clean fire that even her own
sex could not despise and condemn
and prophesy evil things concerning
Miss Dundee's warmth. Just as she