Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-03
CHAPTER VI.

the Louisiana at last was ordered home.
CHAPTER VI.
Certainly, I VIII see you if you come
/ and you may appoint any day or hour yol
/ like. | should have seen you with pleas
ure any time these last years. WHY
| should not we be friends, as we used Il
/ be? Perhaps we shall be yet. l say per
/ haps' only, on urpOse-because YOU
| note is rather vague about your state o
mind. Don't come with any idea abou
/ making me nervous or uncomfortable.
| am not nervous by nature, thank heaven
/ and / WON'T positively won't (do you
/ hear, dear Capt. Benyon?) be uncomfOrt
I able. have been so Git served me right
! for years and years; but | am very happy
now. TO remain so is the very definite
intention Of, yours ever,
"GEoRGINA RoY.'
/ This was the answer Benyon received
| to a short letter that he dispatched tC
Mrs. Roy after his return to America. Ii
was not till he had been there some weeks
that he wrote to her. He had been occu-
pied in various ways; he had had to look
after his ship; he had had to report al
| Washington, he had spent a fortnight
with his mother at Portsmouth, N. H.,
| and he had paid visit to Kate Theory In
Boston. She herself was paying visits,
she was staying with various rela-
tiyes and friends. She had more
color-it was very delicately rosy-than
she had had of old, in spite of her black
dress; and the effect of looking at him
seemed TO him to make her eyes grow still
prettier. Though sisterless now, she was
not without duties. and Kenyon could
easily see that life would press hard on
her unless some one should interfere.
Every one regarded her as just the person
to do certain things. Every one thought
she could do everything, because she had
nothing else to do. She used to read
to the blind, and, more GENEROUSLY,
to the deaf. She looked after other peo-
pies children while the parents attended
antI-slavery conventions.
She was coming to New York later to
spend a week at her brothers., but be-
yond this she didn't know what she should
do. BenyOn felt it to be awkward that
he should not be able, just now, to tell
her. and this had much TO do with his
coming to the point, for he accused him
self of having rather hung fire. Coming
to the point, for Benyon, meant writing a
note to Mrs. hoy as he must call herr, in
which he asked whether she would see
him if he should present himself. The
missiye was short; it contained, in adj
dition to what | have noted, little more
than the remark that he had something Of
Importance to say to her. Her reply,
which we have just read, was prompt.
BenyOn designated an hour, and rang the
door bell of her big modern house, whose
polished windows seemed to shine de
fance at him.
As M stood on the steps, looking up and
down the straight vista of the Fifth ave-
nue., he perceived that he was trembling
a little, that he was nervous, if she was
not. He was ashamed of his agitation,
and he addressed himself a very stern
reprimand: AAffterward he saw that what
nad made him nervous was not any doubt
of the goodness of his cause, but his re-
Yived sense as he drew near herr Of
his wife's hardness-her capacity
for insolence. He might only break
himself against that, and the pros
pect made him feel helpless. She kept
him waiting for long time after he had
been introduced, and as he walked up and
down her drawing room, an immense
flOrid. expensive apartment, covered with
blue satin, gliding, mirrors, and bad fres-
Goes, it came over him as a certainty that
her delay was calculated She wished to
annoy him, to weary him, she was as
ungenerous as she was INSCRIPTIONS. 1t
never occurred to him tnaU IN spite of the
bold words of her note, she, too, might be
in a tremor, and if any one in their secret
had SUGGESTED that she was afraid to meet
him, he would have laughed at this idea.
This was of bad omen for the sue
cess of his errand; for it showed that he
recognized the ground OF her presumption
his having the superstition OF old
promises. By the time she appeared he
was fiushed-very angry. She closed the
door behind her and stood there looking at
him, with the width Of the room between
them.
The first emotion her presence excited
was a quick sense Of the strange TACT
that, after all these years of loneliness,
such a magnificent person should be his
wife. For she was magnificent, in the
maturity of her beauty, her head erect,
her complexion splendid, her auburn
tresses undimmed. a certain plenitude in
her very glance. He saw in moment
that she wished to seem to him beautiful,
she had endeavored to dress herself to the
best effect. Perhaps, after all, 1t was only
for this she had delayed; she wished to
give herself every possible touch. For
some moments they said nothing; they
had not stood face to face for nearly ten
wears. and they met now as adYersaries.
No two persons could possibly be more IN
terested in taking each others measure.
It scarcely belonged to Georgina, how
ever. TO have too much the air of timidity,
and after a moment, satisfied, apparent
". that she was not to recei~ broad
side, she advanced, slowly Ablng her
ieweIed hands and smiling. wonder
ed why she should smile, what thought
was in her mind. His impressions follow
ed each other with extraordinary quick
ness of pulse, and now he saw in addition
TO what he had already perceived, that
she was waiting to take her cue-she had
determined on no definite line. There was
nothing definite about her but her cOur-
age: the rest would depend upon him. As
for her courage, it seemed to glow IN the
beauty which grew greater as she came
nearer, with her eyes on his and her 1Xed
smile; to be expressed IN the very perfume
that accompanied her steps. By this time
he bad got still further impression, and
II was the strangest of all. She was
ready for ANYTHING, she was capable OF
ANYTHING. she wished to surprise him with
her beauty. to remind him that il belonged,
after all. at the bottom of everything, to
him She was ready to bride him, if brib-
inc should be necessary. She had carried
an an intrigue before she was twenty; 1t
would be more. rather than less, easy for
her, now that she was thirty. All TINS
and more was in her cold. living eyes, as
in the prolonged silence they engaged
themselves Will MS 1tau = - y
upon it, for reasons eXtraneous TO the re-
markable fact. She was truly amazing
creature.
ssRaymondp' she said, in low voice,
a voice which might represent either
vague greeting or an appeal.
He took no heed of the exclamation, bui
asked her why she had deliberately kept
him waiting-as if she had not made g
tool enough of him already. She couldn'
suppose it was for his pleasure ne mao
come into the house.
She hes1tated a moment-still with hel
smile.
II must tell you / have a son-the
/ dearest little boy. His nurse happened tc