The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1883-07-21
very much surprised.

> '1oI ll'lse not mail5n my friend, Lady
Gladys remarks, smiling
.s'Was he tally and truly in love with
Hereward asks. He is thinking low
Dbd-naturedix Blount tried to heal his
;;soanl While his own heart was perhaps ach-
ing witt a stcfYer pang.
= ''Oll, Absolutely gone, You never saw a
fslioW6o gone in your life! used to quiz
lEpH hnrlercifu.ly. I wanted him TO come
here foc G4ristnHss, but he won't. 1t wouid
bd@royalfnn to ssc.tlle:h together"
Il don't think SO, ..Hcreward answers
fro~ning. - think it Is scarcely less cruel
spoH thnn the fights h:ween men and wild
beasts i'll the Coiosseau, or the bull-hghts in
Malrid, or any other bioodehirsty amuse-
ment of the kind"
''Oh, come now!" lord Heriot exclaims,
laughing. II dont believe in tina. kind of
thing, you know. ] assure you Blount en-
joyed it all the time"
''if lie did" Herewaxd returns quietly, 81
doubt Of his being SO very far gone as you
imagine"
'What tragic fellow you are, Hcreward!
You are SO desperately in earnest always.
Somebody ought to warn Bab Middleton net
70 tritle with You"
81 think So"
Hereward speaks drily, and for the second
tine Lady Gladys looks at him. This time
she does not meet his eyes, and SO takes a
comprehensive glance at his thin dark face,
ut his fine head and at the naughty carriage
OF that Eea! too, perhaps. But she does not
blink 1t will be necessary to warn her friend
not to tritie with this young man. Her
friend is very well able to take care Of her
seif. Lady Gladys thinks, ard turns away to
caIess haI Russian terrier.
Hereward is sorry that Blount las seen ft
10 decline the invitation to Kingscourt. Il
would have been pleasant to him to have had
his friend here during the Christmas holi-
lays. For it has been decided that he HIM
elf is to re..lain at Kinsscourt for Christmas,
rs Lord Heriot's exceedingly slow progress
slows that he has very little time to lose, AID
Slat his holidays must be of the shortest.
lad Hereward is content to stay, having no.
= Eere else to go; unless he returned to Col
ic-H, 81! :.arilca .1.e old nnrters erd bed
makers i,efe by sSi IL ;F.paf5ssdenfed os
cnrrence as a students spending Christmas
Under Its roof Since lie has tac;tly shut
himself ont of Lanciny, and from intercourse
"ish Its inmates, he has but few friends
w.lcse company he would in such case prc-
fer to his own.
Miss Middleton arrives on the following
eseiing. Hereward, from his nndissurbed
retreat in the library, hears her advent, hears
.hc shrill exclamations with which Evie
,rects her, rushing to meet her in the great
hall, hears Lady Gladys call her ''dear' and
;ympathise with her because of the snowhakes
hat have fallen upon hcr in her transit from
lie carriage to the hall door. He hears the
newcomer laugh, merry laugh which soma-
Low makes him think of Bloumt.
1t is about five o'clock when she arrives,
md very soon afterwards Hereward and his
.sarty sit down to dinner-at the very mo-
ment indeed that Miss Middleton is allowing
her maid to divest her of her trayelin,
wraps, and Lady Gladys is sending down
stairs for tea. They are old friends, these
two, and they have great deal to talk about
standing on the rug in Miss Middleton's 8
room, while her maid unpacks her dinner
dress. They get on very Wen together, and
yet they are not in any way alike. Perhaps it
Is this very contrast which makes them agree
so well. Their likes. and dislikes are too
WIDE apart to jar upon each other.
In appearance too they are very different.
There is not vestage Of color at any time in
Miss Middletons cheeks. Her hair is black,
drawn smoothly away behind her cars and
rolled loosely in in two heavy coils round a
comb at the back of her head. She has
rather heavily arched black eyebrows, and a
pair of very fine dark eyes she has also n
very short nose and rather long upper lip.
But her face is fascinating one neverthe-
less, She is little thing, but she carries
herself we'll, and wears particularly long
dresses and very high-heeled shoes.
She stands on the rug now in her heavy
dress of iron-gray homespun faced with black
velvet, and though she has one foot on the
fender, and the freight falls upon her face,
there is no flush from frost or fire upon her
pale cheeks. Nothing changes her complex
ion, nor does anything ever seem to ruffle
the smooth black masses of her hair. EVE
holds one of her hands in both his, and
| swings to aud fro. on the rug, contented,
though unnoticcd-pretty Evie, with his
black velvet tunic and white frills and long
black silk stockings. Lady Gladys stands
opposite, talking and listening, but more of
| the latter thnn the former and even tea,
waiting ON the little table close at hand, is
forgotten in the absorbing questions rs to
who Is in town and who Is out of it, where
the Woodleigh Pallisers have gone, whether
it is true or not that Lady Blanche Somers is
going to be married again, and if the Grant
Leslies have really gone to winter in Rome.
'.How delicious this blaze isl" Miss Mid
dleton exclaims, warming her small hands,
whea she and Lady Gladys have exhausted
an ths more immediate topics o6 the day.
1T does one good 10 zee il, after such jour
ney as I have had through the snow And
master Evie! I haven't spoken 10 yop yet
have II Ara you glad to 80 mel Yes.
That's night And how hVere?
.:Hss vary we'll III tsn him you called
him thael"., siAs -. s-ii.:gaa1i
oh please ~ Z yoe Do I shant