The Penn's Grove record., 1883-09-15

lives were drifting so far apart.
Down went his head upon his hands
on the table-the winter sunshine shone
that day on no nobler head-and from
bis lips came those words of which frail
humanity has deepest need, LEAD us
not into temptation"
He thought it all out. Bertrand
Kingsley owned the finest place in all
Marsham, or had until the deed was
made which conveyed it to George
Fenby. Estella Kingsley, the daughter
of Bertrand, was a beauty, and some
thing of a firt.
More thar one lady in Marsham had
quarrelled with her lover on Estella
Kingsley's account. And last night
there had been a little gathering of the
young people in the church, and cir
cumstances had done their worst
seemingly. In the first place, George
Fenby came with Estella Kingsley the
meeting was not of a character to make
it unkind for him to leave his promised
wife to come with her father, as she had,
but this coming with Miss Kingsley had
been noticed by several. With the deed
before him, Ralph Warder bad no
difficulty in deciding why George ha5
been at Mr.. Kingsley's, and cOnse-
q~uently why he had come as he had.
Ralph was well acquainted with a
young man living where the Kingsley's
had formerly resided, and through him
he knew of the engagement of Miss
Kingsley to a gentleman living there.
He had known this for a long time and
knowing it had thought little of events
which might otherwise have deeply
affected him.
Last night, for instance, a laughing
group of gentlemen had spoken of Miss
Kingsley. One had said, ''She is a
beauty and an heiress. Whoever wins
her will have a beautiful home. The
Kingsley estate is the finest one in
Marsbam
Now, every gentleman in the group
knew that the Kingsley estate was for
sale, and every one had counted at its
true value the answer which George
Fenby had made. Indeed, his devotion
to Alice Arnden was so absolute and
complete that no one, save her WI
modest self, would ever have doubted
it for a moment.
sit is my highest ambition to be the
master of that estate" laughed George,
'sand l have made IN offer which |
think will be accepted. | am to have
in answer tonight. If / succeed, ]
shall be supremacy happy. If not
why, l will do as other men have done
falling of what I want, | will take
what / can get"
Ralph could not remember where
Alice Arnden had been when these fool
ish possibly but innocent words had
been spoken. That she had been near
L tllOukn W ACdi tnCIh was CfloChCNu W
her letter, which was before him.
He could only dimly imagine how she
must have suffered in trying to evolve
the truth las she believed the truth to
bel from what she had heard. When a
human idol falls from the place it has
filled in the heart not the least of the
plain comes from what we see, or be-
lieve we see, of its unworthiness. To
find our gold but gilded clay is a sor-
rowful thing. So he sat there, and pit
led Alice Arnden for the faith in man
which she had lost, as well as for the
man himself who had been put from
her. With what pain beyond that
which would come to her from a belief
that her lover would think and do what
his words seem to imply, must she face
the added shame of his STOPPING to tell
of it nay, more, to boast of it.
Ralph raised his head. The time had
not been long since he sat down to
think. But he knew it all. Two proud
and obstinate young creatures had been
parted by fate. And he muttered with
white, compressed lips, 81 alone I'M
derstand it all. |, alone, of all the
world, can set it right. What a temp
tation |"
We will not seek to follow his
thoughts. What a man does should be
the basis of our judgment, not what he
would do. If he thought of the cura-
tive effects of lime on suffering hearts,
we can forgive him if a possible flu
ture, in which a happy home OF his own
was the central figure, rose up to meet
him, we can do no less than pity him.
Ii she emily had the slightest reason
for what she has done-but she has
none. If George Fenby were really a
scoundrel-but he is truly a noble man.
The band of sunshine rested on his
head like a golden crown His face
was almost glorified as he raised it to
the light again. And surely the angels
made a record of a second gift that day,
coming to the lot of those whose lives
fall for a little time within the lines of
our story, when he said aloud II will
do right ! Alice Arnden shall have her
lover back again |"
Evening service at the little church
wwaa -xra D...k yLT.I@-r, Eonl 80 tla
: steps as the congregation came out. He
looked happy.
If it be true shat coming events
cast their shadows BEFORE" and that
virtue is its own reward, " he was hap.
| Ply. He spoke cheerfully to this n and
| that when they passed. He did not lool
like a conspirator. One would moi
have dreamed that he made a plar