The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1877-04-06
TERRIBLY DECIDED.

ooh Sara, you are too absurd" AM
pretty Grace Ashleigh laughs her pleas
ATTEST laugh. "The idea Of loving TIVE
men at once, and not knowing which L
choose ] don't believe you at all"
"Believe or not, Grace, just as yor
please" is the soft serious voiced answer
Those wonderful, deep hazel eyes o
sara Prescott's turn all their subduec
richness of color toward her friend whilst
she speaks, and every feature of hel
beautiful face wears an impress OF earn
est meaning.
at is true, Grace" she whispers
"true, true, true! There are moments
when I feel confident that Ralph Curtis.
with his dark, sOuthern-lOoking beauty
and his impulsive, reckless ways, is by
far dearer to me. But a visit from
blonde-baired, blue-eyed Walter Crosbie
changes everything. | I'm just tossed
about in spirit from oae to the other
Each seems to touch, with me, a separ'
ate chord of congeniality. | don't know
how it will end. Here they have both
been lingering along at the hotel, Grace,
paying me daily visits since the first OF
last July"
"Perhaps," suggested Grace, after a
little silence while they walked along
the twilit paths of the great lawn which
compasses the luxurious summer-house
where Sara Prescott lives" Perhaps you
will end by hating them both, Sara|'
81 cannot tell. And yet that seems
impossible"
livery WE'LL" answered Grace; 81
must ask you to have my carriage or
dered around now, Sara, notwithstand-
ing | should. like to remain and help to
counsel you in your troubles; but please
remember that | have seven miles to
drive, and that mamma makes a perfect
Rachel of herself if l stay out after
dark"
So Grace presently takes her depart.
ure, and Sara is left to hold converse
with her own thoughts, while she begins
a second, and this time a wholly solitary
stroll among the stately shrubberied
lawns.
Very gloomy and miserable those
thoughts are. She recalls, with a sense
of shrinking fear, how intense a passion
for her has recently grown to sposses'
both Ralph Curtis and Walter Crosble
how each has become almost aggres-
sive, of late, in his fierce request Tor
| some final answer to his eager hopes, and
how the more that either pleads the
more absolute and complete has been her
indecision, her doubt, her perplexlty.
No, she cannot make up her mind.
Allow that she is mentally a monstrosity
of ~womanhood allow that nobody has
ever been precisely in her unsettled con-
dition; the fact exists all the same, that
she loves two men at once, and has no
power to choose between them.
Suppose they should have some deadly
quarrel on her account. Nothing is
more possible. They have grown to
hate each other; of that fact Sara feels
quite sure. They are living at the same
hotel, and are now constantly thrown
together. Sara shudders now when she
remembers what evidences she has had
of fierce a temper each possesses. Oh,
why cannot she be like other women?
WHY must she suffer SO keenly from
what seems nothing but her own gross
stupidity and silly irresOlution.
Just at this stage of Sara's thoughts,
the sound of a footstep directly behind
her meets the young girls ear. She
turns, and in the vague dark, sees Wal
ter CrOsbie's tall, commanding figure,
and fair, Saxon face. He begins speak
ing with brusque suddenncss: Sara
Miss P~roscott-I have come to bid you
good. by"
She clasps both hands together in an
abrupt burst of surprise.
"You cannot possibly mean it?"
al do. l am tired of being played
fast and loose with, from day to day"
"You are not going" she answers,
calmly, after a little silence, and whilst
they were walking On. al know by
your tones and your manner that it is
only a ruse. You are not going until |
give you a final answer"
: And for Gods sake" Walter blurts
forth, "when is that final answer coming?
There are times, Sara Prescott, when |
feel like believing that no more heartless
ooquette than yourself ever drew breath,
and that you are no more for me than
your are for Ralph Curtis"
"Pardon Inc, | think that heard my
name mentioned"
None other than Ralph Curtis him
self who spoke these words.
The vague halflights has now yielded
TO the Frightening glimmer of a full, SUI
perb moon, whose silver globe hangs mid
way between horizon and zenith, beauti-
fully pendant in the still, blue, breeze
less sky.
Ralph Curtis, having just emerged
from behind a dark barrier of tall heavy
shrubbery round which the road winds,
stands facing Water Crosbie and sara,
ais black eyes and olive brown counter.
ince fully visible TO them both. I'm
Ter his dark moustache there plays a
cynical smile.
sara utters a little scream of dismay.
"How unexpected" she ~falters; and
hen there is a silence among the trio,
which lasts until Walter Crosbie hastily
it. !
every unexpected" he exclaims f: !
and yet, after all, scarcely inoppoI-
une. / for one am glad it has happened. f,
I gives me, at least, the opportunity Of ,
skiing you in Mr.. Curtis presence, Miss !
ara, how much longer you desire this .
beurd masquerade shall continue a?
With whom-tO make a sort Of epigram 9
OF the situation " while he laughs a
DIV, discordant lsugh)-"do you wish {