Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1881-03-05

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that there was nothing further to be
gained by remaining in the gallery. In
arriving at this conclusion he was ad-
ditionally influenced by private and per-
sonal considerations. The interval be-
fore Penrose called Mt the hotel might
be usefully filed up by somo wise
words of advice, relating to the religious
uses to which he might turn his inter-
course with Romayne, when he had suf-
ficiently established himself in the con-
fidence of his employer. There might.
no doubt, be future opportunities for
accomplishing this object, but Father
Benwell was not man to trust too i'm
plicitly in the future. The present oc-
casion was, in respect of its certainty.
the occasion that he preferred. Making
one of his ready and plausible excuses,
he returned with Penrose to the library,
and so committed (as he himself dis
covered at later time) one of the few
mistakes in the long record of his life.
In the meanwhile Romayne was not
permitted to bring his visit to u conclu-
sion without hospitable remonstrance
on the part of Lady Loring. She felt
for Stella with woman's enthusiastic
devotion to the interest of true love;
and she had firmly resolved that mat
ter so trifling as tho cultivation of Ro-
mayne's mind should not be allowed to
stand in the way of the far more import
ant enterprise of opening his heart to
the influence of the sex.
"Stay and lunch with u.s. she said,
when he held out his hand to bid her
goodbye.
"Thank you, Lady Loring, never
take lunch"
"Well, then, come and dine with us
no party; only ourselves. Tomorrow
and next day we are disengaged.
Which day shall it be ?"
Romayne still resisted. "You are
very kind. In my state of health 1 am
unwilling to make engagements which, I
may not be able to keep"
Lady Loring was just as resolute ON
her side. She appealed to Stella. "Mr.
Roymane persists, my dear, in putting
me off with excuses. Try ifyou can per-
suade him."
clam not likely to have any influence,
Adelaide"
The tone in which she replied struck
Romayne. He looked at her. Her eyes,
gravely meeting his, held him with a
strange fascination. She was not her
self conscious how openly all that was
noble and true in her nature, all that
was most deeply and sensitively felt in
her aspirations, spoke at that moment in
her look. Romayne's face changed he
turned pale under the new emotion that
she had reused in him. Lady Loring
observed him attentively.
"Perhaps you underrate your influ-
ence, Stellar" she suggested.
Stella remained impenetrable to per-
suasion. 81 have only been introduced
to Mr.. Romayno half an hour since,"
she said. 81 am not vain enough to
suppose that / can produces favorable
impression on any one in so short a
time"
She had expressed, IN other words,
Romayne's own idea of himself, in speak
ing of her to Lord Loring. He was
struck by the coincidence.
"Perhaps we have begun, Miss Eyre
court, by misinterpretinS one another"
he said "We may arrive at better
understanding when l have tho honor of
meeting you again"
He hesitated, and looked at Lady
Loring She was not the woman to let
o fair opportunity escape her. "We
will say tomorrow evening"" she re-
sumed, cat seven o'clock"
"To-morow," said Komayne. He
shook hands with Stella and left the
picture gallery.
Thus far the conspiracy to marry him
promised even more hopefully than the
conspiracy to convert him. And Father
Benwell, carefully instructing Penrose
in the next room. was not aware Of it!
Il n y n n
But the hours, in theirprogress, mark
the march of events as surely as they
mark the march of time. The day
passed, the evening came-and with its
coming the prospects of tho CONVEX
sion frightened in their turn.
Let Father Benwell himself relate how
it happened, in an extract from his re-
port to Rome, written the same even
ing:
"I had arranged with Penrose that he
should call at my lodgings, and tell me
how he had prospered at the first per-
formance of his duties as secretary to
Romayne.
"The moment he entered the room,
the signs of disturbance in his face told
me that something serious had hap
pened. I asked directly if there had
been any disagreement between
Romayne and himself.
"He repeated the word with every
appearance of surprise. Disagree