The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-07-02
THE WEDMORES HOP. F"
A JER sEY STORY.

NOHEINlUlhINu DUJll tUls murray anu MIS-
Give on the engagement. OF course the ro-
suit was astonishment, indignation, Percy
and Gertie called up to Judgment, vows Of
eternal constancy, Gertie sent to school for
six months; and ever since then, whenever
Percy has been over here, six rounds to-
gether at every hop, and all the squares sat
out in the garden, whether Miss Give liked
IL or not. Isuppose now Percy has this money
left him, IL will be all right"
So spoke Miss May Faulkner, Jersey
belle, aged twenty, to her companion, Clare
Grattan, a girl two years her senior, who
had come from England ON q visit TO tho
Gives above mentioned.
The girls were strolling slowly along the
st. Heler's broad white sands they were
tagging rather behind tho rest of their
party, which had split itself up into two
other couples,
Clare Grattan's heart was heavy with a
dull oppression of pain, the result of fear
become reality, as she answered:
"Then you think Mr.. Moray" Uhere was
a momentary pause before she spoke this
name) and Gcrtie care for one another ~
"Thnk sol Look there
As May spoke she pointed to the figures
of young girl and man who werestanding
almost Mt the waters edge, their outline
sharply defined against the sunset glow.
Their faces were turned toward the sea,
away from Glare but she, looking at tho
young mans bent head, the girls upturned
one, could fancy only too well the look Of
Percival Moray's brown. eyes. Had she not
known II TO her own cost
She had been fool, she thought, and
only that afternoon had been happy in her
folly. Clare Grattan had only been six
weeks at Jersey, but that time had been fuller
and more intense to her than all the
years of her yet early womanhood she had
learned her own heart at length had grown
into love.
For the last month she had found herself,
whenever she was at dance, waiting with
a feverish Impotence for the advent of a tall,
slight figure with bright, honest face, the
charm of which IL was difficult to analyze
but impossible not to feel. She had listened
every morning, as she sat in the breakfast
room with Gatie, for n cheerful voice call
ing them from the garden below, and
begging them to come out for q practice al
lawn tennis and she had felt new in
tense pleasure in the rare talks, in which,
Percival seemed to show her glimpses of that
other soul side " which man keeps to
show woman when he loves her" He
suited her as no one else had ever done, and
she had fanced that he wished to let her
know that he loved her.
And yet she had feared sometimes-and,
as II had proved, had had reason for her
fears-that Gerte and Percival had loved
one another and how, thought Clare now,
could any girl who had once cared for Per-
cval Moray become indifferent to him
Glare still was bordering when Gertie
turned her steps toward her friends.
90 IN ynow that 10 10 nnar1y ~,
o'clock, Clare! We shall have nice scol d
ing from mamma if we are late for dinuer
and we promised TO be at the WedmOres by
quarter to nire.
Clare smiled family.
How horribly tagged You do look Not
at all like dancing These last three nights
have been two much for you"
=" Are you tired 3' asked Percy of Miss
Grattan, bending toward her.
If he had only known the sharp thrill Of
pain the tone of his voice caused her She
was glad to hear her own sound uncon
strained as she answered
Not at all, thank you"
We have come too far along the sands
| ought to have remembered. Won't you
take my arm p
ooh, no; am all right"
He said no more, but, turning again tc
Gertie, called ont two other individuals who
had apparently forgotten everything else II
the contemplation of q dead starfish: at al
events they had been gazing at it for full fv,
minutes when Percy's voice reached them.
Halloo, Rashton come on; it's gettinf
late"
Thus addressed, the two defaulters moved
slowly toward the rest of the little group
Their conversation, as they strolled' along
was after this wise:
BE a brick, Miss Wedmore, and try [,
give a miserable wretch a chance"
slow can |? | can't make Gertie lik
you"
Keep that fellow Moray out of the way
so that may try my luck at least
YOU'RE doing your very best TO ruin it b,
seeming to flirt with me. Gertie is awful,
Jealous, mind.''
Hang it | beg your pardon, meal
-"
"You needn't, don't mind it,"
81 think have most reasons for jealousy
Why, know that she and Moray were spoon
| once, even If they are not now"
eyes, but Gertie can't know that an
only playing confidante."
"Never you mind; only help me, and yo,
shall sec what the bridesmaids lockets viii
| be like"
"For shame, Capt Rashton bribery an,
corruption By the way, have weakness
for opals."
"Fll make note of that, I" answered Capt
Rashton, taking out his pocketbook for tn
purpose.
Certainly, TO an INITIATED eye, the two ha,
decidedly rs much the appearance of hirtinj
| as Percival and Gertie had, and keen oh
server might have connected that fact will
T., E,Iu ,,I, &c \
| and her sharp, petulant answers when ad
| dressed. Clare did not do 50, but imagine,
| that these signs of ill-temper in her frient
were owing to some fault of Percy's, an,
inwardly determined, now that she knew @
the understanding between Mr.. Moray an
| Gertie, to abstain even from any appearance
of intimacy with the former, lest it shout
wound her friend, whom she knew was n lit
tie inclined to be exacting.
! "She needn't be afraid, though though
poor Clare TO herself. 7" know he is true
| II he loved me ! would trust him entirely ).
The party broke up at the top of Kin
| street, Florence Wedmore going one way
and the three other girls holding the opposit
course.
| "Good-bye for an hour and half" sal
Florence. "Capt. Rashton and Percy, yo
are to come back home with me and give tn
floors a last polish"
| If Gertie's face could be said to be dark q
any time, 1t certainly was as she, with Clar
and May, turned toward that quarter of ST
Helier's popularity known as "the Shingles.
What flirt Florence is - she remarke
with virtuous indignation.
people who live in glass houses" an
swered May, "The idea of you accusing an
one of flirting, Gertie, is rather too fine, cor
sidering the way You have always treate
Percy"
"Percy and understand one another,
answered Gertie CURLY.
"That is a comfort, at all events" retort
ed May, " for nobody else does. Well, her
is our house, so tata for the present"
Two more minutes, and Clare and Cert
reached the latter's home, called the Retrea
apparently because it faced the road.
The dinner that evening at the ahove-mei
toned abode was not very cheerful. Cert
was cross, Glare occupied by her bite
| thoughts of what she had learned that aftel
noon, and Miss Give, Gertie's mothe 7, Mis-
4