Sharp County record., 1881-03-31


Then he got up and took possession
of her hands.
There are moments" he said, look
ing with kind of ferceness into her
eyes, "when we cannot ask ourselves
what we like; we only know what, with
Heaven help, we must try to do"
The next moment the door was shut
and he was gone.
CHAPTER III.
On Elliott Bcesly's arrival in London
he was greeted with a thick, yellow
fog. Driving to his rooms in Gray's
Inn he remembered he had had no time
to send word of his coming, so that he
was prepared to find Gretton out.
Turning the key of his door he found
the carpets up, the blinds down and
general unaired dampness pervading
the rooms. "Gretton is still away
then," thought Beesly.
when shall get this intolerable
business off my mind?"
&" Make a fire." he said to the serv-
ant. Were there any letters? Yes, q
number on the mantle piece for both
gentlemen.
Beesly picked the bundle hurriedly
up; perhaps there would be line from
Gretton saying he was coming back.
Nothing but long blue envelopes-un-
mistakable bills and small square epis-
ties from Gretton's train of admirers.
All! there at last was Andrews writing.
Gretton hailed from Scotland, and
wrote long letter, describing his vari-
Gus visits and the invariable success of
his voice and acting connected there
with. He ended up by asking after the
Woods, saying that, as he should not be
in town for another fortnight, Beesly
was to say all sorts of imaginable pretty
things for him. " Pretty things!" The
letter made him vince more than once.
What was the fellow doing comfortably
in Scotland when Miss Wood was com
ing to LondonF Would he be content,
Beesly asked himself, to be tuning his
pipe in the Hebrides while there was a
Violet Wood in the South.
The next day, in the more hopeful
morning light, he resolved to give him
self another chance. Why should he not
appeal to Gretton? He wrote to Andrew
and told him all that had passed.
He did not conceal for one moment the
fact that he was in love with Miss
Wood; he considered that he owed it to
his friend to be perfectly open and di-
rect. He knew, of course, the ugly light
in which his conduct might be viewed,
but he assured him that he had made
no sort of proposal to Violet. Beesly
coniured him finally, by all that he held
most sacred, to tell him if he were ser-
Gus in his attachment, so that they
might come to an understanding at
once.
In answer to this letter came an I'M
mitigated attack from Gretton. He
considered that he, Beesly, had betrayed
trust: that all intercourse from that
moment had better cease between them,
and further, that he should not dream
of entering into the question of his at
tachment with a man who had proved
himself to be deficient in the common
est sentiment of honor.
In the meantime Mrs. Wood had
been much perpleXed by Violet's be-
havior in Paris. First of all the girl
evinced strange desire to 90 back to
London at once, and when the mother
demurred on account of unfinished
finery, and the thing was put off for a
day or two. Violet expressed a wish to
winter abroad. This last idea gained
ground as the days went by and no sort
of word came from Elliott Beesly.
"What is there in me that he should
care aboutP' she often asked herself,
drearily. "He must, suppose, have
seen that / cared about him, and
thought it best to 60 away. Of course,
he could not do anything else." She
made up her mind to carry her mother
there and then off to Italy, so that Mrs.
Wood found herself that winter, some
what to her surprise, in Rome.
1t was in Rome that they first heard,
through mutual friends, of Beesly's de-
parture for Australia; and it was in
Rome, later on, that Violet grew seri-
ously ill. She was ordered change of
scene and air, so that Mr.. Cadbury-
who had joined them in ltaly-managed
to get them a charming villa on the
heights above Florence, where they
passed the spring and early summer
months.
1t will be wondered, in the face of
Elliott Beesly's departure for Australia,
why Andrew Gretton did not again
come forward on the scene. But that
which is without let or hindrance is to
men Of Gretton's stamp often enough
devoid of charm. His grievance once
removed, he slipped comfortably into