The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-06-12

eyes was brighter than usual as she
bent them on her cavaIier.
| Lucy could not ;suppeess deep @pang
1 as, s8 beheld her husband drpp on one
knee and hold out his hahl. which
1 Claudia pHther dainty foot into; and The
next instantshe had ligated gracefully
I int @ the saddle. 49, 4
Graham placed the whip in her hand,
then threw himself into his own stirrups.
and they rode away down the avenue
| and cut Of sight. Claudia sat her horse
cnarmngly. Graham, ALSO, was q, a,splen-
luid rider; and as Luey watched them
4 disappearing through the trees the not
tears rose to her lashes. She Was very
awkward on horseback.
/ Tue young vile turned from the VIM
4 dow and surveyed her own eompafa-i
1,tiyely insignificant figure in the mirror.
Truly, she was very niiefI0r, physically,
10 her cousin: but o, could 1t be pessi-'
4 BILE that thelbride OF one month Was al
1 ready eclipsed in her husbands eyes by
\ the glowing, matured charms or an,
other?
/ Presently she started violently at per-
ceiYlng the reflection OF a tall, dark form
standing behind her and looking over her
i shoulder.
"Good heavens, Martial" she ex-,
claimed, show you frightened meV'
-"Yuung misshs," said the old negress,
in a mysterious tone, "oonan mlisRt git
bex wild old CONAN, bat 'taint good
ling fer dat lady To be yah. Dor t'vite
I UNI for stay longer dan you kin help,
4 Miss Lucy. Ole Matah very near ee
! grade, am ee kin see mUh dan you young
1folk. o, Miss Lucy, sem um home!"
l "What are you talking. about, Mar
4 thar dueried Lucy, with Il forced laugh,
but turning pale, nevertheless.
| so, my dear chile, you knows what
mean," said the aged slave, and she
lhobbled away, gruntlng at every step.
| Alter she was gone Lucy went up
stairs to her dressiDg-room and gave
a way TO flood OF tears. "But it will
never do to let my misery be apparent"
:. she said to herself; ana accordingly she
: patned her face, composed IL TO smile,
and dressed herself for dinner.
She had not been in the paflor many
minutes before Clauiia came in, gioW-
ling with exercise and looking bewllder-
ingly beautiful, with her long skirt gath
cred up gracefully and thrown over one
Iarm. Graham did not make his appear
ance until dinner, and all During tnat
!! meal he was unusually silent.
That night, alter Claudia Levin had
= dismissed her black llre-woman, she
drew large easy chair up 10 her toilet
| LaDles anu loduiiS pobA hOl VtpoNo ou ~,
gazed steadily at her own reelection in
Inc mirror. "Strange, strange" she
said, musingly, Il have lived lor twen-
weight years without experiencing this
sensation. The novelty o, IL is alto
gether charming. 1t is more-warm,
Wild, delicious! Yes, yes" sne contin-
ued in a murmur OF suppressed excite
ment, 'the passion that never intiamed
my early youth has seized upon me
now; ana in this slender shapelg youth
OF twenty: three my heart has found its
/. king!
;, "Ha, hap she laughed softly, 81 can
not tail to win. What has that poor,
} puny girl to oppose to such wealth OF
Deauty2 This newborn joy is toe in.
tense for me to strangle in its infancy.
, | wall not forbid myself to love Graham
Lindsay. And he already loves mep
She smiled again, a raptufous smile,
as she uneonsclously bowed to the per.
i. fection of her Creators workmanship
dwelt few minutes longer on the
contemplation OF her goddess5like form.
, then, prayerless, sought her couch.>
Three weeks passed, and the blue<cr.
| cles below Lucy Lindsay's eyes had
, deepened with the decline OF every sun
N er sweet manner had lost none OF lts
cordially, and her lips never uttered q
lreproach; but she wIlhered inWardly
under sense of Illumination against
which she felt herself poWerless. Gra-
ham took ClaHdia TO ride nearly every
afternoon, and spent his evenings play
/ ing chess with her. His manner to his
| wife was distrait anu reserved, and OIL
t ten of evenings while she sat, silent and
. forgotten, in d corner OF the sofa, SEEM
lingly engrossed with her crochet work
| she perceived glances of unmistakable
: tenderness exchanged by the chess
players. The injured wife shrank like
a.. the veriest coward from the searching
gaze OF old Martha's eyes; and, in nel
youthful inexperience, brought for the
= first time in iier life face to face with
such shameful wrong, 1t seemed almost
as though sne herself were the criminal