Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-20

more lucrative career. With Georgina Ii
was difficult to 90 into such questions;
she had no taste whatever for detail. She
was delightful as a woman TO love, De-
cause when young man is in love he
discovers that; but she could not be called
helpful, for she never suggested anything.
That is, she never had done so till the day
she really propOsed-fOr that was the
form 1t took-to become his wife without
more delay. 'sOh, yes, VIII marry yOu;S
these words, which 1 quoted little way
back, were not so much the answer to
something he had said at the moment, as
the light conclusion Of report she had
just made, for the first time, Of her actual 1
situation In her fathers house.
II am afraid / shall have to see less of I
you,' she had begun by saying. "They I
watch me so much"
''It is very little already" he answered. |
s'What is once or twice a week?o
''That's easy for you to say. You are 1
your own master, but you don't know !
what I go through
''Do they make it very bad for you,
dearest: Do they make scenes?' Benyon |
asked.
''No, of course not. DON'T you know us
enough to know how we behaved No
scenes-that would be a relief. However,
1 never make them myself, and l never
will-that's one comfort for you for the
future, if you want TO know. Father and
mother keep very quiet, looking at me as
if were one of the lost, with little, hard,
piercing eyes, like gimlets. To me they
scarcely say anything, but they talk it
all over with each other, and try and de-
eide what is to be done. It's my belief
that father has written to the people in
WashingtOn-what do you call it?-the
departmert-to have you moved away
from Brooklyn-tO have you sent to sea-"
Il guess that won't do much good.
/ They want me in Brooklyn, they don't
want me at sea-"
''We1, they are capable of going to
Europe for year, on purpose to take
me-" Georgina said.
GLOW can they take you, if you won't
! 90? And if YOU should 90, what good
would it do, if you were only to find me
I here when you came back, just the same
as you left meT'
'iOh, wenp' said Georgina, with her
I lovely smile, ''of course they think that
absence would cure me of-cure me Of
- and she paused, with a certain
natural modesty, not saying exactly of
what.
"Cure you OF what, darling? Say it,
please say it." the young man murmured,
drawing her hand surreptitiously into his
arm.
"Of my absurd infatuationw
"And would it, dearest?"
''Yes, very likely. But l don't mean to
try. l shan't go to EurOpe-not when l
don't want TO. But it's better l should see
less of you-even that l should appear-a
little-to give you up"
''A little? What do you call a little?'
Georgina said nothing for a moment.
''Well, that, for instance, you shouldn't /
/ hold my hand quite so tight!' and she /
disengaged this conscious member from /
the pressure Of his arm.
''What good will that do?" Benyon |
asked.
sit will make them think it's all over
that we have agreed to part"
"And as we have done nothing of the /
kind, how will that help us.'
They had stopped at the crossing of a |
street; heavy dray was numbering I
slowly past them. Georgina, as she /
stood there, turned her face to her lover /
and rested her eyes for some moments on /
his own. At last: "Nothing will help 1
us; l don't think we are very happy" |
she answered, while her strange, irOnical, |
incOnsequent smile played about her |
beautiful lips.
81 don't understand how you see things. |
l thought you were going to say you would |
marry me!' BenyOn rejOined, standing |
there still, though the dray had passed.
sob, yes, Pll marry youw And she |
moved away across the street. That was |
the way she had said it, and it was very /
characteristic of her. When he saw that |
she really meant 1t he wished they were /
somewhere else-he hardly knew where |
the proper place wOuld~be-so that he |
might take her in his arms. Nevertheless, /
before they separated that day he had |
said to her he hoped she remembered they /
would be very poor, reminding her how /
great a change she would find it. She |
answered that she shouldn't mind, and /
presently she said that if this was all |
that prevented them the sooner they were
married the better. The next time he saw
l. 8 Ag,n
but he found, to his surprise, it was now
her conviction that she had better not
leave her fathers house. The ceremony
should take place secretly, of course; but
they would wait awhile to let their union
be known.
what good will it do US, thenT' Ray
mOnd Benyon asked.
Georgina colOred. swell, if you don't
know, can't tell you"
Then it seemed to him that he did know.
Yet, at the same time, he could not see
why, once the knot was tied, secrecy
should be required. When he asked what
special event they were to wait for, and
what should give them the signal to APP
pear as man and wife, she answered that
her parents would probably forgive her,
If they were to discover, not too alb
ruptly, after six months, that she had
taken the great step. Benyon supposed
that she had ceased to care whether they
lOlEdNG uGl VI DObs bAl nC Aesu eRAANetoJ
perceived that women are full of incon-
sistencies. He had believed her capable
of marrying him out of braVadO, but the
pleasure of defiance was absent if the
marriage was kept to themselves. Now,
too, it appeared that she was not espe-
cially anxious TO defy-she was disposed
rather to manage, to cultivate opportunl-
ties and reap the fruits of a waiting
game.
"Leaye it to me-leaye it to me. You
are only q laundering man." Georgina
said. II shall know much better than
you the right moment for saying: We'll,
you may as well make the best Of it, be-
cause we have already done itw
That might very we'll be, but BenyOn
didn't quite understand, and he was awk-
wardly anxious for lover) till it came
over him afresh that there was one thing
at any rate in his favor, which was simply
that the lOveliest girl he had ever seen
was ready to throw herself into his arms.
When he said to her, ''TheTe is one thing
l hate in this plan of yours-that, for ever
so few weeks, so few days, your father
should support my wife," When he made
this hOmely remark, with little flush of
sincerity in his face, she gave him spe-
cimen of that unanswerable laugh of hers,
and declared that it would serve Mr.. Ores
sic right for being so barbarOus and so
horrid. 1t was Benyon's view that from
the moment she disObeyed her father, she
ought to cease to avail herself ofhis protec-
ton; but am bound to add that he was
not particularly surprised at finding
this kind of honor in which her temi-
nine nature was little versed. To make
her his wife firSt-at the earliest moment
whenever she would, and trust to for
tune, and the new Unfit ence he should
have, to give him, as SO n thereafter as
p ssible, complete possess on of her. This
"a her promptly presented itself to the
70 ng man as the course most worthy of
a rsOn of spirit. He would be only
PEE mt who would take nothing because
he ould not get everything at once. They
wandered further than usual this after
noon, and the dusk was thick by the time
he brought her back to her fathers door.
1t was not his habit to come so near it,
but to-day they had so much to talk about
that he actually stood with her for ten
minutes at the foot of the steps. He was
keeping her hand in his, and she let it
rest there while she said-by way of
remark that should sum up all their
reasons and reconcile their differences
"There's one great thing it will do, you