Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-01-05
The niddle.aged lady looked much i'm

summation"
"Have you made allowance in their reck'
oning for leap year?' Aippantly inquired
youth who sat opposite the serious gentleman
"You should not jest under the shadow OF
great calamity" said the FIRST, impressively,
regarding the youthful unbeliever severely
through his glasses then to the lady-"tbe
traveller was observed to have jet black hair
the night before, in the morning it was snowy
white"
Part of the people at the table looked Sc
rious part were amused. Among the latter
was Redmond. His eyes twinkled suppressed
amusement, but he concealed it. Blanche and
Louise had been interested listeners to the
narrative growing somewhat digni6ed by the
discussion at the dinner table.
-"You see how much foundation lies be-
meath this apparently idle gossip. I believe
discretion will be the better part of valor on
our part"
Louise, from under her long lashes, shot a
whitening glance at the man who loved her,
but did not deign an answer. She could not
make out this man. She believed that some
times she half despised him.
81 believe 1 shall take the stage for Ash
dale" announced Redmond the next after.
noon, looking at his watch. "Have a little
business there to which wish to attend"
Louise flashed quick glance from her
large dark eyes.
"What going to leave US to- take care of
ourselves ?" said Blanche. awe want you to
help buoy US up when the water rises"
20, I shall return tonight. I have no
idea of being absent from such an interest:
ing adventure" he replied. "That is, if I
can possibly see the gentleman I am seeking
just FIVE minutes. Good. afternoon, ladies. !"
and he bowed himself out of the room grace
fully.
There I am not surprised at this action
on the par of Redmond Clarke" said Louise
"He will MT come back here tonight. l say,
as I have said before he is coward"
"Why, Louise, this move Of his has moth
ing to do with the superstitious tale we have
just heard"
II believe it has" The secret desire to
think and believe high and lofty things of
his name, drove her to sudden anger at any
suspicion Of the opposite. "Who ever knew
one of these blue eyed, blonde-moustached
men who had a spark of true courage" and
she looked anything but feeble character
herself, as she paced the floor rapidly, her
eyes flashing Indignantly with the intensity
of passion to which she had wrought herself.
"Take care" said Blanche, warningly, in
low voice. "You remember Hamilton Bel
mont saved my life at the risk of his own.
He was nose of your heroic looking men,"
"You will find that Redmond Clarke is
not second Hamilton Belmont. If could
know for a certainty that he ran away from
any danger, threatened or real should nev-
er again allow him to touch even my finger
tips. should feel so humiiated that such
man had ever dared to ask for my love.
Don't judge too harshly-too hastily"
said her friend, gently. She knew that
Redmond Clarke and Louise Rand were ft-
ted to make each other happy, could the lat
ter have the mists Of doubt cleared from her
wilful eyes.
Clarke had really intended to return to
the Cohassett House as he had promised, but
the gentleman whom he sought was absent,
and the last stage left before his return.
Ashdale was primitive, unambitious
town. Its only connection with the great
world was the regular stage. Its hills and
valleys had never yet echoed with the shrill
whistle of the locomotive.
He paced backward and forward on the
piazza of the quiet little hotel where he was
to pass the night, under the poetic skies of
fine evening, thinking of Louise Rand. Her
naughty imperiousness had a charm for him.
He smiled to himself as he thought "She will
thoroughly believe now what she suspected
when l left her, that I should not return to-
night" He was prouder than she. There
was depth beneath that indolent exterior
she had not sounded and because she had
doubted him-she whom be loved-he would
not deign to inconvenience himself to gain her
approval. A man with less inherent haught.
iness would have acted differently. The
smoke of his fragrant cigar curled upward
and dissolved in the moist, thin air. He re-
moved it from his lips for moment, thought
fully. "She has no reason to judge me-
Thank Heaven among all my failures, COW.
ardice has never been justly attributed to me" ;"
His memory went over one or two deeds Of
daring in the past, of which he never spoke
"She may one day find out" he thought, as
he replaced his cigar.
He retired early and was soon in deep
slumber. 1t did not prove refreshing. A
feverish, restless dream wreathed in and out
Of his brsin. He saw Louise suspended
over waste Of waters clinging to some thing
that threatened every moment to snap with
her weight, and she be engulfed forever.
Then the scene shifted, and he cav as plain
ly as if it were reality, the building where he
had left her enveloped in fame, and amid
the cries of frantic men and women. Louise
in her white night robe at window where the
flames were rapidly closing round her, reach
ing out to him with wild shrieks for help.
He woke with the agony of the scene. Per-
spiration was starting from every pore. He
sprang out of the bed and threw up window.
The night was sweet and fair when he retired,
with the added glory Of the full moon, in the
fuller light Of which the stars were paling
their modest brightness. Over the fair land
scape were flung lengthening, sleeping shad.
ows of tall trees, shrubbery, and homelike
cottages in their inclosure.
The scene calmed, sobered him, but did
not dissolve the hurried impression of danger.
Was his dream a warning? He tried to
smile and put it away as the offspring of
diseased imagination. But the vivid hor-
ror of the scene stood before his vision with
too much reality, and he turned to dress with
quick, nervous haste. The moon shone direct
" toto his room and its light was all sufficient.
He was only four miles from Woodville. He
could walk that distance He could not rest
with this horrible impression upon him
something might even now be happening.
He let himself out noiselessly at the front