The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-08-12

and i watched ner WIN" Jou'b "N
idle curiosity as she knelt at her pray
era, wondering il her face was worthy
NJ her form. AS she rose, a fresh
breeze from nm opening door blew back
her veil, and I caught q passing glimpse
of her features. -,
All the blood in my veins rushed
madly to my heart. Surely it was the
face OF my dreams-the face Of my
friends Marguerite Yet it seemed a
younger face perhaps less Madonna
like than the picture, haloed by cloud
like drapery. You see / had not for.
gotten the slightest peculiarly OF the
photograph. | could have sworn to the
very pattern of the lace.
Bsfore / recovered my senses she Ind
disappeared.
CFor three days Il haupteGgthe Made
~leineiin vain. On.the fourthI caught q
glimpse OF her again, stopping 70 drop
a coin in the hand OF o pallidi child.
But it was a fete day, and the crowed
swayed in between as. After that l
saw her no more
/ went on to Switzerland, lingering
for a month among it's mountain
passes ; made q short al into Italy,
and came back. ] was lettering along
Les Champs Elysees one evening IN a
ct of Inconsistencies, half inclined to
take the next steamer for Hayre, and 80
end this rowing life, when | became
aware Of being watched watched by a
dark figure under the shadow OF the
opposite trees. The red sunlight fell
fnll and strong where / was standing, but
it was twilight all about me. ! changed
nv position hurriedly and hastened on
But in Il momeutI heard quick foot
steps behind me, then q run and q
shout. An arm fell across my shoulder,
a hand clasped mine and q well-remem-
bered voice cried:
SIT is you'll Ihave found you All,
mon ami nor ami But it wa the
pearl, eyen as / told you 80 in that wild
Calumet" And Hippo'yto LlIstrangc
pointed to the scarf pin L wore that
day. "But you are grown older, mon,
sjenr. YOU are changed ; and was not
thinking Of you at that moment. But
the great pearl shimmered in the sun
light, and, it drew my eyes to the lace
above it," ,,
Said |, "Not that it was charmed."
1t ia needless to speak of the happl-
ness of this reunion, all the greater for
the mood in which 1t found me. .y.
81 shall not lose sight of you again."
said NJ. LiEstrange. "You will go home
with me tomorrow to StIasbourg, Mar
guerite-you remember'-and he smiled
more brightly than before" Margue
rite will be glad to know my friend.
Very often have / talked OF u days
together
Marguerite (! Shall I confess that for
one moment | shrank rs from a coming
pain, a hidden danger? Then every
Instinct in my manhood rose in quick
rebellion. My friends wife was vestaI
to me even in thought ; sacred Us if
shlined and guarded by inapproachable
distances. ! would go with him.
Why had he not written to me?-
Simply because he had lost my address
-"only this and nothing more"
II would take too long to tell our de-
liQhtful journey, and [ pass on rapidly
to the hour when the towers Of Stras'
bourg rose before us, and the lofty, spire
of her cathedral pierced the clouds.
My friends chateau wa inside the
walls Of the city, on rising ground.
Sec" he said, with d sweep OF his
hand, rs the carriage rolled slowly along,
"this il not 80 grand, 80 fresh, as your
great New World yet it is a fair pic
ture."
He might well say 30. The seven
gated city lay at Gun feet the blue
Rhine wound along between storiod
banks; the branching Ill glided through
the town, picturesque with its many
bridges in the far distance rose tho
VosRts mountains, and the Black Forest
Of Germany.
And now we were at the chateau, a
stately pile, ivy clad and moss grown,
yet bright, seemingly with an eternal
youth.
"Marguerito, this is the friend Of
whom you have sc often heard me speak
Edward Rpon," said L'Estrange, as
] entered the salon an hour after, and a
fair, sweet, womanly face, the face of
the Madeleine, looked up from the bit
of embroidery over which it was bend
ing.
"Is she like the picture-my Mar
guerite ?" asked my host; but before /
could reply he went on "By that name
you first knew her, and by that name
sou are to know her now. We are to
| live in Arcadia for n whole month and
as is fitting we are to be to each other
Marguerite and Edward and Hippolyte.
Have not the kind fates proved that we
arc akin, as / told you years dgoP Why
else have they brought us together 2"
Ibowed low over the lady's hand; but
| did not call her-Marguerite. Neither
did ] call her Madame LEstrange.
Some subtitle underlined feelingprevented
that l compromised by not calling her
anything.
| must not make my story too long.
You anticipate all | would say. There
were no other guests at the chateau.
We three were as isolate as Adam and
Eve in the Garden OF Eden, That was
truely au enchanted week, in which we
rode, we rambled, we talked, we read,
we sang-happy dwellers in Arcadia.
And thon-then--I awoke one day to
find that there was no safety for me but
in flight. This Marguerite" was grow
ing too dangerously dear. l, who pray
daily, "Let me not be led iuto tempta,
tation"-what business had l there,
dallying with danger?
l was not a villain (; I was not an idiot;
| had no more conceit than my fellows ;
yos, l could not help seeing that Mar
guerite's soft brown eyes grew sorter
atill when they met mine, and that the
long lashcs dropped over them with a
subtler grace when l drew near. l i did
not look for this but it wal there, and
/ saw i'll must 60.
A determination that | made known
to my friend tho next morning.
"But you are not going f. he said,
at is too soon. Did | not say you were
to stay n month? We will have moro
guests, il you tire OF this dull life /; and