The Portland daily press., 1874-08-01
influence; he was charmed: he loved q living
naem. a fine nictura a stately stafua and he

| poem, fine picture. a stately statue. and he
very much admired Garry Hall.
Poor Tottie Wylde was in tribulation.
| Since the accident her ssterly affection for
| Eddie seemed somehow to change its nature.
| AT times she reproached herself bitterly with
not feeling toward him in those days of pain as
| she had felt before she could not regard him
| as Harry or Jack now; there seemed differ
| epce-a something between them that was as
| strange az it was unpleasant. Could it be
| that his silence on the marriage question
| upon which he had been SO worrying before)
was really annoying her? Absurd; she flung
| the thought from her. But then this snowy
| Garry Hall, with her airs and graces, ana
knowledge of the world, and fascinating
| clever talk-was not Eddie (Tottie's own
| Eddie) struck with her? Was he not almost
| openly flirting with her? Horrible thought!
| Might he not be actually in love with her?
| 1t looked very like it, and though she (Tottie)
| did not, would not, could not care one atom
for him in that way, still it was pity to see
| him entrapped by this brazen she-dragon
and poor Tottie burst into bitter tears as,
| after numberless sleepless nights and endless
| mental discussion of all the ms and outs of
| the matter, she at length came 20 the inevi-
| table conclusion that it must be so, and that
she herself was really in love with this man,
| who shocked, doubtless, and disguised with
Ter sirlishness, her levity, and her share in
his accident, had given up all thoughts of her
| all love for her, in favor of the odious Garry
| Hall. This conclusion came to the young
| girl with a cruel pang, none the less severe
that she felt that she had almost forced events
to take the course they had done, and her
self aft cted punishment was constant and
sharp. But she had plenty of pluck, had this
| mountain maiden, together with Soupcon
| of natural feminine revenge in her mental
| constitution, and she soon made up her mind
that, if Eddie had really thrown her over
| flor, of course, the race to decide the ques-
| ton was all nonsence), he should not, in adj
dition, have the satisfaction OF seeing that she
! cared for the act or missed HIM in the least.
| If he openly flirted, SO could she; if he was
| playing false, why should she appear to
| mind?
Captain Sam Hall-(why, by the way, are
| the swarms of Halls that adorn the British
service, each and every one, dubbed s'Sam,"
| as if there were no other nickname possible p
Captain Hall was terrible firt, Of the
most dangerous sort-not your namoy-pamby
| "ladies man," who is tolerated by the sex
| much as wise kings IN the days of yore tole-
| rated their court-fools-but real slap dash,
| go ahead admirer, who could not help making
| love to every pretty woman he saw,
| whether she liked it or not, and was in con-
sequence very successful in his love-forays.
In Captain Sans eyes Tottie Wylde was
simply adorable, and from the first day he
! saw her established at the ''Ryar' by Eddie's
sofa he determined on Irritation. He tried
it, and got well laughed at by her for his
pains; but he, nothing daunted. resumed
operations day by day, until at last-some-
what suddenly, and good deal to his sur
prIse-hs new charmer appeared to APP
preciate his efforts, and, he made rapid pro-
gress in his suit. In fact Tottie Wylde, when
once she began to favor him, became almost
too exigeante, and whether it was his face,
his herOism, his jovial manner, or combina-
ton of all, he could nos tell she sat with
him, walked with him, danced with him, and
acted towards him altogether more like an
engaged bride than anything else, once the
ice between them had been broken. For
some reason or other, Sam Hall was very
anxious to keep things of this sort little
dark before his sister; he seemed absurd as
it was) to be afraid OF her laughing at him for
spoohing on such chit as Miss Wylde; while
Tottie was just as DESTROYS to preserve appear
ances before her brothers (her parents didn't
care much what she did)-boys will be so an
nOyed about these affairs-so that eventually
1t came 10 pass that an understanding Was
established between the two as to their walks,
| rides, moonlight strolls, ETC., that was very
pleasant, even if a little deceittul. But some
how Sam discovered, to his great chagrin at
first (afterward he did not mind ii a bit), that
unfrequently turned up Unexpectedly in the
most enjoyable tete G-tete, to their manifest
confusion and his very evident annoyance
"Gad, Miss Car must have hand in thisv'
Sam said one day to Tottie as they met Eddie
face to face in secluded part of the promon-
tory walk.
''Why your sister?" asked Tottie, when he
had passed on; surely you don't leave my
notes lying about?'
Captain Hall muttered alphabetically some
thing about his id carelessness, which he
excused on the ground that Garry took care
of everything for him. Tottie would put
stop to that easily, so rejoicing to know that
Eddie could see them from the position on
the hill) she made Master Sam sit dcwn, and
there and then she indicted him into the
mysteries of a system of shorthand her
brother Jack had somehow picked up.
'sThere,' she said, handing.him copy of the
character to put in his card case, sl'll always
write to you in that -"
''Gad!'' he broke in, "Carry will think it's
some of my old Arabic writing! It's not un-
like it at all.''
"All the BETTER" said Totte and the az
rangemont for secre5 correspondence was
completed.
CHAPTER III.
Mdharvest and shortening twilight: grand
red-gold moons, calmly ruling the soft,
scented autumn nights, as the southwest
breeze came up, purring and kissing from
the thickening channel mists. The Hon.
Mark Wylde and his wife were disturbed in
their minds as they sat out on balcony in
the ''Royar' and gazed on the throbbing
waves. A distant relative, a Major RastoD,
had been staying down at the Marine Hotel,
on the beach, for some days past, but it was
only this evening that they knew of his even
being in England. He had just left them,
and in the course of conversation had i'm
parted to the parents some information,
partly true, partly mere seasurf gossip, that
made them thoughtful. The upshot OF their
discussion was that Tottic was to have-fOr
about the first time in her life-a serious
talking to- the following morning.
Eddie Keller was lounging the next day
about noon out on the lawn, wondering
lazily what he should do with himself after
lunch. His arm was nearly all right again
now, and there were many amusements open
to him, but they were all encountered with
one objection, company, and the man wanted
to be alone. Only a month or six weeks ago
he would Lave bounded with delight at the
''company"-tha of Garry Hall-which he
now dreaded. In fact, revulsiOn of feeling
had set in, and Keller was very unsettled in
his mind. and very unhappy. He could not
account for it; he had, from the very first
hour he saw her, hungered and thrsted after
the love OF this splendid woman; and, now
that he seemed to have attained 1t, it turned
to bitter husks in his mouth. Had the win
ming leen too easy? He had stuck to his
alb urd bargain with Tottie through pigue
and feverish irrtability as much as for any
reason, and now his darling little cousin
seemed hopelessly lost to Misunderstanding in
that staggering dragon, with his bravado,
his crimson-brown face, his uncouth oaths
and his horrible boLhommie. The whole
business since the accident seemed strangely
unfortunate, and all was at SKIES and sevens.
He was out of sorts--ha been for some time
past-perplexed, miserable, and he almost
wished that ne had never seen the mes neriz-
ing Garry Hall.
A soft, warm hand on his shoulder, low,
itch voice at his ear-''In the blues ?"
eyes, in the bluest of bluesv' he an
swered, little harshly, as he turned and
met the searching play of the deep, dark eyes
OF Garry Hall.
"You are ripped, my poor fellow; bored to
death at this stupid hJe. You want a
change-eXctement. Let us stroll on the
beach and talk of it. Come"
There was magic in those ewes allurement