Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-06-26
THE
SET IN A SILVER SEA
A ROMANCE BY B. L. FARJEON,
AND KISSES JOSHUA MARVEL
king OF HOLLAND" OF PENRAyEN" ETC

4
that concerned Margaret or Clarice, and,
although it, placed me in an ungenerous
! light in the mind of such a man as he who
stood before me, preferred to err rather
on the side of caution than of frankness.
! His next words put me to shame.
| '''I am unreasonable, he said gently
it was not to be expected that you should
open your heart to a stranger simply for
the asking. Even if L held out the hand
of friendship to you. / could not expect
you to accept it without questioning my
motive. The fault is on my side; if 1 de.
sired your friendship should have sought
it earlier. l come to you now on behalf
of my daughter Margaret, who is very
dear to me, and 1 shall be plain and
truthful with you, concealing nothing L
take it that you and I stand upon equal
ground we have seen the world and
served cur time, and care but little for
ourselves. We have found our species
forgetful of favors, ready to Willy, eager
to condemn. It is said that old age is
selfish naturally; but it is not as selfish
as youth The youth are forgetful the
old remember. Eutraneed by the light
and fresh beauty of life, the young think
only of themselves, of their own joys and
sorrows and ambitions. They live to
learn, as we have lived to learn in the
meantime let US who have fought and been
wounded in the fight endeavor to protect
our young from unnecessary sorrow
"There was singular fascination in
Matthew Sylvesters manner, and could
not help being wen by it. l inwardly re-
solved to meet him in franker spirit but
neither to him nor any man on the isle
would 1 disclose the heart OF my secret re-
specting Evangeline. He continued:
Those are happiest to whom knowl-
edge comes late; they have more time to
enjoy. But some taste the bitterness of
life in their springtime. My daughter
Margaret was one OF these. When life
should have been fairest for her it was
darkened by a sorrow which exists at this
hour, although many years have passed
since it was inflicted. This sorrow is asso-
ciated with her sister Clarice, whose name
you only of all the inhabitants of this isle
have uttered in her hearing. She has
dwelt upon the subject with the tenacity
of very tenacious and constant nature,
and she believes you had reason for
speaking to her about her sister
e I had reason. replied. It was
partly to confirm suspicion that was in
nay mind.
Partly repeated Matthew Sylvester,
with a quicluess which showed how deeply
he himself was Interested then il was
not wholly your purpose?
g No, it was not wholly my purpose
GA woman who is in the habit Of
brooding over a subject in which her atfec-
tons are involved has strange fancies. You
have been in our market place, and seen
the statue there?
C Yes,
g 1t is the statue of that Evangeline
whose tragic death occurred on the noun
tain upon which you dwell. Margaret.
when she first beheld the statue, fanced it
resembled her sister Clarice But that, of
course, was impossible
81 repeated his words mechanically,
That, of course was impossible : but my
thoughts belied them.
60 Is the name OF the sculptor known +?
I asked.
"' No, replied Matthew Sylvester, and
the story goes that when, at the instance
of the captain of brig that traded at this
isle, the commission was given, the like
ness of one Of our fairest maids was handed
to him as a model for the sculptor to work
upon and that, when the statue was de-
liyered and set up in the market-place, it
was seen that the sculptor had worked from
a model of his own
The story is new to me, I said 1
cannot see the connection between the
statue and Clarice
"'Does it, to your mind, bear any re-
sembl4nee to Margaret's sister?'
''' 1 saw her but once, and have paid
no particular attention to the statue.
60 You have led life of adventure, I
understand. You must have come sympa-
thy with the life led by Margaret and
Clarice-led, also, by myself and my son.
All, 1 sometimes think of the old days
with strange yearning, hard as they were.
When you met Clarice Margaret was with
her
8. No; Clarice was alone. I admit that
I vas not truthful when 1 told Margaret
Sylvester that had eeen her in the COM
pany of her sister Moreover l do not
know even now what kind of life the sis
tiers led.
"They were dancers, singers, perform
ers in small comedies, wandering from vii
lage to village, playing to humble folk who
gave them honest welcome While their
father lived their life was happy one,
but when he died Matthew Sylvester
made a sudden pause, and with quick
changing of his theme asked, If Margaret
was not with her sister when you met her,
and you were not acquainted with their
occupation, how did you know the girl you
saw was Clariee :!
The question almost took me off my
guard, and answered slowly, From evil
denoe not to be doubted
Matthew Sylvester looked at me visit
fully. must not press you too hardly ;
have no right to demand clearer expla-
nation You are aware that Clarice is
dead 2
al started, and the movement did not
escape his notice.
"'When did you learn this ? l asked.
= a.