The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-10-01
even be decent; and then you know how

her face began to kindle, "Sweeping out
under the great white sails in the sun
shine, beneath the blue sky and over the
blue sea, with music and dancing and
the glorious wind-and sunset at sea-
and the little young moon sailing along
beside us; and then the starlight, dear.
when the dark is overhead and under
meath, and we seem to be floating sus-
PENDED in mystery! And then, at last,
the sunrise, after the dawning, all purple
and rose, and all the dewiness of morn
ing at sea. I was out once with Mrs.
Rittencr. Oh. darling. do comet"
"Never" I cried, like the brute I was,
rage and bitterness getting the better OF
everything else as I thought Of her with
that wretch in all those scenes-"never
And if you persist in going, I warn you
now that it is the last request | shall
ever make of you. I shall leave the
place, and I shall consider everything
between us at IN end" And before
another word could be said, Mrs. Rit-
tener and De Luystrr and Florence and
Percival were at our side. the servants
were hurrying down with luggage. the
horses we're prancing ut the gate. There
WIS u lllolIlCllG vi SoLtuSlOls Ohi Pio-
tc%stations. I fancied, some cutlery, and
then. whether she would or not, sur
rounded by the others, and all taken for
granted. she was in the carriage, and
they were off.
Well. what days, what hateful days,
they were, that followed! Of course ]
did not leave the place, and | spent the
time incoming about the island with my!
sketchiny book. But all the glory had
gone from nature, all the satisfaction OF
beauty from my soul; the sun shone and
tile skies were blue, but the world was =
wilderness. could see no:alng but the
great yacht bending and huwIng over
The waters, a shining phantom py day'
pale ghost by night; visions OF the luHu-
rious life, the dance music, the towers;
the teasting, and in it all my Stella and
that man; When the sunlight sottened,
when crimson sutfused the waves, when
the deep delicious dusk shut them ln'
rocking on from billow to billoW under
the towering of the great shadoWy SAILS
under the powdery ~splendor OF the starS'
Stella and that man together!
BY the end of the third day l vas
wrought to q piece Of madness. 1 lGlI
myself justified in my wrath openly
detied, my tenderest feelings outraged; !
said | should eve see her again. l.
abandoned her to her fate. 1 pegan u
paint them impetously. Sucil sea scenes
rs swept across my fancy! ouch co!o ,l,
rs seemed to ripen on my pale.t.:
Such reefs wrapped with toam-Wreatlls
Of summer seas glimmering beyond Ilelll
in tho half-risen moon, like the w way
into heaven, or those same reefs WHEN
their horns tore the angry waters I'M
fleece. stretch after stretch OF storm
drowning out the horizons and the stag
seringmasts, or yetagain the placlooa"l
ofruddy day aboutthem as long waves
creamed up the curving shore ana pfoke
in rainbows round the naked babies Waa-
ing in, and the dipping wings OF sea-
birds. My pencil seemed possesseu "a u
magic; fame danced before my eyes a.
respondent shape. Stella would lanleh'
the day she forsook this painter OF plG11
lures tor that imbecile wealth. anu az
at once I turned the canvasses to the
wall-my heart was breaking.
The Flight had been due on the md
night tide. Of course, had Stella signl-
lied the wish, she would have been
there-would have been there wen
earlier. The day grew on to nlghtiall'
Other sails flew budding In, pleasure
boats and stately ships and fishing meets
made anchor and found haven from the
gathering storm; but there was no sign
of the Flight. The roaring a s VINO
came driving all the mlsts across Tue
land; the world was wrapped IN ram.
All night the tempes- ragged, sweptacross
the gardens and beat down the blossoms
on the terraces of flowers, sent great
boughsflying through the air; all night
hearts stopped with its every fresh gust;
all night the land shook with its shock;
all night the sea replied; and when ut
last day dawned, great racks OF pearly
cloud Law off in the low eastern sea, 4
zevhyr only moved from the south, and
ali tile sapphire blazed above and plazed
below, as if the storm had been an evil
dream.
But it was no dream-the coast was
strewn with wrecks; more tina one
corpse among the rocks and weeds looked
up with blank eyes to the morning hight.
There was a glorious sea on and crowds
were out surveying it's ~.splendor.
Crowds, too, " ere wasting their wonder
IN the Flight. Where was she! VINO
had spoken her? Had she tounderea
md gone down? Had she blown OIL
the coast? Would any mi ever see her
again come sweeping into harbor with
nil sail set, a tower of snow and light,
with the music and the dancing? There
were none to say. No one had spoken
her: and search the horizon with burn
ing eyes, no sign of her white sails, her
golden pennon, was to be seen.
And day followed day the same: And
a thrill of horror went to o hearts
than one at the thought of the gay party
going down with. flags flying, and the
world that had known them suspended
for a little while its festivity, or turned
it's mourning into pleasure by, yachting
I'D and down the coast in search, putting
into harbor every shutdown. But when
ten DAYS had passed, with most doub;
rad settled into certainty, and the lit
world was taking on its old ways again.
Only they missed the tawny beauty OF
the Percival girl upon the drive, the
reckless dash Of De Luyster, the solemn
stiffness of old Montmorenci they
missed. indeed, that airy vision of un-
real beauty whose absence made the
place u desert; ut least it didto me. The
Rittener villa, dark Us ANY Jail, no longer
with snowy clouds blowing from the
windows, no longer with gay groups
upon its lawns. seemed to mock the
blooming of its flowers that lifted their
scarlet and gold and azure gayly as ever
to the Indifferent skies from bed and vase
and urn
And so they are giving up the
Flight. I hear" said old Simpson, the
lobster man, as I wandered down the
beach I haunted all day long, and where
he had looked up Mt me so often with
~reassuring eyes, rs he mended his nets
o. tumbled out his wriggling load
"Well, don't you be any mans tool. sir,
and follow such suit" he said. Ben
Burnhaw was enver ut her hellum for
| nothing. When Ben Burnham piloted
in Boston bay, and knew he couldn't
| make Highland Light, he put her helm
| hard down and scud for Squam. He
| was in blue waite before the first whis
per of that gale, sir, and he's been there
| before and often in like case; and when
he IS, he neadS lor Tie SIT.
And you'll be finding. when the
Flight comes in with all her linen
| stretched, that they've been a-rambline
over the Bermudies while you've been
a-eating your heart out, sir"
| Poor fool At that moment I stopped
| to pull IL bit ofsea-weed, L ribbon of the
| dulse from the wave breaking ut my fee
it was the little golden pennon of tho
Flight!
| nLo.o u.ac u moro To cav l