The Republican journal., 1874-04-23
After Years OF Waiting.

"Ot 4 crush makes me feel Vicious
Rupert Thornbury smiled rs he looked
down Al the speaker Something had evi
IDENTITY put her ont. Are You often Wei
! onSly disposed. Mrs kathIane Ii is new
to me
81 wish You would moi call me that
Rupert. Mrs. kathlane' lon Dc il on
purpose. and don't like IT,
The last words We're spoken like petu-
liant child, and there was a cloud on the
face which looked mp for moment from
the soft. viVidiy-cOlOred woods which the
white and slender fingers were knitting
into some incomprrhensible "iancv work =
A very beautiful face it was. and very
beautiful woman was little Mrs kathlane
and no one in the wide world was more
thoroughly convinced of that fact than
Rupert Thornbu1y.
She was slight and small in figure
girlish-looking still, despite her iour-and-
twenty years. No other woman would
have dared with her complexion. to wear
the colors which she did-otten in defiance
Of ordinary rules She wore. this morn
ing, a deep royal purple dress, with purple
bands in her dark hair, and looked charm
inc. Her hair dropped over her forehead
in lustrouS waves. and was fastened be-
hind with 4 high golden comb Her face
was almost marvellous in its perfect form
and brilliant coloring; and her great dark
eyes, with their long lasheS. We're enough
OF themselves TO turn an ordinary mans
head.
II don't like it, She said, again, glanc-
ing al her companion, who was abstract
edlv tanglng the bright woods. apparcnt-
ly lost in thought, land shall be serious
ly angry with You ii You persist in being
50 formal. For it is formal, after YOU have
known me since | was a little child, to
speak as though we were strangers
'I'll not call you SO again, Millicem
Only Mr.. Thornbury paused
'Only what p returned the imperiou5
little lady, giving him another searching
glance.
"Things have changed great deal
since YOU We're a child. Mllicent You
are a woman now, wealthy, courted, fiat
tered; and but it is no good talking of
these things, must be going. VIII you
promise me the FIRST waltz tonight ?"
''Certainly. / hope you appreciate my
kindness. Iwaltz very rarely you know !
~ do appreciate it and now | must 90
down to that stupid old office, rs you call
it, and make up for lost time, Good morn
ing, Millicent don't forget Your promise, :
and then he was gone.
GOne, and unconscious, as he walked
swiftly down the street. that Milicent
kathane's darl, eyes were looking after
him, and thai when turned back to her
work, a soft sigh tlW1crcd from her beanti-
tnl face.
He had known her, as She said, since
she was 4 little child; and he q strong,
rude lad, had loved the iiower-taced little
Millicent dearly; and when, at the age of
eighteen he had been sent away from his
home TO qualify himself to play part in the
work of life, it was with secret determina-
ton 10 return after years had passed, and
n dozen ye?rs old, she had taken the
warmest place in her warm heart for her
own.
Years passed by and Rupurt Thornbury,
worked hard and We'll, but the fortune he
so ardently wished for never came. He
was an honorable man; and, crushing his
own heart back, he took his fathers bur
dens on his strong young shoulders, and
bore them bravely. Only once he taltered
and that was when, after scarcely six
years had passed since he first went INTO
the world, news came to him that Mill
cent, ''his little Milly,n was married. 1t
was her fathers wish, the Gossips said
Mr.. kathlane, the suitOr. was immensely
wealthy. and, having been fascinated by
Millicent's beauty, her parents had used
all their influence with her. and the end
was she married Millicent, now Mrs
kathlane, went away to her husband 5
home. and Rupert Thornbry went on
with his dull. dstasteful labor, with not
even the old bovish dream to Tighten his
task
Six years more passed slowly by, max
ing many changes IN the affairs of both
Mr.. kathlane died suddenly after two OF
three years of married life, and Miliccnt
went abroad with some friends
She had been back nearly year now.
and had settled down to town life Dur
ING this period the old childish friendship
for Rupert Thornbury had been warmly
renewed. and Rupert had discovered that,
charming as she was in her childhood and
girlhood, now that she was 4 woman she
was infinitely more So
During this year life had grown Il deal
brighter to Mr. Thornbury; he was pros
pering slowly and steadily, and had gain
ed many friends. Anxious mammas looked
upon him with favor, and many bright
eyes gave him bewitching glances-hither-
to in vain. His whole heart-and he
knew twas still with Millicent Kath-
lane; but her marriage had raised her.
both as TO wealth and position, so far
above himself that he did not. except at
some iond delusive moment, dare to as
pire to her. He was only q city man,
plodding on iii his close city office, with
his three or four clerks under him.
"How beautiful she is p he thought, rs
he walked away from the house. "Just
the same little Milly at heart, too, as in
the dear old days. And her glances-O,
if | might dare to believe in them seem
as true to me as they were then. But what
would the world say ?'
That night saw him at Mrs. Grangar's, Il
fashionable woman, with some fashionable
daughters, one of whom, Cornelia, had
made a dead set at Mr. Thornbury. He
stood in the lighted rooms, watching
eagerly for Millicent; but il was not until
down the long room--moving as easily
and gracefully as though she had been,
from earliest childhood. accustomed to
reign in society-a murmur of admiration
followed her.
She was dressed in y trailing robe, sill
very blue, with an overdress of soft white
lace; her beautiful neck and arms were
bare, save for their ornaments of fretted
gold; her face was untouched by paint or
powder, and her vivid coloring made her
beauty seem almost unearthly as compared
with some OF the many faces around her
Her black hair, elaborately dressed, was
fastened here and there with dropping
sprays, looping her overdress, and IN her
jewelled 6ouquetiere, the scarlet buds
glowed and burned.
SIS she not lovely?" That was Ques-
+;o,, oh o1yoru ono fa1t aO1l1 bo