Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-05-29

follow him.
The five thousand dollars-need we say
it?-were missed, but in its stead there
| came q deep peace far more precious to
| Frank and Alice than the gold OF Ophlr or
the diamonds from GOlconda. The sun OF
Charles Gerard's life had not gone down up
on their wrath.
OUT OF PITY.
She was justseventeen; the very youngest
| little bride that any one ever remembered
coming to reign at ArnWood Towers; the
sweetest, daintiest little Lady Fielding that
the country had ever welcomed.
To herself it was all like dream, it had
come so fast; it seemed as if all her life had
| lived itself in those six months; the leaving
her English school and going out to her faith
er's plantation in Ceylon, so proud to be his
housekeeper and companion the strange
brief life on the up:country coffee estate;
Then the young English stranger who passed
through LindOOla, in his rather vague wan
derings for adventures sake, and who was
received and entertained at Holme Harcourt
with the delightful open-handed hospitality
of the colonies.
And then the awful night when the sud-
den, terrible stroke of cholera left her faith
erless, and life seemed one great blank void; e;
and the chaplain's wife had been good to her
and kept her from dying in despair; and
Sir Harry Fielding had been still more good; !;
and then-she was resting her poor little or
phaned head on heart that was kind and
true as her own fathers, and strong arm
was close around her slender waist, and the
voice she liked alone to hear of all the voices
around her was telling her she should never
know another sorrow that he could guard
her from. He seemed the only real thing
in all that dream-time; the sad past and
the present that was so happy, but just as
unlike reality. Was it really herself, sim
pie little Nesta Harcourt, that people we're
fussing over and petting and welcoming
home as if she had been a royal princess?
Perhaps it was as we'll she could not real
ize it or her head might have been turned.
Why, had the whole week Harry and she
were spending with his sister, Mrs. Mostyn,
to present Nesta to the country side, been
one round of festivities of which she was
the queen? This evening they had all
driven TO a grand concertin the county, town
to hear famous singer and Nesta, in her
wonderful golden satin gown, rich with en-
broidery and lace, with her eyes outshining
the diamonds on her white neck and her
cheek flushed with it's pretty shy pink, had
been an attraction only second to the queen
of song herself. She felt little weary with
the excitement and the happiness now that
they had reached home and were having
supper in the great hall, for the concert had
forced them to dine rather earlier than usual:
The house was crowded with guests and
they were all vehemently declaring that the
night was hardly begun yet, and they meant
to finish it with few games. The furni-
ture in the blue draWing-room was being
hastily removed and Nesta's heart sank at
the thought of further eXertiOn; her head
ached and she was worn out. She would
slip away quietly to bed and leave Harry to
make her excuse to Eleanor. Where was
Harry, by the way? She had not seen him
since they went to supper, and he and that
beautiful Miss Trafford were talking togeth-
er in the doorway. A hasty search through
the nearest rooms had no result, and Nesta
stopped by an open door to glance in at the
half.cleared draWing-room.
Two portly dowagers were deep in con-
versation, their heads bent together behind
their fans but their voices arose above the
music Eleanor was playing, and Nesta
could not help hearing what they said ,
"Gladys Trafford; yes, indeed!' cried
the black velvet gown to the purple pro-
cade. GA very, very old love affair, that,
my dear. He and she were perfectly insep-,
arabic, and most suitable match it would
have been. The two oldest families in the
country; his equal in position and fortune.
LOTu otOulDIluSe . cStdISo 1lC Hoho w 'ii",
you know, and Gladys is heiress to great
part"
What made Nesta's heart give such
leap, and her feet feel spell bound to the
spot where she stood? Arnwood Towers
was the only place near the Tratfords. 1t
was as it her whole being were strained to
hear the rest. She never thought of caves
dropping, poor child it was life-and-death
work to her.
"And why didn't it come about? ?" asked
the purple brocade.
"Heaven knows A lovers tiff, I sup
pose, or some rubbish. It's a thousand
pities! A lady Fielding has always been at
the head of the county society, and Gladys
Traitor is just made for the position, with
her beauty and cleverness and talents. She
has always been immensely popular.
"And who is the girl he has married?
She seems a nice little thing enough"
"Oh, harmless sort of creature; pink
and-white prettiness, nothing more. She
where, and he was staying with them when
the father died. She was left quite friend
less and destitute, and he married her out
of pity. He was always quiXotic goose,
Harry Fielding"
The spell was now off, and Nesta, Whlte
as death, was hurrying up the stairs to her
room, There was little sofa In sheltered
nook in the corridor, and there sat Harry
the missing Harry-and the woman he
should have married.
Nesta sped past, but as she fled she saw
Harry bend his head to kiss the beautiful
hand he was holding, and she heard his low
murmur, eff 1 had only known you years
ago, things might have been so different"
On, on, till her own door closed behind her,
and she gazed wildly round at the pretty orn-
aments that strewed her bower, as if she had
never seen them before. She flung the dia-
monds from her throat and wrists as if they
hurt her, and sank into a chair beside the
quaint old ebony table, leaning her head
its tangle of crisp brown hair down on her
folded arms. She did not shed a tear, but
her brain seemed on fire. Beside her stood
the tall vase of rushes that Harry and she
had gathered from the lake only yesterday.
Wasn't it one hundred years ago"
"Never another sorrow could he guard
her frOm?"
"Well, it was true he couldn't help
this it wasn't his fault, he had meant to
do right; he had married her 'out of pity
when he loved another woman. 1t must be
her own fault, not his yes, because she
| woo rd. wi ITO n6 nOthinp moro and