The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-08-21

very Hc'tNN dHu ulllnlcIcSlllG business.
and he would not have been sorry to lay
down the burden once for all. At thirty
five. much to his sisters veNation. he spoke
and thought of himself as one to whom
all the chances, ambitions, and enjoy
ments of life were closed
If the idol to which he sacrificed himself
had possessed even a head Of gold Mrs.
Ilassan could have borne it with more
resignation; but when she knew that the
costly sacrifice had been laid on the shrine
fish-bodied doll which the Ephesians
adored as the virgin huntress, Mrs Has
sans patience was sorely tried
And now the woman had come here to
throw herself in Sydnevs way, and his
sister could toresee nothing but trouble
If he once marries her She said to
herself, ''he will find out what a fool She
is, and having and hating is far worse than
losing and loving"
The next evening there happened to be
little party at President Lyons Mrs
laSsan and her mother-in-laW had meant
to 90; but at the last minute arrived an
old friend of Mrs. liassan's the elder, and
that lady preferred staying to talk over
old times. Mr.. IIassan had gone ont Of
town on business; Classy did not want to
| 90 alone; and, rather TO her surprise, her
| brother, who was in the house offered to
| accom- Dany her.
Not till she was coming down stairs, to
get into the carriage, did it occur to her
that Mrs. Armer would propaby be at
| Mr. Lyons
But She would contrive to meet him,
| somewhere thought this uncharitable
woman, land it may be better there than
accidentally on purpose by the river. or in
| the woods
| AS Mrs lIassan came down the stairs Of
| DR.. Lyons house, she heard from the par
lor certain hard metallic laugh with
which She was familiar, and she saw her
brother look about him with a startled
| glance, as if some old association had
been unpleasantly Jared.
The brother and sister paid their com
pliments to Mrs Lyon and the President,
and then Mrs, lIassan looked about her
Sydney, who felt lonely and out of place
attached himself to Professor Beaucour.
and made conversation about the college
library to the extreme disgust of Miss
Maud Clay, who had been making herself
agreeable by asking series of questions,
varying from astronomy and chemistry to
the professors own paper on the ''Cata
| combs, in the last North American
| The professor was Il shy man, and like
| most authors, he could not bear to talk
| about his own writings. Perhaps he felt
| grateful to Mr. Devinc, for he entered
| with ardor into the subject Of English
| classic literature. In the meantime AIr
| Deyine was conscious of a curious feeling
hot hope, not expectancy, not terror
an influence in the air, for which he
could not account, only as it connected
| itself with rather loud treble voice. and
| a frequent sound halt-laugh, halt-giggle,
| that came from amid a group Of students.
| The voice, the laugh were oddly familiar.
! They We're like, Yet unlike, sounds which
had rung i'll his memory for many a day.
| Mrs Hassan, listening to the CONVERSE
| ton OF that very elegant young gentle
| man. Master Dick Monroe, was at no loss
| to recognize the voice, for the memory of
| aversion in this case was trler than that
| Of love.
She sat where She could see Mrs Armers
| figure in the centre of u group Of young
| men. Mr. Armer had not been dead more
than eighteen months, but Mrs Armer
| had chosen since last Sunday, to leave of
! her mourning, on only to retain such as
might be disccrnibc rather by faith than
by sight
She wore pale lavender silk made very
low, and trimmed in every conceivable
place. She had violets and white roses in
her hair, and black velvet ribbon with 4
q pearl cross on her white neck. and pearl
and let bracelets on her arms. She had
not grown Old and AT twcntv-nine looked
hardly less fresh than at nineteen. Her
color had not faded, and she had the same
way of rocking to and fro, twisting her
neck and rolling her eyes in u manner
which some people called graceful, and
| which had of Old so disguised Cassv Devinc
and charmed her brother.
Would it charm him again? Mrs Has
san glanced at him across the room, and
saw that he had seen his old love, and was
| watching her, quite obliyious to the pro-
! tessor's remarks about a fine historical col
| lection which he desired to see added to the
| library The look on Mr. Deyine'S face
was not of admiration or grief, or amy
| very intense emotion, except that OF
| shocked surprise and wonder
| Presently as Professor Beaucour turned
TO speak to some one else. Mr.: Dcvnc
made his way to the group of which Mrs.
| Armer was The centre, and reached it just
in time to hear these words:
''Oh, people in America make such
tri@hts of themselves, wearing mourning
forever and going about like 50 many
walking pals And if you put on black
YOU can't 90 to parties Why, when Cad
Martins brother died, and she was per
tectly devoted to him, she wouldn't put on
black at all, because then, She said, She
couldn't 90 into society, and her mind
was so distracted she needed diversion
more than ever. | told MI Armer that
he needn't expect | was going to make Il
guy of myself for him forever, if he died.
And here came the inevitable laugh,
echoed by many of the surrounding gen
tlemen think most men have a certain
| pleasure in hearing a woman talk like Il
fool as il justfies their prcconceived the
| ories.
ssCan this be the woman | have had in
my mind all these years thought Mr..
Devine bewildered, and yet with a dim
sense of relief, as if some heavy cloud
was gradually dispensing from before his
eyes.
He stood and watched her every motion;
| fascinated, but with fascination how diff
terent from his old passion There was
the same turn of the head; the same up
lifting of the eyes he had been wont to
think so graceful and sweet; the same
sidelong motions of the body, which he
once compared to the movements of a
lily on its stem Why did all these airs
and graces now strike him as so disagree
able; and the manner which had once
been charming arlessness, seemed self
conscious affection Had he been a blind
fool, OF had she been different; and from
what creature had been modelled that fair,
| l,.l
shrined in his heart.
''Oh, don't feel as if | could sustain
life in such a place as this" continued
Mrs. Armer. ''How do you manage when
you are at home? ?' she asked, throwing
back her head. and tavoring Major Mon
roe, u. S. A., with a roll of her eyes not
unlike that popularly ascribed to duck
in thunderstorm.
Il have sustained myself with the pro-
phetic hope of your arrival" said the major.
with a bow, and then he slipped out Of