The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1882-10-07

now hope you are satisfied"
II hope Mr.. Lamont VIII be satisfied"
replied Marjory, sadly. at is q very short
eplstle to 60 SO long away"
head IT." cried Floss, yawnine again.
The spelling is sure to be all wrong"
"lfyoa please" Marjory suggested firmly.
''f you please, then. -
My dear, old Humpty-Dumpty-I is SO
dull since you went away I thought it
was bad enough before, but now it is ten
times worse. We got your telegram all
right. hope you won: be sea-sick.
always am crossing the channel 1t rained
all day on Sunday, SO we didn't 60 to
church, and didn't look at Alfred Atcher-
ley. Miss Sebright sends you her love;
and that is all at present from
Your ownest FLossY-possY.
~. S.-Mnd you bring me something
pretty from New York"
Marjory's lip quivered as she laid the
blotted letter down.
Don't send that, Floss" she said in a
very low voice. Remember, it will be the
nrst greeting Alr. Lamont will receive from
home; and 1t will seem $3.50 heartless!"
'Heartless How? Haven't l signed
myself his ownest'?"
You would have proved it better by
Floss tossed her golden head.
suppose you show Inc how to write it ?"
she cried, gaily. ''You set me nice copy
and will take it as a model in future. Miss
Sebnght.
Marjory blushed hotly up to the roots of
her npphng brown hair
"You foolish child!" she said, sadly.
II mean it," Floss persisted. There is
nd
pen. If you don't write, you know, Hum
phrey will get nothing but my scribbIe,
and"
At that moment servant entered and an
nounced to Miss Sebright that Mrs. Derine
desired Miss Floss's presence in the draw
ing-room.
The child sprang up, clapping her hands,
and ran to the glass over the mantle
piece.
lis my hair all right behind?" she said,
twisting her head with little bird-like move
ments, in the effort to see over her shorlI-
der, and pulling out the fluffy, yellow curIs
that fell over her dark eyebrows. ..Au
right, Spicer; Pm coming Goodbye,
MISS Sebright; l hope shan't be sent back
till bedtime"
She was gone, with slam of the door,
and patterirg of high-heeled shoes along
the corridor; and Marjory was left alone.
There lay the foolish, blotted letter that
was to bring such o pang to the absent
lover; and, when she raised her eyes from
it, they met the gaze of Humphrey, whose
photograph looked kindly at her from the
school-room mantlepiece.
1T Is not my fault, DEAR" she said, half
aloud; 81 would spare you if l could"
The poor girl went through a long and
painful struggle that afternoon, as she sat
by herself III the February twilight.
Twice-three times, she put from her the
temptation that whispered IN her ear, but at
last it grew too strong, and, without
any thought of all that it might one day cost
her, she came back from the window where
she had been watching the windy clouds
drifting by towards Wintersloe, and, sitting
down at Floss's desk, began to write with
feverish rapidity.
How cou.d Floss have been at loss what
to say? she wondered, as she went on to
tell Humphrey Lamont of the loneliness
that had fallen on all the world since he
went away, of the anxious hearts that were
counting the days until his return, of the
imaginary conversation that had just been
carried ON between the writer and the
| familiar photograph in the shooting coat, OF
| the progress which had been made in the
alterations at Wintersloe, and how the
| empty rooms had spoken of their absent
| master and echoed with the sound of his
| voice.
There was no end to the pretty, longi
words that came thronging to the point o.
the girls pen, as she wrote on and on, il
Floss's name, truly, but out of the fullness
| of her own heart which had never before
known the ecstasy of communing freely witt
its idol.
| While she was carried away by this
strange, sweet charm, Marjory forgot
| the wrong she was committing, and that nt
| good thlng could come Of such dangerous
paltering with the truth.
But, when the letter Of many pages wa
finished, the pen laid aside, and the fever O
composition had subslded, the girls clear
| poou sense came once more to her ALI, an,
she laughed sadly at her own absurdlty.
'It is not love-letter, to be sure" sh
said. when she had read it through for tn
first time; there are no loves and doves
in it. But man, such as he is, could fee
the throb of woman's heart in every WORD
and, as my heart has no business to thro
for Floss's lover, the letter must be burned
and the sooner the better"
Miss Sebrght," cried Floss, burstin
gaily in at the very moment when the close
| ly-writteu lilac sheets were lowering in Maj
iory's cold hand over the low fire IN tn
scnool-room CRATE ''manma says she hote
you VII come down and have tea. Alajc
Bryce and Captain! Glider are going to say
and we aye TO dine down stairs. Isn't
quite 100 awfully jolly"
Ot course, Mrs. Derings pretty messae
was to be taken in the light of command
aud Miss Se5right at once prepared to d'
sceud, having quietly laid the letter aside
her own desk until she should be at hbert
to destroy it after Floss was asleep Lii
night, -, =,
lte1 ,,illsas werc still throbbinG with Il