Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1882-07-08


The night passes YEARLY enough,
and the morning brings him no relief.
He is still indescribably miserable, and
sinks into the belief that there is no
balm in Gilead for his uneasy spirit.
The next day he grows even more
desperate, and finally decides that to-
! morrow, come what may, he will
metaphorically speaking-throw him.
self at her feet, and implore forgiveness.
How slowly the train seems to move,
and how intolerable seems the delay at
each station to Disney, as the next
morning he travels on his way to
Brompley. One half-hoar more, and
he is fulfilling the guards demands for
the shattered remains OF his mutilated
ticket, and awakes to the fact that he
has actually arrived at his destination.
Hastily procuring his luggage, and
engaging the first car convenient, he
Immediately proceeds to the Hall. Ar
irving there, he dismisses the man, and,
giving his luggage to tbe inestimable
Williams, he enters the house.
How good it seems to him being back
again, and how small by this have
Dorothy's sins grown in his eyes. After
all, how could she help itP He is sure
she hated having to do it. And how
could she refuse Lady Rodney, after
promising to play her part? And, be-
sides, how many women act in private
theatricals, and why shouldn't Dorothy,
who is evidently fitted by nature for
that sort of sport? And when one comes
to think of it dispassionately, there are
few things $3.50 innocent as little
tableaux, and little drawing
pieces, and thatl
In fact, when trey are married, he
doesn't see why they shouldn't have
private theatricals once month. That
green room at Kingsmore is just the
place for stsge-footlights and drop
scenes, aud SO on.
He is getting positively enthusiastic
over the theatricals, which subject has
carried him as far as the drawing-room,
when it suddenly occurs to him that
Miss Bohun is not there, as the man
has led him to suppose.
No doubt she is in the conservatory,
which she SO much affects. He pauses.
He thinks he will give her pleasant
surprise, and, cautiously moving aside
the curtain that he may not too rudely
break in upon the reverie that is doubt
less filed with him, he gazes upon the
little perfumed paradise beyond.
At first the light dazzles his eyes.
He draws his breath quickly, and then
what is it he sees? In the distance
stands Dorothy-her features eloquent,
Il oil fr-tf he, t.o1f ha1
smile, fond and tender, hovers round
them.
at her feet kneels Ponsonby-his
hands tightly clasped, his whole
attitude betraying devotion the most
intense. J
Even as Disney watches them,
stricken to the heart by the cruel pic
ture on which ha had so unwittingly
intruded, q passionate outbreak of
words come from Ponsonby's lips.
Darling" he says, ~ appeal to you
for the last time, and implore you to
listen to me. Do not, 1 beseech You,
let the alteration of another -
("That's me-" Disney says, between
his compressed lips blind you to
the undying love l offerl On you are
centred all my hopes of future happi-
nessl Do not sentence me to lifelong
despair. but say you will be minep
Disney waits with maddening impa-
patience and beating heart for her
reply.
1t comes very nervously from Doro-
thy's pretty lips.
Her head is bent modestly, and her
hands lie passively in Ponsonby's.
How can answer your" she says,
in distinct but wavering accents. Sand
yet why should 1 not unburden my
mind? Truth is always best. Ny heart
has long been in your keeping, and, if
you wish it, it is yours"
1t is too much. Sick at heart, Disney
turns away, not caring to listen to
words evidently not meant for him to
hear. The dreadful awakening has
comel ALI his dreams of bliss have
been shattered by this sudden and
and painfully-unexpected blow, and
Dorothy-his love, whom he has be-
lieved as true as tte angels-is
nothing more in his eyes now than q
practiced hirt and heartless woman of
the worldl
His first thought is to return to the
city, his next to remain. Has he not
heard somewhere second thoughts are
best ?" Yes, he will remain, and ace it
out to the bitter end, and when this
loathsome play has come to an end he
will tell her what he thinks OF her, and
how she has wilfully broken his heart
and ruiued his life
At dinner he is compelled to meet
her but, everybody being present, his
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