The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-07-14


'.oh, Mr. Chetwynd, hush, hush, for
PHYS sake r she cried, in breathless voice.
"Do not say such dreadful thing l am
married still-my husband is not dead y
Godfrey sprang to his feet and almost
staggered back.
"Oh, Heaven, spare mel" he groaned,
and then stood gazing, pale and silent, at
the glittering moon-path across the sea. 1t
seemed to him as if some one had struck
him violent blow and his senses were reel
ing.
Sibyl rose an laid her hand lightly on
his arm, saying, in frightened voice;
''Do not look like that Say you forgive
me. / never dreamt of such thing as this
indeed did not Oh, how could l be so
blind?"
He turned slowly and looked down into
the fearful, upraised face, SO haunting in its
loveliness.
"Forgive you2 Yes, I forgive yor.
Thank Heaven, ] am the only sufferer! II
you had learned to love me in the least; you
would have read my feelings and warned
ne"
A hot, burning flush rushed over her face
as she turned her head away.
THE knowledge that l was not free to
care for any one blinded me to everything
che said, in low, trembling voice, aud
Geoffrey, with hungry eyes reading her face,
knew that he was not the only sufferer.
"Sibyl, SIbyl, my darling"
And for one mad minute he held the dear
J form close to him, and pressed passionate
kisses on her cheeks and lips. Then he re-
leased her, and she stood trembling from
head to foot, her face buried IN her hands.
II beg your pardon" he said, slowly and
wearly II ought not to have done that;
but it was o short happiness to last whole
lifetime l will never forget myself so
again."
She answered him only by silent tears
filling between her fingers. Godfrey
leaned against the pillar OF the veranda and
watched her till he could bear it no longer.
"Don't-I can't bear it. Wait till l am
gone" he said huskily, and she looked up
startled
"Must you go away? Oh, my poor little
Cecil, what will he do?"
81 will stay if you wish it," he said quick
". Il will never remind you, by word or
deed of my love- and going away from you
will not alter it. No, will not CO."
81 cannot think tonight" she replied |;
'smy brain is so ronfused. 1 will think it
over and You must come and see Cecil to-
morrow. You must decide; you know bet
ter than do what is best nd right to do
Dut go now; want to get calm before he
wakes.
"Well, I will go. Good night Heaven
bless you!'
He did not trust himself to take her hand
even, hardly to look at her, but with a
quick, firm step and no backward glance,
| went away through the moonlight and shad-
ows-away, but not home-no: back to the
rooms that irresstibly recalled th lights of
her. He felt as if he should be Stifled with.
in their narrow walls-as if the ceiling
would come down and press upon his very
brain.
Through all his life, Geoffrey Chetwynd
| could never look back on that night without
a shudder Hour after hour he paced along
the sands in the bright light of the harvest
moon, till the advancing tide drove him up
on to the shingle, and then he mounted to
the cliff and paced along the marrow beaten
track made by the coastguards.
SiLyl wife and not widow--his love fol
her sin and utterly hopeless His first
impulse was to go as soon as day hrokt
whittier he did not know or care only AZ
far away from Sandbeach as he could get
where nothing would remind him Of her
and her name never by any chance reach his
ears. Bat even in his misery his thoughts
turned to others, and he thought Of hit
father aud sister left alone, of little Cecl
asking in vain for him, and perhaps trettine
himself into fever in his pain and weak
ness, aud Sibyl thinking him heartless ant
unkind to leave her. Perhaps she nigh
need his htlp--she was so triendless anC
alOre-and her husband must be q brute foI
her to have left him.
No: let him fight il out-bcnr his tortu~;
maufuly. and crush down his passionate
love into calm friendship, so as to be a
hand in case she should ever need him. l
would be the work of years perhaps life
time. Just now it seemed to him that neye
till the SHOWS of old age had silyered hi
hair and palsied his frame would his hea-
cease to beat faster at the sound of her voice
his blood cease to bound through his vein
at the touch Of her nd.
''But l need not let her know" b
thought bitterly. "Surely l am ma
enough to be able to control all outwar
signs of my love. If she can but learn
think that l have conquered my ieelln-s.
that cog for her only as friend--she WI
let me be near her--she will appeal to me
her troubles, and give me all the love th'
any man will ever have | must school m.
self to look calmly into her eyes, TO hold hi
hand Impressed in mine, and to realize I
for NE life holds no more passion that
have tasted the exquisite kisses OF love t.
night for the first and last time. And CO
do it for her dear sake, Heaven helping m
But, oh, Sibyl, Sibyl, would 10 Heaven