The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-07-01


sure of a welcome wherever mamma
had daughters to marry or papa money
to invest or mortgages to effect. To her
old guardian EIlinor's manner never
underwent the slightest shade of
change.
You may refuse to admit him here;
you may forbid my correspondence with
him. acknowledge the right you ex-
ercise so harshly," she would say to her
husband, "but you cannot shake my
faith in my dead fathers friend You
cannot control my sentiments toward
the guardian of my childhood"
But by degrees she found that Horace
Margrave was to be seen less frequently
every day at those houses in which he
visited; it was growing rare thing now
for her to see the dark, handsome head
proudly overlapping the crowd in which
the lawyer mingled; and even when she
did meet him, though his voice had still
its old gentleness, there was a tacit
avoidance of her in his manner, which
effectually checked any confidence be-
tween them. This was for the first two
years after her marriage; in the third
she heard accidentally that Horace
Margrave was travelling in Switzerland,
and had left the entire management of
his very extensive business to his Junior
partner.
In the autumn of the third year from
that of her marriage. Ellinor was stay
ing with her husband at the country
house of his friend, Sir Lionel Baldwin.
Since that day on which the scene with
Horace Margrave had taken place in the
little drawing-room in Hartford street,
Ellinor Dalton and her husband had had
no explanation whatever. On that day,
the young man had fallen on his knees
at the feet of his sobbing wife, and had,
most earnestly, implored her to believe
in his faith and honor. and to believe
that, in everything he did. he had a mo-
tive SO strong and so disinterested, as to
warrant his actions. He begged her to
believe, also, that the marriage, on his
part, had been wholly a love-match,
that he had been actuated by no mer-
cenary considerations whatever; and
that il he now withheld the money to
which, in all appearance, she had so
good right, it was because it was not
in his power to lavish it upon her. But
he implored in vain. Preludiced against
him from the very first, she had only
trusted him for a brief period, to doubt
him more completely than ever at the
first suspicion that suggested itself.
Wounded in her affection for another
an affection whose strength, perhaps,
she scarcely dared to whisper to her own
soul-her feeling for Henry Dalton be-
came one almost bordering on aversion.
His simple, practical good sense; his
plain, unpublished manners; his persever-
ing, energetic and untiring pursuit of a
vocation for which she had no SYM
pathy-all these Jared upon her ro-
mantle and enthusiastic temperament,
and blinded her to his actual merits.
The world, which always contrives to
know everything, very soon made itself
completely acquainted with the eccen-
trio conditions of Mr.. Arden's will, and
the circumstances of Henry Dalton's
marriage.
1t was known to be a marriage of con-
venience, and not of affection. He was
a very lucky fellow, and she was very
much to be pited. This was the gener-
al opinion, which Ellinor's palpable in
difference to her husband went strongly
to confirm.
WI ohA WI .. bdllOu llttu Detn stay
ing for a week at Baldwin Court, when
the young barrister was compelled, by
his professional pursuits, to leave his
wife for a few days under the protection
of his old friends, Sir Lionel and Lady
Baldwin.
You will be very happy here, dear
Ellinor," he said, ''the house is full of
pleasant people, and you know how
great favorte you are with our host
and hostess. You will not miss me-"
he added, with sigh, as he looked at
her Indifferent face.
miss you! Oh, pray do not alarm
yourself, Mr.. Daltonl | am not so used
to usurp your time or attention.
know, where your professional duties
| are concerned, how small considera-
ton | am to YOU"
al should not work hard were not
compelled to do so, Ellinor,'' he said,
with shade of reproach visible in his
voice. -#.
" My dear Mr.. Dalton" she answered,
coldly, 81 have no taste for mysteries.
You are perfectly free to pursue your
own course,
So they parted. She babe him adieu
with as much well-bred indifference as
if he had been her jeweler or her haber-
dasher. As the light little phaeton
drove him Oft to the railway station, he
looked up at the chintz-curtained win
dows 81 ~ wifes apartments, and said
to himself: 'How long is this to endure,
l wonderP-this unmerited wretched-
ness, this most cruel misconceptionr'
The morning after Henry Dalton s
departure, as Sir Lionel Baldwin, seat
ed at breakfast, opened the letter-bag,
he exclaimed, with a tone of MINGLED