The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-12-29

'':ohe may be all that, for anything
care. am Shelf replied Margaret,
lifting her head to its utmost height;
maddened more by his tone than his
words, and looking superb in her def
ance. Since that was the tone he chose
to take, let him! She was glad he had
initiated it at once, before she had
stopped, or uttered one word of excuse.
None should be extorted from her now.
She would brave it all out to the bitter
end, and if he, to use Mr.. Lascelles' ex-
preston, chose to ''tear her heart to
pieces,n his own should be riven
asunder at the same time; for even now.
as he looked searchingly at her after
his last words his face was pale as
death; his eyes sought hers with an
earnestness not free from usefulness.
As she looked at him she felt that she
loved him, intensely, that whether he
were the worst or the best of these
three suitors, he was the one who alone
had won her. She loved him, but-she
thought of Mrs. Percival and her lord
and master-not with the love that will
be trampled under foot, or rebuked I'M
heard, or accused unjustly. Perhaps
Louis had orgotten-perhaps with all
his cleverness he had never yet found
out that with few tender words,
whispered inquiry: Had l anything to
do with your remaining here?" he
might have led her whittier he would,
might have heard from her lips whatso-
ever confessions he desired; but that in
answer to such words as he had already
uttered, she would make her face as of
stone, would harden her heart like
brass, and out of sheer grief and pain
would let contempt and defiance run
riot. Be that as it may, he had taken
his part and committed himself; and
with the extraordinary fatuousness
characteristic of man in such q crisis,
he now proceeded to make bad worse
by saying:
81 will not deny that l have for some
time been convinced that you were not
the person you represented yourself to
be, but l have respected your disguise
under the impression that some great
need, or some great sorrow"
scr something discreditable, perhaps.
| Go on, pray!'
"Some great need or some great sor-
row might have driven you to assume
| it. But when / got my friends letter
this morning, the names, the circum-
stances, many things which had for
gotten, came rushing to my memory.
| I felt almost overwhelmed, but could
not doubt that my conclusion was right.
Far from your being in want or sorrow,
you are, by your own confession, rich,
Independently have plenty of friends
| -"
"That is not true. No one ever heard
me say that | had plenty of friends. II
| had had friends whom l could have
trusted"
She stopped abruptly, angry with
herself for descending to the semblance
of an explanation.
"Nothing can do away with the fact
that you have used this deceit origin
ally, not from any high or holy motives,
but simply to amuse yourself-to pass
the time"
"For lark, as school-boys say. Yes
it was exactly for that reason that / die
it, and because all my friends said
must not. WellP"
"Such things are not done with i'm
punity. You may not have counted the
cost, but it has yet to be paid-to the
uttermost farthing."
"What cost, l wonder?"
"While you have been amusing your
self, others have been engaged in any
thing but amusement. You have al
lowed two men whom you have seen al
most daily to fall in love with you
under your very eyes, and you have no
attempted to undeceiye them"
L.. ln1 Ill L.
had no time to rejoice-no time t,
wonder; for he went on, in hard, bust
ness-like tone. ii tIfH
"You have given me lesson whicl
l shall never forget. Its effects will q
with me to my gave. A woman VIII
goes about with lie in her right han,
loses all glamour for me. Nodoubt i
is a matter of great indifference to you
when you are tired of Foulhaven, yo
will go away and amuse' yourself else
! where. AsstoY poor Jack Mallabarr-
well, an obscure surgeon ike mysel
> and his feelings can not trouble you
but let me call your attention to tn
fact that. from worldly point of view
) there might be worse matches than on
with John Mallabarr. Some day 20
will have to answer him when he put
question to you. He is. q careless fel
low in many ways, but heis far, far to
good for a selfish woman to make spor
Of, and he has been hard hit byyou."
Margaret laughed in her bitterness!
and said in her haste:
"He may be hard hit, for aught
care, and you, too. Since L came
Blackford Grange, my mission has bee
to make poor Rupert Lascelles' life les
of burden to him, and l hope l hay
i, succeeded. As for you and Mr. Malls
barr, neither of you can say that l eve
uttered word, or looked look, c