Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-10-20

i 1OS
suggesting that Edgar was different-or had
looked different in the country. Could it be
that he wore those ill-fitting boots last Aug.
ust? Love and boots! She felt the incon-
4 grulty, but she could not drive the thoughts
away.
And there were other troubles Edgar
she said to him one evening. "do you know
morrow night?
cam I? Who has pledged me?'
II have, Sir; who else has right to dispose
of yon, pray" she added, with pretended AFRO
gance, giving him at the same time one OF
those glances which he could never meet
or two to calm his pulses down.
No one, certainly" mo one, but you. But
do not think can go, Sophia"
you must 60"
"If my engagements allow me. There's a
good bit OF sickness abroad, and Mr.. King is
not very well, himself
A naughty shade stole over her face She
was one of the last to brook contradiction.
| "Mrs. Fitzhugh will never forgive YOU if YOU
stay away. Ipromised you should be there. .
| 81 hardly think she is so vindictivA
| "Well, then, I never will
"Little despot! But listen to reason. have
SO much to do just now; a doctors time, you
know, is never his own /"
| Sophia's frown grew dark. II think there
is always some excellent excuse provided
whenever want you to do anything, Mr..
Mervyne.'
Edgar looked at her. astonished "Do you
call that just% he inquired, gravely.
Yes" she answered, recalling three or four
| evenings when he had been unable to meet
her. 81 have seen it this long, long time.
! You don't care to be with me"
"Sophiap
| ut is So" she said, nervously pulling to
| pieces the beautiful rose she held, which he
mad given her; 'you don't wish to meet my
| friends, or to crafty me. Your profession is
great deal more to you than l amp
| Think what you are saying, Sophia. Ny
| profession is one thing; you are another All
| the time can spare to you | do. Do you see
how you pain me By these accusationsw
| II don't care" and the mood ended in a
| burst OF tears. What could lover do but
kiss them off, protesting against the folly of
| her suspicious, soothing her with VOWS of I'M
failing affection. But, having once assured
her that only duty could stand in the way of
her commands and wishes, Mr.. Nlervyne ex-
| pected to be believed. He was not prepared
| for fresh petulance, for renewed complaints
whenever he failed to make his appearance at
some ball or dinner, and he resented them as
an imputation on his faith. Utterly sincere
himself he did not comprehend that Sophia
said these bitter things with only half belief
Incapable himself of wounding her he knew
not how reckless pride and vanity can be of
Others feelings. These difficulties generally
ended as the first had-with semi-peni-
tence on her part and reconciliation, but the
peace that followed grew briefer and briefer.
one morning, as she sat with her white hands
crossed lstlessly, detection written in every
line of her face. "Tell me what it is.''
cit is nothing l can tell to any one.''
"Not to me?' he asked with meaning. "You
and your lover are at variance, my dear Can't
I help your
mo, you can't. And if you could you
shouldn't. Just please to take yourself away"
Hubert smiled. The breach he had antici-
pated was coming.
Was it? Perhaps. Sophia sat on, sulky and
sad. Things were turning OUT so differently
from what she had anticipated. Edgar was
different; not what she had thought him. not
what he was at first. Her shallow impulsive
nature, changing in moment from petulance
to tenderness, could not understand the quiet
S rength of his affections. She was miserable
that it did not overflow in passionate words,
endearment, constant attendance. She wept
her beautiful eyes out over his imagined cold
ness, and met him with reproaches that
wounded and estranged.
Another thing; their tastes and pursuits
were SO dissimilar. These balls and kettle
drums and insane gatherings which made her
life, he hated; The social, sober, parties at
Candleford, where all the ladies knew each
other, were quiet different. People went
/ home to bed at eleven o'clock there, here it
| was thought early if they met at that hour.
And as Mr.. Mervyne once remarked to her,
how, if she sat up half the night. could he be
| fit for his duties in the morning. During the
course of the Summer, Mr. King, who was i'll,
could not often get up at all to Kensington-
square. Sophia grieved; but resentment
mingled strongly with her grief. Her refec-
tons were rebellious. There were some men.
She knew who would have given her all the
idolatry she craved; and who was ne that re-
fused it? She had condescended-by this you
may know that love was far in the decline
to man whom everybody thought beneath
her, and how was she rewarded?
"It is hard to see you so unhappy" Hubert
remarked to her, and there was true sympathy
in hisstone; "and getyou condemn me to 81
lence,"
"Speak, them" she answered. II have not
so much sympathy given me that can afford
to refuse a kind word"
"Not much sympathy! This from you, SO
beautiful SO belovedn
"Once," she said, bitterly-"not now"
Why J. not? What has wrought the
Il don't know" she answered, drearily. In
truth, she did not fully understand
81 could tell you if you would bear it, You
are trying to achieve impossible ies-to
| kindle fire in ice-turn the veriest prose to
| poetry. You have made Ia choice unit for
you. The man is worthy person in his way,
1 acknowledge it, sterling and true; but he is
about as unsuitable to you as an owl would
be to a humming- bird. Neither can he ex-
Poetic comprehend you. The greatest kind
ness to him, as to yourself, would be to break
the tie between you"
mo, no." she said hurriedly, II can't do
that. Not yet, at any rate" she added to her
secret self. But the idea came up sometimes.
1t fattered her vanity that. Hubert believed
her uneomprehended where she ought to be
most understood, most admired. And that
smile of the owl and humming- bird caught
her fancy; her own gay, airy, sunny, tritiing
nature would never mate well with Mr..
Meryyne's solid, steady going virtues.
| At the close of Summer, Mrs. Strahan went
on the Continent, carrying her niece with her.
Hubert went also in their train. The young
doctor had to stay at home and take care Of
his patients; there could be no holiday tours
for him. Be very sure that Hubert Strahan
who liked his cousin very we'll and her fortune
very much, took care to improve his oppor
| tunites.
In November they were back again. But
she had been whole week at home before she
let Mr.. Mervyne know of it. He came up or
the following evening, and the old intercourse
| was renewed.
But it was not what it had been, on eithe,
side. He would come in late, often weary
preoccupied with grave cares; she was more
| frivOiOnsIv worldly than ever and she hjrtaf