The Portland daily press., 1880-06-07

now, had asked him what certain gentle
man in Naples would think of it?" She told
no lie, she merely reminded him that there
was friend of Angels who might not alto
gether approve of this new claimant to her
hand: "Would it be any consolation to
poor Leslie to know that he was not the first
who had been so treated? Such utter want
of good feeling could only be met by dig
niied silence-of that, she felt sure, Leslie
would not need to be reminded!' This
course of action, however, Leslie at first alb
solutely refused to follow, till shown in a
kind, sisterly way that perhaps, after all,
Angel had not intended to do him wrong;
her fault had been in accepting attentions
from one man while allowing him to remain
ignorant of her engagement with another!
Anyhow, Celia would advise Leslie to at
tempt no explanations, as after all the at
fair had not gone far enoughfor him to have
just ground for complaint.
This last argument Leslie confessed was
fair one, as past conversations with Angel
returned to his mind in new light-"True,
she had never actually spoken of her en-
gagement, but had she not often talked OF
her future home in Naples in such a way as
to leave no doubt of the meaning she would
convey? AT any rate. thought Leslie, can
gel would never wilfully deceive any one;
she shall never know / SO presumed upon
her frank kindness as to fall in love where
she herself had almost shown it was hope
lessr'
So the foolish fellow, instead of going to
Angel and honestly confessing his love and
asking her for an explanation, wearied him
self with vain wonder why one so honest
and kindly as he still believed Angel to be,
could have raised hopes which she must
have known would end in disappointment.
$50 unlike her usual careful thought for
othersw And all the while he never paused
to consider why Angels face grew sad, and
why her eyes, when they met his, were full
of pain and doubt.
Even had he wished for an explanation,
however, Celia would have prevented it.
She kept him so closely in attendance that
he never met Angel except nrare occasions
when he would carefully avoid her and be
exceedingly attentive to Celia, to whom he
thought he owed debt of gratitude. ''She
was so very kind and sympathetic, he could
confide all his troubles to her and be sure of
comfort and the best advicew Naturally he
overacted his part and became yet colder to
Angel, whose bright face grew more and
more clouded as time went on. Foolish
Leslie! 1t is by such misunderstanding as
these, which might be set right by very
few straightforward words, that hearts are
broken and mischief is made which can
never again be set right. Even her auut
noticed the girls changed appearance and
found occasion to observe in Leslie's hear
ing:
"Poor girl! wish Arthur would write
more frequently. She will worry herself i'll,
thinking of every bad thing that can have
happened to hime'
Leslie tried not to hate Arthur, but failed
when at last the post brought a letter from
Naples.
Mrs. Treherne gave it to Angel with I'M
usual graciousness, saying with meaning
smile:
s'There, my dear, there is a letter from
your faithless Neapolitan at last. We will
excuse you if you would like to run away
and read it quietly"
Angels face was radiant and flushed as
she left the room; partly from joy at hearing
from her brother, about whom she really
had been anxious lately, partly from surprise
at her aunt's unexpected kindness.
Mrs. Treherne watched her out of the
room, and then sighed
81 do hope they will be happy together;
so much depends when young people start
in life together on one or the other being of
a yielding temperament, and l greatly fear
there will be struggle for the upper hand!
| believe Arthur has strong will of his
own, and l know Angel has,"
And Celia smiled languidly as she replied,
"Oh, he must love her-Angelis such dear
grip
Celia was peculiarly amiable to Angel in
those days-even taking her into confidence
on the all-important subject of dress for
the ball which was to take place in weeks
time, and which was always looked forward
to as one of the most brilliant affairs of the
season.
''You see, Angel" simpered Celia, watch
ing her cousin narrowly from under her
dropping eyelids, ''of. course want to look
my best just now, for Leslie's sake-dear fell
low, he is quite foolishly devoted, don't you
think so? | suppose you have guessed what
is soon going to happen, Angel? Am l not
fortunate girl? know you will think sop
Poor Angel! Her pride helped her to keep
the crimson back from her face, the misery
out OF her eyes-for the rest, she answered
bravely enough that "she hoped Celia would
be happy"
Celia Noticed the suppressed agitation,
and went on with hardly concealed tri-
umph,
800 you know, Angel, could scarcely
help being jealous for little while he was
so attentive to you'll almost thought he
was in love with you. Wasn't it silly?" with
an affected laugh.
Angel gave no answer; she knew with a
horrible consciousness that Celia was watch
ing eagerly the effect of her words, and ev-
Ol uGINC Was dllCu W IOOh lilulnCl Cilt do
Celia went on:
eyes; lit was very foolish, of course, as he
soon showed me; but then, you see, Angel,
| knew you codld scarcely help falling in
love with him. was afraid you would think
his kindness and interest in your painting
meant more than they did; and then l
thought how dreadful it would be for you if
you got to care for him when he could not
return your love; so L thought it kindest to
warn him, and he agreed that it was not
quite kind to pay you SO much attention.
and so give people the opportunity to say
disagreeable things; and he thinks it better
not to be quite so much alone with you. You
don't mind my telling you this, Angel, and
asking you, too, to be a little more careful
and guarded what you say to him, lest he
should fancy you are caring for him?'
Angels face was flushed with indignation
as she ans 1ered.
You did quite right, of course, Celia, if
you felt jealous. Had l thought of this, or
that Mr.. Fame would fatter himself l cared
for him unasked | would certainly have
been less friendly with him, and will be so
in future"
"Don't be SO ill-tempered, Angel. Jealous
of you! As if would take the troublep'
Angel felt too sad at heart to answer. She
rose YEARLY and left the room, not without
feeling bitterly the sting of Celia's parting
shot.
81 shall have to believe, Angel, that you
have been so conceited as to fancy Leslie
was in love with you! If so, pray dispossess
yourself of any such romantic notion as
soon as possible. Nothing was farther from
his thoughts"
Angel hurried out-away from the house,
anywhere, so as not to be seen, not to be
pitied for the storm of misery that, gather
ing many days, had now burst over her
head.
''Oh, cruel, cruel Why was he so kind?
Why did he make me love him? Oh, if he
knows l love him! The shame will kill me
to be pointed out as girl who dared to
love her Cousins betrothed husbandp' She
longed to go away, never to see his face
again. No thought of blame to Leslie-she
felt sure he never meant to wrong her. "She
had been so unused to friendship with any
one; she did not understand it, when offered
so freely as he had done! She would prove
to him she didn't love him--at least she
could'do that
So the storm burst, and the remaining
week of Lesiie's visit was very miserable
one to all DartieS. for the two in their rn11tu.