, 1875-02-20

most an intrusion. So she sat on alone,
! by the light of the oil-lamp turning over
| the dry leaves rather lisileSsIv, while
/ those two outside among the fresh deWs
and scents of the garden found the time
pass agreeably enough in looking at the
moonlight and saying, il may be, some of
| those things which moonlight is very apt
/ TO suggest.
| Undoubtedly the tse-G-tets was pleas
| ant One-enough so to make it worth
while repeating il pretty often. Miss
/ Paulett had little reason 10 complain
| that Marguerite went off incoming with
| Clarence; if anybody went incoming
with him il was herself. 4 stranger, in
deed, might have fancied him the lover
she had set I'D in self-defense, though
defense of what il would be harder 90
say. No need to-De minute in describ-
ing the progress of so familiar a game;
most people have played is ur seen il
played at their own or somebody else's
expense; enough 10 say that il
went on very much TO the salts
faction of two at least of the trio
as for the third, her feelings are not so
easily expressed. Strange as it may ap-
pear, Marguerite did not comprehend the
play that was being played before her
eyes In such matters she was innocent
and ignorant as child; there was moth
ing in the dream-lIfe she had lived hith-
erlo TO give her experience OF the world
and its ways; her imagination had de
YelOped before her heart, which was
hardly vet aroused 10 know its own ca
pacities of suffering or passion. She had
not vet begun TO learn the lesson Clar
ence was al such pains TO teach her; she
WAS not likely to be an apt scholar,
measuring others, rs she unCOnSciOuSly
did, by her own standard of faith; and
if she felt a strange uneasiness, like
vague presentiment of evil, during those
days of COra's reign, she could not in the
least have told why.
But those days were almost at an end;
there was only one mole now before
George Paulett would return for his sis
ter. Marguerite had spent most of that
afternoon in the room of her aunt, who
was suffering from one of her frequent
nervous headaches, and was as capri
cious and restless as usual under those
circumstances. Toward evening Mrs.
Wyndham dropped asleep; perceiying
which, Marguerite stole out of the room
and out into the garden for q breath Of
fresh air. 1t was beginning to be dusk;
the stars were giimmering out, and the
air was full Of flower scents; everything
was so deliCiOusly sweet and still, after
her weary afternoon, that it was no won
der if Marguerite fingered and fell into a
reyerie that was half dream, half wake.
All at once she was reused by Clarence
Broughtons voice speaking near her; he
and Cora had been away together that
afternoon, and were just returned. Mar
guerite arose, meaning to Join them; but
as she looked over the trellis between she
saw that his arm was round Cora and
his lips bent chose TO hers.
That moment tore the veil from Mar
guerite's heart with a ruden-ss tLnt
seemed 10 wrench some of her Hfe's
fbers with it. She turned dizzy with the
passion that s.SSve in her, hot wave of
blood ss leap up and choke and
blind her, her lips parted in a gasp and
she fell back on the seat.
The others started at the sound. Cora
freed herself and ran away toward the
house; but BrOughtOn, instead of follow
ne, passed around the trellis, and dis
cerning the motionleSS figure crOuching
there in the dusk, with hidden face, he
was Fl no loss to comprehend that his
design was fully achieved. To do him
justice he had not intended the lesson to
be quite of this sort, and it was with as
much WiSgiVing as triumph in his voice
tharne exclaimed:
so have melted the ice, have |!
have made Tour heart heat at Lasts"
There WAS no answer nor movement.
Something in that absolute stiffness
frightened him He knclt down and
took her hand in hist WAS cold; he
raised her head; there was no breath on
the lips, no light in the eyes; she was
blind and deaf to his passion of despair.
He had melted the ice and it had
slipped from his hold; he had made her
heart beat and broken it, She was dead,
-HGrper's N0nthiy.