The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1880-11-25


will please take me by the hand l will
accompany you to the head of the stairs
! want to scold you little for something
have heard. With this dreadful shade
that am obliged to wear cannot find
my way without stumbling VIII you
excuse me for the merest moment, MIR.
| st. Ives?"
Now, it was not really necessary for
Drusilla to be led about in house where
shewas perfectly familiar, but she wished
to influence Fred, and knew of no way
more certain.
How her soft, magnetic hand thrilled
him. Why, her hghtest touch was like q
| caress. She talked very earnestly to
| him about his growing fondness for cards
| and wines Said she had heard such
rumors, but would not believe them.
Would he promise that the gossip should
be. without foundation He would prom
ise anything. He would reform
Re-entering the parlor, she remarked
to MAXWELL: "My college boys are SO
much to me like brothers, can reprove
| and admonish them in truly orthodox
style without their resenting it. They
need some one to scold them q little
sometimes"
Maxwell said, in his abrupt, argu-
mentative way: "Fred Devine does not
consider himself merely boy friend.
he thinks himself q man and comes a
wooing."
The color crept into Drusilla's pale
face: "Hush, Maxwell st. Ives, I will
not believe it. My own regard for this
lad is, SO different. want him to re-
gard me as Il friend want him to look
up to me, and come to me for counsel
and sympathy; L want his esteem;
In short, I want earnest, respectful,
beautiful friendship, instead of tickle.
passionate, fatal love %
She was much excited. All the con-
troll she had shown when Lu taunted
her was swept away. She had suffered
so much through love that she could
bear no mention of what had dnrkened
her whole life.
Whenever and wherever 7 try to es-
tablish q friendship, it is shortly trans
formed into reckless and despairine
love-"
All that she said was received in utter
silence. Surely he was not man but
marble. All this was such deep grief to
her, and he did not care. Any other man
would have expressed some sympathy
not SO this impassive Northerner, who.
cynical and bitter, thought it fine bit
of acting. He had been drawn toward
her ut first, but an anonymous letter had
told him to "beware of Drusilla Ster-
ling, that she was an actress by birth,
and by education, and utterly without
heart. From that time he had been on
his guard.
"Pardon my emotion" she said, after
moments pause. "Pardon me also if
/ go on to say more of myself
4 10 =
sufficient reason in the past why my
present should be SO full of passion and
pain You have before now accused me
OF being coquette Upon my honor I
90 not mean to be. What L do I cannot
help. 1t is deep and sad fatality. Let
me tell you the story of my birth that
you may Judge for yourself how I came
to inherit my birthright of sorrow.
My father was an English artist and
marriee woman who made her living
by singing and dancing ct the theaters.
She was as deceitful as she was beauti-
ful. My old nurse Jeanette has often
told me how mother would say to her
The Englishman is an ogre But to
him she would say: You are grand
like the gods She won him, not be-
cause she loved him, but because he
was supposed to be wealthy. He loved
her with his imagination rather than
with his heart He was very suscepti-
bic to beauty and gracefulness, and both
were hers to remarkable degree. The
fact that she was married did not pre-.
vent men loving her. She died when I
was but three days old, and father and
Jeanette brought me to England.
''From my tenth year have been con-
sc1ous OF possessing my mothers fatal
fault of fascination. There is nothing
so much deplore, for I have my fathers
honest English heart, and would win love
only where [ could return it. Until the
last few months L have never known
what that word meant. You are still ST.
lent. / have lost your esteem by con-
Tossing my mothers profession. Oh,
Maxwell St. Ives, I trusted you Are
you not still my friend? ?"
In her earnestness she laid both her
little caressing hands over both of
his. All his reserve and skepticism
were swept away. depressed her hands
like rose leaves in his own, and an
swered:
"For life-for death p
Before they parted they were betrothed
lovers. Drusilla had some misgivings,
! and said:
Can you go to your proud mother
and tell her that you have espoused the
daughter of q dancer?"
"Drusilla Sterling, I can say any
thing to anybody. If only you are true
to me there is no obstacle to our union
that will not easily overcome. have
given myself to you, body and soul, and
God help him who comes between us !"
enlL 1,o.. l. l.
spoke. Was this love also to prove un-